Projects

This is the organization that we hope will change Kenya:

For one week in May 2009, 25 youths from three different tribes joined my friend Courtney and I in Kiptere, our host village, to learn about peace. Together we explored the concepts of war, peace, shared values, shared cultures, and shared traditions. We split into separate tribes and presented on each other, got stereotypes out into the open, talked about what we had heard about each other, and spoke about what we are most proud of.

As a group, we spent a day talking about the post-election violence, and participants opened up about their own experiences during this time of violence. Three of the participants had their houses burned down along with all their belongings, two had their parents killed, and others slowly began to open up for the first time.

We spent time teaching them about the current conflict in the Middle East and the search for peace in that region, and we spoke about the other conflicts in Africa such as the genocide that plagued Rwanda in 1994 and the current atrocities in Darfur. The purpose was to show that although there are people suffering around the world, the fact that they have come together to change their own future is an important first step, and that they are taking it into their own hands. Vijana Tujipange is a Swahili saying that means “Youths preparing themselves.”

Together, the 25 youths and I created the Youth Ambassadors for Peace, a group dedicated to spreading the word of peace in their own communities, in each others’ communities, and in the areas of those tribes who were unable to participate in the program. We also drafted a grassroots peace treaty called the Youth Treaty of Hope, Reconciliation and Peace. They came up with a variety of roles that they wanted to play, and the main one was to create peace clubs in various high schools around their region. These roles eventually grew however and they have now created the Nikki’s Chikkies project, they have created a youth centre in Matongo, have made moves to create a network of youth groups across the region, and continue to develop more and more ideas.

In July 2011 a second seminar was held, run entirely by the participants of the first, to find more members for the Youth Ambassadors for Peace. This time we had 30 participants from the Kisii, Luo, Kalenjin, Luhya and Maasai tribes. Our workshop was held over three days and we talked about stereotypes again, came up with practical ideas for how to ensure that the next general elections in Kenya do not result in violence, and spent time getting to know each other. Our workshop also welcomed guest speakers to do seminars about HIV/AIDS, focused on education and prevention, and also drug and alcohol abuse. This second workshop was a phenomenal opportunity to bring together youths from communities we had not yet engaged with, and enabled them to speak frankly and honestly about the issues that face Kenya leading up to the next general election in August 2012. Below are photographs of the new group and their participation in the workshop.

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Videos:

Steve, one of our Maasai participants, offers a closing prayer as the workshop comes to an end View here >

Photo Gallery:

The football tournament held in May 2009 was a huge success with the final bringing out 2000+ spectators.

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Youth Ambassadors traveled to four different high schools in the area to set up peace clubs.

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A new group, a drama club, has been created in order to advocate the message of peace in a creative way.

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The purpose of this project is to buy chickens to use their eggs to donate to community members who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

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