Support 1,200 Children Peacebuilders in Kenya

     Several months ago, as a Peace Fellow from The Advocacy Project working in partnership with Children Peace Initiative - Kenya (CPI-Kenya), I began a Global Giving fundraising appeal to empower 1,200 children from previously warring tribes as active peace builders in their communities. Presently, as a result of many generous donations, an incredible $1,000 has been raised for this endeavor. First and foremost, I would like to personally thank each and every individual for your contribution to this cause, because of your support CPI-Kenya will be able to reach more children and change more lives. Through children, CPI-Kenya creates a dialogue that first builds a friendship between children from previously warring tribes, and then expands to involve their families and eventually entire communities. Whereas 10 years ago, the inter-ethnic conflict in certain areas of Kenya was causing loss of hundreds of lives and countless livestock per year, now the communities that CPI-Kenya is working in have stabilized and are seeing a greater length of peace than residents can remember, thus motivating CPI-Kenya to expand their reach, something they can now attempt thanks to these donations.

      In order to achieve such success, CPI-Kenya utilizes several key collaborations and facilitates direct initiatives to reach their target population, such as: week long peace camps, family and inter-community peace gatherings, weekend exchange programs, nonviolence and peace education, economic empowerment, gender-focused initiatives, and opportunities for cultural exchange. Although children are at the forefront of CPI-Kenya's initiative, one of the reasons why their approach is so effective is because it further involves families and community leaders in an organic way, allowing relationships to be maintained naturally and encouraging sustainability. One example of this, for those of you that followed along with my work through my blog posts, can be seen in Mama Esther. 

     Mama Esther's son is involved in one of the peace camps facilitated by CPI-Kenya and she is a proud supporter of their programs. In fact, it is because of her son's friendship from CPI-Kenya's peace camp that Mama Esther became an advocate for peace in her community. While I was in Northern Kenya interviewing families, Mama Esther stood out; she is a strong single mother who is now able to consistently provide for her extended family as a result of the stability her community has seen from CPI-Kenya's work. That is simply one example of how friendships between children can really improve the quality of life of entire families.  

      CPI-Kenya's programs are diverse and adaptive to the cultures within which they work, ranging from urban Nairobi slums to rural villages in Northern Kenya, but the goal of their innovative model remains the same: empower children as influential, active agents of change. With your donations, CPI-Kenya is that much closer to reaching children in communities that are desperate for peace in order to live and learn safely. For more up-to-date information regarding CPI-Kenya's work and how the programs are going, I invite you to check out their website: http://www.cpi-kenya.org. 

Thank you again, for all of your support, from myself and the CPI-Kenya team!

Asante sana!