Kids for Peace recognised for peacebuilding work in Kosovo
Children representing ‘Kids for Peace’ clubs, government and non-government organisation representatives, religious leaders and other stakeholders and guests also marked the 10th anniversary of World Vision’s work in Kosovo, where ethnic divisions still inhibit the integration of the Serb minority community into the wider society.
...we recognised the authentic involvement of young people in Kids for Peace, and the organisational commitment of World Vision Kosovo to the integrated peace and development of this society “This year World Vision is marking the 10th anniversary of commitment to changing the lives of children in post- war Kosovo. We were amongst the few agencies that responded in the early stages of the conflict in 1998 to resume in 1999 with the massive return of refugees in war-ravaged Kosovo”, shared Rusudan Kharabadze, World Vision Kosovo National Director.
During the peacebuilding award ceremony children shared their messages of peace through singing, recitations dances and short sketches. One of these showed children playing together and a girl living with HIV asking to join them – only to be told that she is not allowed to play because she might infect them. One of their friends joins the conversation and explains to the group that the virus is not transmitted through games and that as friends they should help her to cope with the disease.
Children were in turn rewarded with enthusiastic applause and the endorsement of Sue Williams, the Director of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute of Eastern Mennonite University and the wife of deceased Steve Williams (1951-2007), after whom the Peace Prize is established.
“It is my great honour and privilege to be with you today to recognise a creative and important contribution to Peace in Kosovo”, said Sue Williams, opening the World Vision International Peace Prize ceremony.
“Many excellent organisations were nominated, and all of them surely deserve a peace prize for doing what they can to build peace in difficult places. The panel chose this project from among them because we recognised the authentic involvement of young people in Kids for Peace, and the organisational commitment of World Vision Kosovo to the integrated peace and development of this society”.
Describing the life and work of her late husband, who was instrumental in forming PaxNet, World Vision\'s global peacebuilding network, Wiliams went on to tell the youth:
“All of us here, and around the world, recognise your excellent programme, your commitment to peace, and your capacity to change the world. May you continue to commit yourselves to building peace in Kosovo and in the world, and may you continue to enjoy it”.
Representatives from Kids for Peace received a trophy and an award of US$5,000 from Sue Williams and Charles Dokmo, Vice President for World Vision in the Middle East & Eastern Europe Region.
...to make this [peacebuilding] a success they [children] need to be strong and courageous, work as a team, keep their relationships strong, listen more than they talk and pass the idea on and share it The Vice President likened Fatmire Feka, who as a young teenager founded Kids for Peace, with a tiny mustard seed, which grows to be among the tallest of trees in a garden. Dokmo used the symbol of the mustard seed to show the way an idea is planted and the kind of impact it can have over time with the right kind of nurture.
”It is important for children to understand that this is a symbol of their future and to make this a success they need to be strong and courageous, work as a team, keep their relationships strong, listen more than they talk and pass the idea on and share it....pass the seed and the plant, as symbolically children now are passing on this plant standing strongly beside one another and little by little we all become changed people”.
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