Afghan & international youth peace volunteers say that “Love is How We'll Ask for Peace.”

Afghan youth in operation TOGETHER against violence

2010-02-08T20:48:00.001-08:00

Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers saddened by Operation Moshtarak مشترک ‘ TOGETHER ’

Please watch them speak clearly to the world, against militarism and violence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kIjfLz-Si0

Please, do not fight anymore.

We should stand TOGETHER in non-violence

No one wins in war, neither men nor women

We should stand TOGETHER to stop our world’s militarism

We the people of Afghanistan are tired of war & don’t want this war

We are not willing for the Taliban, or international & Afghan soldiers or Afghan civilians to be killed

We the youth of Afg say to Obama, Gordon Brown & the world, let’s be TOGETHER in the way of humane-ness & non-violence ‘cos love is how we’ll ask for peace

Love is how we’ll ask for peace.

The Afghan youth peace volunteers

‘Their flesh is my flesh, their blood is my blood, their pain is my pain, their SMILE is my SMILE.’ Henri Nouwen

International peace volunteers in Olympia

USA

& across the globe. ‘Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.’ Mother Teresa

The picture with our peace message Reconciliation of Civil Hearts for the Nobel Peace Laureate President Obama.

We have hope that love has a value which overcomes even death.

We know that we’re not alone.

We’re waiting historically with the rest of the world.

Love is how we’ll ask for peace

Afghans desire peace whatever the walls

2010-02-08T20:37:00.001-08:00

Please watch how Afghans in Kabul desire peace so much they’d scribble it on the walls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H_ADb4SUag

I was in Kabul recently and as I was passing by the high, barbed-wire walls surrounding the Ministry of Finance, I noticed the deep wishes of Afghans ‘graffiti-ed’ on the grey walls, declaring :

Peace is happiness

Peace for security

Peace is mutual respect

Peace is friendship

Peace is our hope

Peace is our desire.

I couldn’t capture all the ‘graffiti’ in time, but need we demand more Afghan ‘graffiti’ to prove their desperate desire for peace, while the world gets un-imaginatively stuck in the tiring idea that bombs and bullets can meet the needs of their hearts?

Transcript of Video

For those who would remember Afghanistan

Don’t just remember its ruins

Remember the writing on its walls saying, “ Peace for security”

And most of all, remember her people

Afghans who want to make human contact with others

Radio : I want to speak more to my daughter but telephone expenses are high…

Afghan wall wish: Peace is good fortune

Afghans declare on the walls : Peace is happiness

And most of all, remember her people…

Afghans who wish it so much they’ll write it on the walls : Peace is our desire

How we would want Afghan children to play or cry

2010-02-02T03:17:00.000-08:00

Please watch how Afghan children ski and play ‘marbles’ with stones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w97Be_hMzjo

Transcript of Video

Modern Warfare 2 is a video war game that raked in US$550 million in the first 5 days of its sales

Afghan children playing ‘marbles’, with stones

Play may involve fears and risks

Afghan children skiing with sneakers, shoes & sticks

We need to ask all those hard questions from the very beginning

What do we want children to grow up playing & learning?

‘Cos when the children fight let them know it ain’t right’

‘When the children pray let them know the way’

What can we say when the children cry in the wars which adults wage?

Background Music “When the children cry”

Little child, dry your crying eyes

How can I explain the fear you feel inside

Cos you were born into this evil world, where men has killed young men, and no one knows just why

What have we begun, just look what we have done

All that we destroyed, you must build again

When the children cry, let them know we tried

Cos when the children fight, let them know it ain’t right

When the children pray let them know the way

Cos when the children sing, then the new world begins

We Afghans shall live in peace someday ; connecting with Witness against Torture

2010-01-20T00:51:00.000-08:00

Please watch how Afghan youth fasted & asked which other human we humans would torture next

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDloKITlBJM

On Martin Luther King’s Day this 18^th of Jan, after fasting for 2 short days, in solidarity with Witness Against Torture’s 12 day fast for the prompt closing of Guantanamo Bay Prison, a few Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers gathered in a mud house on an Afghan winter night, to have a heart-to-heart conversation with members of the Witness Against Torture and later, with friends from Landmark Education Olympia facilitated by Dr Dennis Mills of Capella University.

We asked each other the questions of our times and our hearts.

Friends of Witness Against Torture led by Frida Berrigan and Bob Cooke encouraged the Afghan youth with their kind words, their tears and their singing. The conversation ended with them singing ‘We shall overcome’ and a sense of the ‘change in consciousness’ and the friendships which all human beings long for.

