Edition 1 / Edition no. 1
Diana , MB & Armando, ON
At this conference our main goal is to help war affected children around the world. We want to help not only those children in war zones, but also those who have left their countries either as refugees, or as immigrants. We believe that raising awareness around the world about these people is a good beginning. We can do that by making programs that will go around to schools and educate the students. By informing the media, they can also help spread the word. Our second goal is to find solutions to stop and
prevent wars and put these solutions into action. We think that issues such as sanctions, child soldiers, arm trades should all be debated and discussed, so people can make the right decisions. There are many other ways to find solutions. All we are asking from the Canadian government at this point in time is to not only listen to the youth perspective, but also to take our recommendations into consideration, and put them into action. We would like to create an international voice, so we can be listened to, and pressure the government to help. We want all our questions answered directly and truthfully. Our dream of peace might come true, if we all work together.
Emmanuel, ON
In Canada people usually eat whatever they want. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, there are a wide variety of nutritious foods from all over. You can sit down at home or at a restaurant and enjoy your meal. Sometimes if you want you can share your food, and sometimes you choose not to. A couple of youths from the International Conference were interviewed on the food at the National Forum in Gimli, Manitoba. Armando Castro is a participant in this year’s International Conference on War-Affected Children. Eight months ago he came to Canada from Brazil. He said that in Brazil people usually eat rice, beans, farofa, and cuzcuz. The biggest meal in Brazil is lunch. When he was staying in Gimli at the lodge, he enjoyed the bread and cheese. Kyle Bird is a Native youth from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Caribou and some other meat are the most common in Yellowknife. The chili was his favorite at the lodge in Gimli. In his opinion, the bad thing about the food they served were the eggs - they were grey. His favorite food is steak. Trevor is a youth from Winnipeg. He’s a high school student who goes to Sisler High School. At Gimili, he enjoyed the chicken and burgers. One day he remembers the rice was too dry and there wasn’t enough food. His favorite food is steak. A lot of youths had a lot of things in common, but the main things that stood out were the flies. There were flies everywhere. Sometimes it seems like you weren’t actually eating but swooping flies from your food all through lunch. The rice was another dilemma. One early morning some youth were lining up to get their breakfast and out of no where a server popped up the question, "Would you like some rice for breakfast?" Some youth were surprised by this unusual question; they just stared and said politely but simply, "No, thanks." On a personal note: I had no complaints about the food, well, except the rice, the tomato soup, the Jell-O, and the flies.
Krista, ONThrough out the National Forum in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, experiences were constantly being shared, but nothing was a better representation of the collective stories and feelings of war than the silhouettes painted by each group. The activity consisted of creating two silhouettes by tracing the shapes of a male and a female and decorating them to reflect the emotion and trauma of living through a war. Each of the seven groups designed silhouettes based on their answers to four questions: what their eyes had seen, what their mind remembered, what their body had experienced and what their heart had felt. They also wrote words on the canvas to explain their feelings. One group wrote a poem about what they had endured. Many groups had at least one person in the fetal position to represent fear, helplessness, innocence, self-protection or often a combination of these elements. Some paintings had people holding their arms out to each other but unable to reach, illustrating the separation that war causes. One group drew a child soldier standing strong, proud and powerful, but also wrote his true feelings of fear and anxiety on the page to remind everyone that he was still a child. Some of the groups added a positive element to their silhouettes: hope. The message on one of them said, "Dark past, bright future." Another had dark hands around the silhouette to show how it had been hurt, but there were also bright hands approaching the victim to help it. The group explained that those were the hands of the youth at the conference who have not only discussed the problem, but also created solutions and recommendations to solve it. As one girl said, "The worst thing we can do is to let our fears get bigger than our hopes."
Natalie, MB
La semaine passée, 75 jeunes de plus de 28 pays du monde se sont rencontrés à Misty Lake Lodge près de Gimli. Chacun d’entre eux a apporté sa propre histoire de guerre, de souffrance et de peine. Plusieurs délégués canadiens se sont demandé si les jeunes de pays affectés de guerre se sentaient à l’aise à raconter leurs histoires devant des dixaines de journalistes, d’amis, ou d’étrangers. Elvira Kastrati, une jeune femme du Kosovo agée de 19 ans dit, « J’aime quand on me demande mon histoire de guerre. C’est comme si on se souci vraiment de se qui c’est passé. Mais ce n’est pas la même chose avec tout le monde. Des fois, j’ai l’impression que ceux qui me demandent comment c’etait se sentent obligés de le demander ». Emmanuel Kedini, lui aussi agé de 19 ans mais originaire du Soudan se sent ouvert au sujet de la guerre dans son pays. Il veut que les gens soient au courrant de ce qui se passe au Soudan. Aussi du Soudan, Diana Ibrahim a quitté son pays à l’age de 13 ans et habite présentement Winnipeg. Maintenant agée de 18 ans, elle affirme que les média demandent toujours trop de details au sujet de la torture et des separations qu’elle a dû souffrir avec sa famille. Pourtant, elle répond toujours aux questions qu’on lui pose. Pourquoi? « Car le seul moyen de changer les choses est de faire savoir ce qui se passe aux personnes ordinaires. Je veux changer les choses au Soudan, alors je vais faire tout dans mon pouvoir pour faire connaître la situation là-bas ». On entend toujours des histoires de guerre remplies de tristesse et de souffrance, puis les victimes de guerre rassemblées ici continuent de revivre les moments de torture passés. Mais comme George Santana a dit, « Ceux qui ne se rappelle pas de leur passé sont condamnés a le repeter ».
