Previous Projects
US/Iraq Young Ambassador Pilot Program
From January to March 2009, War Kids Relief launched the first Young Ambassadors Program to promote peace, tolerance and respect for different cultures among Iraqi and US youth. Seventy-five middle-school children in Washington, DC, New York City, and Northfield, MN, began the first-ever youth peace-building process with their new Iraqi friends in Baghdad, Kirkuk and Suleimanya. While discovering their many similarities (soccer!), they have experienced the joy of sharing their stories and lives. More importantly, they have begun to put a gentle human face on a mysterious land that has been a source of misunderstanding, confusion and fear. These Young Ambassadors created cultural care packages containing games, letters, art, video diaries and video lessons of something they wanted to share with 100 of their Iraqi peers… In addition to lessons on culture, sessions focused on “speaking peace,” diversity, respect and tolerance, as adapted from “Help Increase the Peace” manual by American Friends Service Committee.
A Soldier’s March for Peace/ASM4P
From July 4 through September 11, Gunnar Swanson, Iraq war veteran and War Kids Relief program advisor, with the support of Dina Fesler, program director of War Kids Relief, completed a 1,000 mile walk (ASM4P) from Dallas to Minnesota in an effort to help American youth become a part of the peace-building process and support their peers in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the 10-week walk, Gunnar and Dina conducted programs with nearly 3,000 American children, bringing awareness to the issues their peers in war zones face, and giving them the opportunity to support these peers by writing letters that will be delivered later this year.
ASM4P also gave American youth a chance to become involved in the fundraising process by posting all youth-led projects on the ASM4P website (www.warkidsrelief.org/march/share)