We remembered the words of Martin Luther King, in the everyday Dari of Afghanistan.

Text of Video

A few Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers fasted for 2 days, then gathered in the mountains…

Which human will we humans torture next?

They tele-conversed with Witness Against Torture‎, remembering M. L. King's words

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

A lie cannot live.

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.

Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.

Why do we respond to fear, hate and anger by hurting one another?

Frida Berrigan of Witness Against Torture : They first become wealthy professionals but they don’t want to. They want to lower their income because they don’t want to pay for war

Dr Dennis Mills of Capella University : Dr King talked about 3 major demons, 3 problems.

The 3 ( demons ) are racism, materialism & militarism.

Those are very prophetic words because we who are making this call are still working to change ourselves for generations.

ما اسانها کدام انسان دیگر را خواهد شکنجه کردیم؟

Which human will we humans torture next?

Pause in empathy or perish in estrangement

We shall live in peace some day

We shall overcome some day

Now is the time to pause in empathy or perish in estrangement

Cross posted from http://www.witnesstorture.org/fast-day-8

Compiled by Kate Cowley

January 18, 2010
Dear Friends,

This morning, on Day Eight of our fast, we gathered together for a conference call with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, a group of young people working for peace and justice in Afghanistan (http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog/). They have been fasting for two days in solidarity with all of us.

It is difficult to try to encapsulate the richness of the dialogue we exchanged with this group of young people so dedicated to the struggle for peace and justice, and so entrenched in the sorrow and pain of war. The dialogue and connections across such a distance was very inspiring to all of us.

At one point in the conversation, Jerica mentioned to them that we’ve been singing a lot lately, and asked if they sing songs together. They in turn asked us to sing for them, and so Kathy led us in another round of “Hold on, keep your eyes on the prize.” They returned the favor by singing a song for us in Arabic that translates into English as: “Mountains cannot reach mountains, only men can reach men.”

Carmen brought up that it was Martin Luther King Day and asked if they were aware of the significance of this day in the history of the U.S. They responded to this by reading to us MLK quotes in Arabic that they had learned together. It was quite a fitting close to our conversation and a beautiful homage to Martin Luther King Jr. We will keep these young Afghan Peace Volunteers in our hearts and be with them in their struggle!

At end the day, we joined with survivors of torture from TASSC International at St. Stephen’s. In sharing their stories with us, they expressed the difficulty of starting life over again after being tortured and re-assimilating to life again in a different place. They focused on the importance of prayer for them, and shared their gratitude at learning that there was a group of people praying with and for them. We listened as they spoke about the effects of certain methods of torture, particularly solitary confinement, and the de-humanizing effect it can have. They also discussed the way violence of torture perpetuates itself, how often the tortured can become the torturer.

They told us that one of the most difficult things about being a survivor of torture is the loneliness. We have talked as a group before about this feeling of loneliness, and how it is one thing that all human beings share. Again and again we come back to this idea of community, of being able to reach out to one another, as a way of rebuilding our humanity.

Thank you for all you are doing.

Peace with Justice,

Witness Against Torture
www.witnesstorture.org

Post Traumatic Stress is an ORDER of conscience that can save humanity

2010-01-16T22:20:00.000-08:00

Please listen to Faiz’s heart of sorrow and humanity in remembering death and war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yufP1iRr0z4

I can tell the story of a war in which I lost my brother...

in front of me, before my eyes.. they shot him, with a Kalashnikov.

.. a massacre… a cave on our way, in which we saw 60 corpses with our own eyes

We were very frightened but we did not have any choice.

What could we have done?

I remember how people were unjustly beaten up,

how arms were dismembered,

how eyes were gouged out…

Sometimes, I don’t know how to feel & I wonder who & where I am.

The memories of war affect me very negatively.

What do you request of those who are harsh, the war-mongers, those who have become habitually violent?

I request them not to murder anyone ; come live in a humane society, to stop these cruel and inhumane acts.

Faiz Ahmad, you and I, or any human being who has witnessed these dismembering and eye-gouging horrors of war, cannot be the same again.

As a medical practitioner, I’m certain that we would all qualify as sufferers of post-traumatic stress, according to the DSM Criteria, and experience the painful symptoms not just for the one month period required for diagnosis.

If we didn’t suffer such stresses on our conscience, we would be the disordered ones, unlike the war veterans who respond humanely with a pain they carry for the rest of their lives, some of whom eventually take to suicide in hope of a kinder world beyond.

13^th Jan 2010 The United States Veteran Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki noted that of the more than 30,000 suicides each year in America, about 20 percent are committed by veterans. Why do we know so much about suicides but still know so little about how to prevent them?" Shinseki said. "Simple question, but we continue to be challenged."

