Began After 9/11 Attacks to Foster Understanding
If only grownups behaved the same way, the world might be in better shape.
Students from Beginning with Children Charter School (BwCCS) in Williamsburg who are participants in a “Peace Club” exchange program with Pakistani children hosted an assembly about peace at their school on Tuesday.
The Peace Club was formed shortly after September11, 2001, with the goal of fostering peace and understanding between two distant communities.
Shazia Akhtar, a Pakistani woman and two members of Plan USA, one of the administrators of the program in Pakistan, joined the BwCCS students at their peace assembly.
“The Peace Club at Beginning with Children Charter School epitomizes the kind of richness we aspire to in our classrooms,” said John DiPaolo, executive eirector of the Beginning with Children Foundation. “The Peace Club brought our children an education on understanding, tolerance and friendship. As we look to solutions to bring peace to one of world’s most dangerous places, one thing is clear: the future of peace truly does begin with children.”
Following the 9/11 tragedy and war in Afghanistan, Carol Reich and Janet Reich Elsbach conceived of an idea to join groups of children from schools in the United States and in a region of Pakistan near Afghanistan to promote tolerance, understanding and humanity.
Founded in September 2002, by Plan USA, Plan Pakistan and Carol Reich’s family foundation, the Peace Club started with 25 sixth grade students from Beginning with Children Charter School (BwCCS) and 25 similarly aged students from the small, rural village of Chakwal in Pakistan.
For the past six years, the students have embarked on a journey together involving letters, art projects, song writing, puppet making and videos, among other activities.
After three years of correspondence, in February 2004, three students of the Peace Club from Chakwal and a Plan Pakistan staff visited BwCCS. The Brooklyn students created a video documentary, “A Day in the Life,” which was presented to the Pakistani children.
In September 2006, Waheed Yousef, a Plan Pakistan staff member working on the program in Islamabad, visited BwCCS and presented the sixth graders with a puppet, named Baba Shida, made by Pakistani children, and decorated wood chips and cards for their U.S. counterparts containing signs of love and peace.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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