Destiny , MB and Elvira , ON
Over the past four days 75 students from around the globe have gathered in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada to discuss children as victims of war and possible solutions. The students represent numerous cultures with different religions, values, and ways of life. The general media was not permitted to enter the hotel at which we were staying at, so to give the general public a bit of insight as to what we were up to, we are writing this article. The first few days were "get to know each other" activities. After all, we would have to be spending the next 10 days together in Winnipeg (South of Gimli) for the official conference. We participated in activities such as painting images of war to express feelings of conflict and destruction, and we were lucky enough to have the Manitoba Theatre for Young People come and teach us other ways of communicating without words in order to help us overcome language barriers. Overall, everyone enjoyed meeting new people from all over the globe. "It’s different, being around so much diversity, it’s great," said one Canadian. And the international delegates felt about the same. "I have enjoyed meeting other people because that means I’m not alone in the feelings, emotions, hopelessness." But the truth of the matter is, it’s not hopeless because we’re the next generation. If we can get together, even though all of our differences still remain, to have one common goal - to stop war - it’s not at all hopeless. So, the truth of the matter is, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, what religion you believe in, or anything else for that matter, we’re all about the same when it all boils down. And together we want to stop war.
Destiny, MB, Jenna, ON and Grace, MBThe most important problems identified by the youth involved in the International Conference for War-Affected Children were child soldiers, land mines, and that weapons should not be traded or sold to countries in conflicts of war. Other priorities included stopping child labour. Laura Rios-Quintana, originally from Mexico, is concerned mostly about the children because they cannot protect themselves from war. An international delegate at the conference said that the main people affected by war are civilians, especially women and children. Another delegate, Esat Rexhepi, said we should, ‘Stop wars, make laws against land mines, and treat children all over the world equally.’ And one Canadian delegate suggested that, ‘World leaders should always sit down and have peace talks first, and really honestly try and compromise. War shouldn’t even be an option.’ After all these findings we asked if anything good would come from this conference. Most people believed that because the Canadian government put so much money into this, they will listen and our suggestions will be heard. One delegate said ‘We have lots of input and constructive criticism. We have something really good here and that is honesty.’ The bottom line: We want to make a difference and we are going to have our voices heard!
At the National Forum in Gimli, the 50 Canadian and 25 International youth, in seven groups, came up with recommendations based on what they thought should be done about the problem of war-affected children.
· Educate children within schools about current events and refugees
· Create student welcome committees for refugees at schools
· Increase programs like ESL and FSL through the Canadian government
· Avoid economic sanctions
· Raise awareness amongst Canadians by having more international and national roundtables and conferences
· In Canada, stop producing and exporting weapons that will be used in under-developed countries
· In schools, address these issues as part of the curriculum
· In wealthier countries, reprioritize so that more money can be spent on helping others instead of personal gain
· Do not use physical intervention to stop wars, but instead support the people trying to make peace within the country by providing opportunities for negotiation of fighting parties
· Increases finances going toward the mental health of war-affected children *
· Consider and speed up the process of family reunification *
· Implement summer school to help refugees learn English, French and Spanish *
· Promote the health of individuals in war zones *
· Do not allow child solders under 20 *
· Ban landmines, i.e. sign Ottawa treaty
· Educate children in schools about the plights of refugees
· Create more programs for war-affected children: therapy, learning programs *
· Make more jobs available to refugees and remove barriers that children are facing in terms of accessing higher education because of a lack of immigration papers *
· Find a way to encourage the UN to enforce the human rights treaties, especially the convention on the human rights of the child
· Stop selling/buying weapons to/from countries at war (some strong objections)
· Create youth organization to help sponsor other children around the world
· Concentrate on post-war effects on children as well as the war itself, i.e. famine, etc.
· Implement activities to help war-affected students interact with other students
· Encourage groups like Amnesty International and ask countries to release students being held because they are not part of a war *Denotes points already brought up by roundtable discussions