Post-traumatic stress should be cared for optimally and with love, because it is an order of our conscience that can save humanity.

It puts an onus on us to prevent such in-humane experiences by the eradication of war.

Those who have witnessed others killed with the maximal violence humans can muster should not have to suffer alone. They do not deserve the derision of those who erroneously consider them weak and as having a dis-order.

Our cold, clinical medical ‘intelligence’ will never match their saving conscience.

It reminds me that as we cope with the harsh Afghan winter cold in a medieval system of poor heating, it is the difficult elements of nature that point us to the salvation of community warmth.

Post Traumatic Stress is an ORDER of human conscience that can save humanity

Why I, a family physician, consider Post Traumatic Stress from war a natural order of human conscience, and NOT a disorder.

1. It is a natural order that should be managed holistically and with love, because it is an order that arises out of an intact CONSCIENCE.

Our medical diagnostic label has inadvertently mis-represented what is a natural and expected human response to extreme violence as an un-natural disease.

Which of us would NOT be stressed witnessing a brutal killing?

If we believe that it is a courageous man who watches slaughter calmly, we have lost something essential about being human. For that logic to stand scrutiny, we would have to condone holding a ‘bravest man competition’ in which contestants watch as many ‘live’ killings as he can tolerate without feeling sick, or sad.

If we believe that it’s patriotic to kill any suspicious ‘enemy’, grievous would be the day the ‘enemy’ was your own child and unconscionable the act that puts a country above a fellow human being.

2. It is a natural order because it is our passionate response to in-humanity.

Yes, we must help the post-traumatic stress sufferer, BUT, we mustn’t call it a DIS-ORDER.

It’s inaccurate to call it a disorder

It is in essence a natural human ORDER that when we have witnessed horrible violence or personally experienced terrible trauma, we become stressed, often very stressed. It is Man’s inherent way of coping with events which are entirely in-congruous with how a good, peaceful life should be.

We label something as disordered when it mal-functions and behaves abnormally. Feeling scared, sorrowful and repulsed by killings is not a malfunction and is not abnormal. It is how our bodies, together with our hearts, minds and conscience, NORMALLY FUNCTIONS.

It’s a PARADOX to call it a disorder. The person who doesn’t feel remorseful or traumatized, who forces himself into ‘courageously’ accepting that the violent killing was normal or even kind and who convinces himself to perpetuate the violence, is THE disordered one.

So, sufferers should be helped to cope with their stress by acknowledging that their feelings are normal, while we should worry about the truly disordered response of a numbed conscience which allows continued mass killings.

It is not a disease to hate or be angry and sad over the scenes of bodies and blood splattering everywhere or to detest the violent manner in which a loved one or a fellow human died.

3. It is a natural order whose onus on humanity is to work towards the eradication of war. It can save humanity.

The current crisis of increasing suicides among war veterans points us to an urgent need to prevent this suffering by abstaining from and preventing acts of war and violence.

It is the onus and responsibility of the medical, civil and military communities to heal and save humanity definitively.

Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire

“Killing goes against everything we're taught from childhood about love and compassion.

It goes against every religious doctrine and moral code.

It's small wonder that so many come back from war sick at heart.

We have to start to disarm our own minds and look at the fact that there are always alternatives to violence.

We must create the idea that to even think of war is horrific. “

Kevin O hill was a 23 year old American soldier killed in Afghanistan

http://thebrooklynink.com/2009/10/kevin-hill/

Kevin seemed “kind of distant” to his friend Darryl. “Like he had a lot of stuff on his mind, like his mind was racing,” Darryl said. “He told me he had seen a dead body in front of him.”

Olsen Hill, Kevin’s father, picked it up to hear his wife, Mahalia Hill, screaming on the other end.

“Having to tell her on the phone, and not being able to hold her. And to hear them scream, without being able to hold them. That just made it even worse. Nine hours, driving and crying, driving and crying,” he said. “I don’t know whether he suffered or not, and that’s what kills me. In terms of details, him being shot before or after. I just try not to think about it because it’s too much, too much,” his father said, his voice breaking. “None of us wanted him to go into the military. Well not in the Army anyway because I was in the Army in the first Gulf War, and I knew what war was like. And so I didn’t want my son experiencing combat like I did,” said Olsen Hill. He told his son about the constant fear, of not knowing where the next bullet, mine, or sniper was hidden.

309.81 DSM-IV Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following have been present:

(1) the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others (2) the person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: In children, this may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior.

