Last week I went to speak with a group of school children in Winchester, near Ottawa. I had to talk with the students about peace. All was well except that the audiences were between the ages of 3 and 12, so extremely tough crowd.
The students were exploring the concept of peace as part of an amazingly innovative project called Seeds of Peace, which intends to sow seeds of peace in young minds. The students listened to representatives from Yemen, Iran, USA, South Africa and myself from Afghanistan. Later I taught students how to write peace in Dari and Pashto. Later students drew on and wrote messages of peace on envelops filled with sunflower seeds and gave them to me so I can send it to Afghanistan where school children could sow it in their schools.
Such beautiful way of teaching something essential to children and what a good time to start.
I will update you on the seeds' travel to Afghanistan.
About Me
- Zuhra Bahman
- London, United Kingdom
- Born and brought up in Afghanistan, books were my life line during the war. I read many classics from Russia, France, USA and the UK translated in Dari, while bullets flew over our house in Northern Afghanistan. In 2000 I left Afghanistan for the UK where with the help of many friends I raised money and made three libraries for children in Afghanistan. Through these libraries I wanted the children in my country to momentarily lose themselves in fantasy and forget about many troubles they face. I also strongly believe that knowledge makes people self assured and self assured people do not fear strangers. Therefore, I think more than anything children in Afghanistan need access to books so that they can understand the world and not fear the unknown, so that they engage with the world with confidence rather than the cowardice of guns. Last year my friend Annina mentioned challenge of reading 50 books in a year. It was too late for me to take it up. In 2011 I have decided to read 50 books and make it into an effort to raise funds for my libraries. I hope you enjoy my musings as well as making a financial contribution. Thanks!
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