DUBLIN — When John Hume, winner of the Nobel Peace Price, theGhandi Peace Price and the Martin Luther King award, was asked whathe was most proud of during a BBC interview, he replied helpingstart the Irish credit union movement. Hume founded the firstNorthern Ireland credit union in Derry that today has 30,000members. He will go to help any credit union at the ring of atelephone.

For his lifelong accomplishments in the movement, WOCCU gave himtheir highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, at theirclosing ceremonies for the 2006 Conference.

Hume, dressed in a tweed jacket and pants that lookedcomfortable, jokingly put the glass bowl on his head.

His acceptance speech was serious.

The world is so much smaller today, thanks to technology. Ameeting of international credit union people in Ireland would havebeen impossible when credit unions were getting started. Creditunions have positively affected every Irish household and manyhouseholds around the world, moving people from poverty to dignity.He said for working class people the only loan opportunities whenhe started in the movement were bad ones. “Today there isn't apawnshop in Ireland.”

What he would like is a world without war. He feels thateveryone needs “to respect the differences” between ourselves andothers. He told us who we are is merely an accident of birth.

His closing remarks asked the people to “Spill your sweatworking together, not blood.”