B. The traumatic event is persistently reexperienced in one (or more) of the following ways:

(1) recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: In young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.

(2) recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: In children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content.

(3) acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur upon awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur.

(4) intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

(5) physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

C. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following:

(1) efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma

(2) efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma

(3) inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma

(4) markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities

(5) feeling of detachment or estrangement from others

(6) restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings)

(7) sense of a foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span)

D. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:

(1) difficulty falling or staying asleep
(2) irritability or outbursts of anger
(3) difficulty concentrating
(4) hyper-vigilance
(5) exaggerated startle response

E. Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in Criteria B, C, and D) is more than one month.

F. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Specify if:
Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than 3 months
Chronic: if duration of symptoms is 3 months or more

Specify if:
With Delayed Onset: if onset of symptoms is at least 6 months after the stressor

Afghan Youth believe that war cannot end terrorism

2010-01-09T22:03:00.000-08:00

Please watch Afghan youth speak to the world’s ‘intellectuals’ about their misguided conventional strategy against terrorism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzcNWj9iLsU

How can war end the greed for power, the greed for money, poverty, the lack of work,

the telling of lies, fear, injustice, ignorance, misunderstandings,

self-interest, pride, violence, anger and hate?

The intellectuals of the world have analyzed & justified the war against terrorism.

We, the youth of Afg, are sorry that their analysis is not correct.

In fact, the people of the world know that war cannot end the roots of terrorism.

Abdulai

A root of terrorism is greed for power & war can’t end the greed for power.

Rahman

A root of terrorism is greed for money & war can’t end the greed for money.

Shir Ali

A root of terrorism is poverty & war cannot end poverty.

Raziq

A root of terrorism is lack of work & war cannot end the lack of work.

Najib

A root of terrorism is the telling of lies & war can’t end the telling of lies.

Immaduddin

A root of terrorism is fear & war cannot end fear.

Nasrullah

A root of terrorism is injustice & war cannot end injustice.

Yasir

A root of terrorism is ignorance & war cannot end ignorance.

Samiullah

A root of terrorism is misunderstandings & war can’t end misunderstandings.

Mohd Hussein

A root of terrorism is self-interest & war cannot end self-interest.

Mohd Jan

A root of terrorism is pride & war cannot end pride.

Shir Agha

A root of terrorism is violence & war cannot end violence.

Zekerullah and brothers

A root of terrorism is anger & war cannot end anger.

Aziz

A root of terrorism is hate & war cannot end hate.

The intellectuals of the world have analyzed & justified the war against terrorism.

We, the youth of Afg, are sorry that their analysis is not correct.

In fact, the people of the world know that war cannot end the roots of terrorism.

Gaza Freedom March in Afghanistan : Love is how the kites in Gaza, Afghanistan and the world will fly

2010-01-06T22:12:00.000-08:00

Please watch Afghan youth fly kites for Gaza Freedom March and converse about revenge and love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWRqqoNESCc

Transcript of video

2010 was coming through over the Afghan horizon

The Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers flew kites for the Gaza Freedom March

They had a tele-conference with friends from Palestine, Israel, Iraq & the

We wish for the youth of Gaza a freedom from the oppression & threat of war & violence

The people of Israel & Palestine should stop war & make peace.

Today, we want to converse with them, to become close to one another.

Abdulai, the Taliban killed your father. Do you want to take revenge?

No, we should make peace & not take revenge. If we take revenge, war will increase.

Faiz, your brother was killed by others. Do you bear a grudge in your heart?

No, we’ve made peace with them.

But, in the world today, everyone who has a family member will usually take revenge.

How do we end the thought of revenge?

We can’t go on killing one other in revenge. If we do, the world will end one day.

Blood cannot wash away blood. We should practice love, so such horrors can be forgotten.

My name is Bassam, Bassam from Palestine.

Douglas : “Bassam, I know I speak for everyone, calling in solidarity…”

I know that the Corries would like to speak to you.

Cindy Corrie : Hello, Bassam, it’s good to hear your voice. And I hope that we have …good things happen for all of us.

I notice that we also have someone from

Israel

. Can you go ahead?

Hi everybody, my name is Yaniv. Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you too!

And then from Washington D.C. Go ahead!

This is Josh Steiber.

We’ll fly kites.

Our hope for freedom!

We have to fly the kites of freedom!

We want freedom from the wounds of our hearts!

We want freedom from hate!

Let the kite fly! Let the string go, let the string go!

Run………!

Love is how the kites will fly in Gaza, Afg & the world!

Run………!

Freedom, freedom……!

