Heidi Kuhn, Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, a humanitarian-nonprofit organisation was launched over 25 years ago. The Asia Scotland Institute had the privilege to host Heidi as a speaker when she visited Scotland in 2022 to speak in both Edinburgh and Glasgow before tracing her ancestor’s roots in Old Kilpatrick. During her visit in April 2022, Heidi planted a tree at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, with thanks to the Regius Keeper, Simon Milne MBE.
Heidi’s amazing work has been in lifting landmines in many different countries, replacing them with vines and other foods – “turning mines to vines”. This was recognised in the United States when she was awarded the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa earlier this year. More recently she received the Mother Teresa award in Mumbai in November 2023. Following this, she travelled to Kolkata. There, in a ceremony mirroring that in Edinburgh, she planted a tree at the AJC Bose Indian Botanic Garden, under the direction of its Director, Dr Ashiho Mao.
We are proud to be associated with this incredible initiative to alleviate the suffering resulting from exploding landmines and her honouring in two gardens founded by Scotsmen in the seventeenth century.
