- Youth Peace Summit Participants. Can you find Shelvis? (photo by Henry Coates)
An amazing interfaith Youth Peace Summit took place in Nairobi in April. The Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church (KELC), in partnership with others, coordinated the week-long event. About 180 youth attended, many live in the areas hardest hit by the post-election violence of January 2008. The conference’s agenda derived from a survey KELC conducted which revealed youth joined the violence for four main reasons: unemployment, idleness, poverty, and political manipulation. Peace and economic empowerment/entrepreneurship were key topics of the week. The Summit’s first day was organized by FECCLAHA (Shelvis’ organization), and included issues like “Negative Ethnicity” and “Trauma Healing.” Shelvis led a workshop on “the response of people of faith to issues of Gender-Based-Violence.” CWSEA, Nancy’s organization, coordinated workshops on goal setting, youth empowerment, and creating a business plan.
- Jean Paul Gatali, a Rwandan youth, gave his testimony at the Summit. (photo by Henry Coates)
During the Summit, a young man from Rwanda, Jean Paul Gatali, gave his testimony of living through the 1994 Genocide, which took place when he was 10 years old. Although 60 members of his family were killed, Jean Paul was eventually able to release the hatred he harbored towards those associated with the crimes. Jean Paul spoke powerfully of the transformation in his own life, and he urged the Kenyan youth to reconcile with one another across lines of ethnicity.
On the last day of the Summit, the youth planted trees as a symbol of peace, and they led a peace march to voice their desire for peace to the public.
Please join with these talented and passionate youth by praying for peace in this region.
- Gaylord Thomas, the Area Program Director for East Africa for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Amercia, and a CWS board member, was instrumental in the Youth Peace Summit’s success. He is featured here at the front of the march. (photo by Henry Coates)
Posted on April 30th, 2009 by Nancy
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