The freedom which we youth, the future of the world, urgently desire is a freedom

from those built-up grievances heaped upon us or within ourselves that separate us constantly,

a freedom from hate and un-kindness.

Love is how the kites in Gaza, Afg & the world will fly

Love is how we’ll ask for peace!

Befriending a potential Afghan insurgent in Quetta Pakistan ; his name was Najib

2009-12-29T02:16:00.001-08:00

Please appreciate the insignificant refugee life of 12 year old Pushtoon orphan Najib in Quetta, Pakistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aioZZKxUqsQ

In short, I learnt form Najib that the world needs to build wide-scale humane relationships across all barriers so as to turn the tide on an increasingly proud and violent regression of humanity.

Najib was a 12 year old Pushtoon refugee orphan who collected rubbish for a living in Quetta, Pakistan. I had just entered the law-less border town of Quetta to work among Afghan refugees and had the privilege of meeting Najib in the streets where he was rummaging through trash.

We became friends.

Our means of communication was just a sense of goodwill, as both of us were rudimentary with Urdu. But we clicked like kindred spirits who wondered if any meaning could be found in war, in safety or in friendship.

I was wondering if I could be of help. How proud that thought turned out to be, especially with the forgotten destitute like Najib. He was the soul who helped me understand what humanitarian workers need to live out, that we can only begin to be of some transient help when we understand the practice of love.

Love is freed through friendship that’s oblivious to race, class and religion.

Love is impossible in war because war destroys and kills.

Love sees that we have the same ‘dirt’ in our lives and that we need to somehow recover together from our frailties.

I’ve no idea if Najib is still alive today. Or if he has not become the hunted and ‘demonized’ Afghan insurgent.

Quetta is now touted as the headquarters of the Afghan Taliban under Mullah Omar and there are rumours of plans to bomb it, perhaps with the cold symbol of military pride, the drones.

There were certainly many ‘madrassahs’ ( religious schools ) training young boys in ‘jihad’ while I was there in 2002 through to 2004, probably a peak period of the re-grouping of Afghan fighters following the bombing of Afghanistan post September 11.

I shudder to think how different things may have been for me if I were not a civilian humanitarian worker but a uniformed soldier, however well-intentioned a soldier I may have been. I would never have become Najib’s friend.

We should all shudder to think that the hearts of the world’s religious, intellectual and political elite of today unquestioningly accept militarism as a response to hate, anger and a vacuum of meaningful relationships.

We should shudder at its sheer amoral-ness, emptiness and senseless-ness.

For a few months, Najib visited me frequently, sharing food with me, looking to me for healing when he pricked his finger with a used syringe needle he had collected in his trash sack and enjoying a Coke treat on a warm summer day.

I will never know if he appreciated our interaction, but I can declare that I did.

In season, I invited Najib and his aged grandma ( both his parents had been killed in the war ) to share some delicious Pakistani mangoes. I was overjoyed to wash Najib’s soiled hands and feet before the ‘meal’. When I asked to take a photo with Najib and his grandma, I asked Najib to smile.

Najib’s grandma chided me in Kandahri Pushto, “Why are you asking Najib to smile? He doesn’t have any reason to smile.”

Then ,on a dreary late afternoon, Najib informed me with teary eyes that he was leaving to cross borders again, this time into Iran, because ‘life in Quetta was difficult.’

How I wish I could meet Najib again.

Najib was illiterate. One day, I had taught him to write his name in my journal and had recorded my thoughts in the verses below.

نجیب

On this quiet page

I taught him to write his name

His life, just like this safha صفحه

Will turn the corner and move on again

Not seeing how the end will B بor be

Nor how to start with the N نor end

But scribbling with fortitude and persistence

a wandering spirit and a weary hand

Trying to chance upon some line

That will spell real hope from above

And form a meaning kind and true

And have roots in unfading love

My deep concern for this orphan boy

Whose name and friendship I chanced upon

Who gave me a privileged moment

When on this page his name was formed

The quiet voice and silent name of Najib نجیب

Video Script

Quetta at the Afghan Pakistan border

The Af-Pak border is now labeled an ‘epicenter of terrorism’

We should remember that refugee settlements house human beings

Afghan wars mean Afghan refugees

In 2002, I met Afghan refugee children collecting trash in the Quetta alleys

12-year-old Pushtoon orphan Najib lost his parents & fled Kandahar

Najib had eyes of life and grief

He collected trash to re-sell for a few rupees

No trash was too ‘lowly’ for him

He’s one among the destitute, unknown masses

Unknowingly, Najib turned my life upside down…

…when he offered me his hand of friendship

…and shared his journey with me

We had Coca Cola together

Ate apples together

Yes, even mused over technology together

One day, Najib’s hand was hurt by a syringe needle he had collected

He came running bare-feet, to ‘un-burden’ his pain with me

Another day, I cleaned Najib’s soiled hands for a meal

His grandma said that Najib had no reason to smile

But you know, Najib had a smile…

He smiled when he was with friends

Like many impoverished Afghans, Najib lived in a silence

Like many impoverished Afghans, he expected little of life

We can make peace with potential insurgents by befriending them

Love is impossible in war as war destroys & kills.

