Jeremy Gilley from Peace One Day
Between us, the editorial team here at Summersault probably interview hundreds of people during an average working week. When you call someone to chat about their latest project, team-building adventure or award win, you never really know what you’re going to get. Some people are open and funny and full of anecdotes that they’re eager to get into print. Others are shy and hard to prise any information out of at all. Occasionally though, we’re lucky enough to speak to someone who makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, the kind of interview that you go home and ring your mum about, or regale your mates with down the pub. For me, Jeremy Gilley was one such interviewee.
Jeremy founded non-profit organisation Peace One Day in 1999. In 2008, he orchestrated a global truce for a whole day and in 2012, he’s going for it again, having already convinced 192 nations to take part.
I was writing a feature on engagement for NFU Mutual’s bimonthly title Link and we wanted to profile a few really inspiring characters. Jeremy was suggested as an ideal candidate. After much toing and froing trying to find a spare 10 minutes over the phone, I finally got hold of him. It was worth the wait.
With the kind of presence he had (even over the phone), it was easy to see how he has achieved some seemingly impossible tasks. He’s helped convince armies to hold fire, create conditions in which millions of women and children have been vaccinated against disease and even spearheaded a process that led to the Taliban allowing vaccination teams to carry out their work. On the day of peace in 2008, violence in Afghanistan was reduced by 70%. Yet he insists he’s just “an ordinary guy from Surrey”.
I came off the phone wanting to write a book about Jeremy and his achievements, instead of being limited to a few hundred words. He’s a true inspiration.