WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) - An 11 month effort towards peace was completed today in Wausau.

The Peace Monument was unveiled at a ceremony attended by both the State Department and the government of Egypt. The project was the brainchild of Egyptian exchange student Mustafah Saleh and Chuck McCarthy from the Good News Project.

At the ceremony today,. sculptor Patrick Plunkett said he doesn't expect to be paid for the project. Plunkett is a former metal engineer from Greenheck, and said if his work can help prevent one skirmish, or save one life, he'd be more than happy to let his whole work be on a volunteer basis. He also announced today that he'd be giving up his rights as the sculptor and release the plans for the statue to anyone who wants to make it.

Also attending the ceremony today was Richard Riley from the State Department and Mahmoud Amer from the Egyptian Consulate. Both men talked about the importance of local diplomacy and how it's interactions like this that can lead to peace, not just on a strategic or national scale, but person to person through the exchange programs and the support of people like Saleh.

Saleh says his next plan will be to take this sculpture and it's plans back to his home in Egypt and get a similar structure built there. He said it would be a bridge of peace between America and the Middle East.