Love is freed thru friendship that’s oblivious to race, class & religion

Love sees that we have the same ‘dirt’ in our lives

that we need to somehow recover together from our frailties.

Love is how we will ask for peace

Afghan youth release ‘doves’ in support of World March for Peace

2009-12-29T02:15:00.000-08:00

Please watch Afghan youth release 2 white pigeons ( representing doves ) for World March for Peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBE2lf7pSmc

Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers showed their support for The World March for Peace & Non-violence http://www.theworldmarch.org/index.php

They paid a visit to the UN, part of whose charter is ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war’.

As this country is built into a verdant meadow, oh why don’t the intellectuals care about peace?

Peace is priceless.

Without peace, it’s impossible to survive.

Peace is love and friendship.

We the youth of

Afghanistan

want peace & a culture of non-violence for Afg & the world

We are participating in The World March for Peace and Non-violence

Why have Afghans, like others in the world, chosen the dove as a symbol of peace?

The dove is meek.

It represents peace.

The dove has a special white.

It carries love.

It is a bird of freedom.

The dove is friendship.

The dove is very loving.

محبت آن طریق است که کبوتر پرواز می شود

Love is how the dove will fly!

Peace…peace!

Silent Night by Simon and Garfunkel

Love is how the dove will fly!

Background words from the music of Silent Night by Simon and Garfunkel

“…into anti-Vietnam war protests…demonstrators were forcibly evicted from the areas where they began chanting anti-war slogans.

Former Vice-President Richard Nixon says that unless there is a substantial increase in the present war effort in Vietnam, the US should look forward to 5 more years of war.

In a speech before the Convention of The Veterans of Foreign Wars in New York , Nixon also said that opposition to the war in this country is the greatest single weapon working against the US. That’s the seven o’clock edition of the news. Good night. “

Afghan youth face a Nobel peace of war

2009-12-13T23:56:00.000-08:00

Please watch how Afghan youth are facing a Nobel peace of war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leSBFQ95qio

We ordinary people need to stop this madness

When the world shouts the merits of war, we will respectfully refuse its noise.

Rather than giving peace an uncertain prize, let's give peace a certain chance.

Thank you for hearing our voice of peace, as being heard is a breakthrough for silence!

We thank all our friends for being with us as we kept the 2nd Cup of Tea Vigil at Bamiyan Peace Park ( daily from 12pm to 1pm ) from the 15th of November 2009 to the 10th of December 2009. Together with our friends, we will henceforth continue as a weekly vigil.

We thank the growing number of friends in this heart-storm of love who have touched us in Afghanistan, deeply.

We thank each and every one of our fans at Youth Peace Volunteers Facebook and others who have sent us encouraging emails of support from the USA, Canada, Brazil, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Egypt and South Africa.

In particular, through the course of our 2nd Cup of Tea Vigil, Douglas Mackey, Jody Tiller, Mark Johnson and their friends in the States ( Matt Grant & students and staff of Olympia High School, Evergreen State College, MidEast Solidarity Project ) had spoken to us on numerous, almost daily occasions through the cell phone long-distance. We also thank Josh Steiber, Tibor Brewer, June Holliday, Dana Lyons, Terry Greene and Andrea LeBlanc of Peaceful Tomorrows, Betsy and her students from Pages for Peace MA, Boston.

It was like hearing Peace and Love being spoken to our hearts from across the oceans.

President Obama may not have heard us yet but our voice of peace in the midst of an escalating war will remain true to our conscience.

The mountains may be un-moved, but the sound of peace from within our hearts will move among the valleys in resounding and resolute waves.

Transcript of video

To friends in the world, be at peace!

Today, our understanding of peace seems to have hit an ice wall

2 Afghan boys had a bumpy truck ride on Afghanistan’s mountain road

The struggle for peace in Afghanistan is not easy

But without peace, it’s impossible for us to live

A young boy had just taken over the wheels to learn how to drive

Drive quickly before it gets dark & the wolves come out to get us…

Are wolves dangerous? Yes.

