OAKLAND -- A ceremony celebrating the construction of a memorial wall dedicated to American children who lost their lives in a 1978 mass murder and suicide directed by the Rev. Jim Jones in his Jonestown community in Guyana, South America, took place in Oakland today.

The Cherishing the Children Jonestown Memorial Wall will be dedicated to the children whose lives were lost as a result of Jones' actions. Of the 900 people who committed suicide or were murdered, 276 were children, according to event organizers.

The wall will be constructed in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland near a mass grave, according to organizers.

"Forty three and one-half-foot caskets of infants lay at Evergreen and it is in the spirit of the children that we say never forget, never again," said Dr. Jynona Norwood, executive director of the wall project.

Jones' congregation, called the Peoples Temple, moved from California to Guyana in the mid-70s to create what he called a "paradise," according to Norwood.

Reports of abuse and wrongdoings in the Jonestown community, home to more than 1,000 Peoples Temple followers, eventually lead Congressman Leo Ryan, D-California, to organize a fact-finding visit to the region in 1978, according to memorial organizers.

Ryan and reporters who traveled to South America with him were shot and killed Nov. 18, according to Children's Memorial organizers.

The mass suicide, in which Jonestown residents drank poison, was carried out shortly after Ryan's death. Those who did not willingly participate were shot or injected with the poison.

"Our wall is in the spirit of others whose lives were lost due to hate or ignorance... This memorial wall will honor the children and others, who were victimized by Jim Jones, including Congressman Leo Ryan and the UPI news crew," Norwood said.

Events organized in honor of the children who died in the Jonestown massacre began in Oakland Saturday with a morning press conference featuring National Association for the Advancement of Colored People President Dr. Amos Brown.

The names of all of the children who died were read at 11 a.m. today, on the 29th anniversary of the massacre, and a candle was lit for each child, said organizers. The theme of the event was "Honoring Our Children: A Gift From Heaven."