Our new Ubuntu Center for Peace is now up and running! 

Recognizing the harsh reality of life in poverty, the sometimes ugly reality of the violent and unjust world we live in, and based in the core belief that it needn’t be this way, the Ubuntu Center for Peace is a place where people can come, to join hands and support each other, to be a spark for kindness and compassion in the world, in the spirit of Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu Center for Peace is home to Join Hands ESL, its administrative offices and programs.  It is an ecumenical center where people of all faiths can come and find peace, hope and friendship.  With a focus on both personal peace and communal/world peace, as staffing and volunteer power allows, we will offer retreat days to inspire and renew, workshops and classes in nonviolence, and support groups, as well as programming and mentoring for youth and families. We will offer yoga and teach children and adults who are interested meditation as a means of stress reduction and centering. We have a safe place, a peace chapel, holy ground, set aside, available for those times when silence and peace is needed in the midst of the chaos and violence of the world. And knowing that without justice, true peace is impossible, as resources and staffing allow, we will offer legal services, community organizing and advocacy on issues impacting our community.

Situated in one of the public housing developments of East St. Louis, it is our goal to show love and compassion in accordance with the mission of Join Hands, to spread Ubuntu, and to join a movement of kindness and compassion in a world so desperately in need.

Join Hands ESL
Ubuntu Center for Peace
Orr Weathers Building 17
1400 Missouri Avenue
East St. Louis, IL  62201
Phone:  618-857-2600
Fax: 618-857-2616