Do they ‘eat’ humans? Ya…

Don’t they just eat small birds? No 

We should pause and be still in this madness of war

We should pause in recognizing that we have sacred but temporal lives.

We should keep our dignity even in our dying.

We ordinary people need to stop this madness.

Why are we killing one another?

Killing only makes hate correct. It takes away our friends & the good things in life.

When the world shouts the merits of war, we will respectfully refuse its noise.

Rather than giving peace an uncertain prize, let's give peace a certain chance.

Enough of words without actions

True peace is needed

Love is how we’ll ask for peace

The Afghan peace volunteers

‘Their flesh is my flesh, their blood is my blood, their pain is my pain, their SMILE is my SMILE.’ Henri Nouwen

International peace volunteers in Olympia USA & across the globe. ‘Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.’ Mother Teresa

Abdulai gives the U.S. Ambassador a photo gift.‘Mountains cannot reach mountains,only Man can reach Man.’ Afghan proverb

The Afghan peace vigil group with the U.S. Ambassador and his wife

‘I would teach peace rather than war, love rather than hate.’ Albert Einstein

We have hope that love has a value which overcomes even death.

We know that we’re not alone. We’re waiting historically with the rest of the world.

With love, we ask the Nobel Peace Laureate President Obama for the Reconciliation of Civil Hearts.

Thank you for hearing our voice of peace, as being heard is a breakthrough for silence.

Peace must arise from the ordinary ; love can change the strategies of war & peace

2009-12-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

Please hear 13 year old Abdul Ali sing and speak of war and peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38RBMMFyBR0

From the hills I play my flute…

I wish for peace & reconciliation

When will the world ever understand?

We thank those who pray that we'll have peace

But prayers won’t suffice if one by one, war takes us away from life

Peace for the ordinary billions must be loved into passionate existence

by a billion ordinary hearts

From Afghanistan, we thank every individual who is now journeying with us in this heart-storm of love, befriending us at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Peace-Volunteers/206186386153?v=wall or youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com or

journeytosmile@gmail.com

Thank you, our friends, brothers and sisters!

Love and peace,

Hakim in Afghanistan

http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog

Text of video

Is your wish for peace a special or ordinary wish?

Our wish for peace is ordinary because everyone wishes for peace

Who is responsible for bringing peace?

We ourselves are responsible for bringing peace.

If war breaks out, whose fault is it?

It is our fault because we ourselves should make peace.

If governments wage war, we should also temper that.

We the people should temper governments? How?

Yes, that we make peace, as war is futile.

Should we wait for elders & leaders to bring peace?

No, we shouldn’t wait…we ordinary people should arise from our own places to bring peace.

An Afghan leader had said that he wanted to turn Afg into a river of blood

We the people of Afghanistan want a river of peace

We ordinary people should take the course of peace

We should arise from our homes, from the mountains & from the cities

Can’t we ordinary people arise & move?

We can and we will arise for peace.

Peace, peace…from the bottom of our hearts, peace!

From the hills I play my flute…

I wish for peace & reconciliation

When will the world ever understand?

We thank those who pray that we'll have peace

But prayers won’t suffice if one by one, war takes us away from life.

Peace for the ordinary billions must be loved into passionate existence by a billion ordinary hearts

Even when the cold sets in and ice forms over the rivers,

we ordinary people should arise from our own places to bring peace

arise from our homes, from the mountains & from the cities

For if war breaks out, whose fault is it?

Peace, peace…from the bottom of our hearts, peace!

Love is how we’ll ask for peace, love that must arise from the ordinary

I wish for peace & reconciliation

When will the world ever understand?

Love is how we’ll need to run ; finding indomitable love in Afghan disappointment

2009-12-04T23:05:00.000-08:00

Please listen to Abdulai’s disappointment and love “I was very young during the Taliban war. I fled to the Baba Mountains with my family..”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RCzd68KN9I

I was very young during the Taliban war. I fled to the Baba Mountains with my family.There was lots of snow then. When I returned…I never saw my father again.

We shouldn’t continue this manner of life. This life is hard & difficult.

We should have a good & better life through peace & reconciliation.

A resolute love can change every human being & every violent person.

Dear friends in Afghanistan & the world, we may not make it…

But as Ghandi encouraged, ‘ Be the change you want to see in the world.’

More troops & more war make life tough for us.

But we will still move towards love & truth.

Let we ourselves, the youth, bring change. Yes..yes..yes!

Love is how we’ll ask for peace! Let’s move…let’s go!

When disappointment closes in like another moon-less night

We pause in our madness as mere dying Men

From this grief we salvage an indomitable love

That turns even tears into rivers of light

That breaks out in a run, however weary our sight

We will still move towards love & truth

With love, we ask the Nobel Peace Laureate President Obama for a Reconciliation of Civil Hearts

Peace to Obama’s daughters from Afghan children ; 10-15 year old Afghan boys & girls greet Malia & ‎Sasha

2009-12-02T22:56:00.000-08:00

Dear friends of peace,

Please watch 10-15 year old Afghan boys & girls speak words of peace & love to Obama’s daughters Malia & Shasha in : Peace to Obama’s daughters from Afghan children

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlusJ38UKU

Video Excerpt

Malia and Shasha, peace from Afghanistan!

I am Parwin ( 13 years old ), Rana ( 10 ), Abdul Ali ( 13 ), Zekerullah ( 13 ), Abdulai ( 13 ) and Raziq ( 15 ).

No one wins in war, neither women nor men.

We are humans & we want peace.

There are many other creative, non-violent solutions & they need a chance

Love is how we’ll ask for peace!

Malia & Shasha & your parents, from Afg, be at peace!

Malia & Shasha, God protect you & God will take care of you!

Standing together in stirring a heart-storm of love,

meekly & resolutely.

Love is how we’ll ask for peace!

Let love refrain from silence.

We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.

Martin Luther King

The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.

Where love is, there God is also.

Mohandas Gandhi

Love,

Hakim in Afghanistan

On behalf of Abdulai, Zekerullah, Abdul Ali, Raziq, Lala, Faiz, Mohd Jan, Mohd Hussein and Nazuko, Parwin, Rana…..

http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog

American Thanksgiving and our Afghan winter ; Afghan vigilers’ telephone conversation with Amy Goodman

2009-11-28T22:29:00.000-08:00

To our American friends, have a meaningful and warm Thanksgiving!

We especially thank Douglas Mackey and Dennis Mills for the tele-conversation we had with students of Olympia High School and Evergreen State College, as well as Amy Goodman for speaking to us in our Afghan silence.

Please watch the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers’ 2 a.m. conversation with Amy Goodman, & speak of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uXtO0e0_KE

In this season of decisions over Afghanistan, the cold has set in.

“I was sick last week. I had fever & was shivering. I kept warm while I slept at home. Now I’m well & warm at heart. I think that friendship is warmth. Home is warmth!

But war is cold & war freezes friendship. “ Abdul Raziq

Video excerpt of Amy Goodman's 2.30 a.m. conversation with the vigilers on 25/11/2009

Hello! Salam to you Amy!

I want to ask you why you’re doing what you’re doing?

شما چرا این کارصلح را انجام می دهید؟

We want to raise the voice of peace in Afg & the world. We’re hoping for Obama’s answer to our peace message

Blood cannot wash away blood ( an Afghan Proverb ).

Hate cannot wash away hate.

War cannot wash away war.

خدا حافظ !

God protect you, Amy!

Winter & the cold have arrived in Afghanistan.

Some places, the water at the spring freezes & the roads get cut off.

We have to collect precious fuel to keep warm.

We can bear these physical challenges better than lies, war, violence & pride which make our souls shake with their cold indifference, their isolation & their separation.

We sometimes wonder what we should expect from life, from history & from humanity. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect much because unrealistic expectations may silence our hopes.

We comfort one another in saying, “It doesn’t matter. God is kind.” You may think that we should be able to do better than to just have comforting words

Even if we don’t live through this winter, love would endure, love would last.

Is war the sole answer to the problems of Afghanistan?

Can’t life offer us more creative & noble alternatives?

Yes, love would survive another winter.

Yes, love is how we’ll ask for peace!

"The way of peace is the way of love. Love is the greatest power on earth. It conquers all things." Peace Pilgrim

Peace stands together in love, giving thanks for warmth in the cold Afghan winter

Excerpt of Obama’s Thanksgiving speech 26/11/2009

But this Thanksgiving also takes place at a time of great trial for our people.

Across the country, there were empty seats at the table, as brave Americans continue to serve in harm's way from the mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq. We honor and give thanks for their sacrifice, and stand by the families who endure their absence with such dignity and resolve.

I have seen this strength firsthand over many months…. in young Americans enlisting in a time of war..

It is a testament to our national character… that we want that American Dream not just for ourselves, but for each other.

Afghan lady & girl’s loving greetings of peace to U.S. Ambassador Eikenberry ; a heart-storm is slowly seeding

2009-11-24T02:19:00.000-08:00

Please watch an Afghan lady & girl stand with peace youth volunteers in greetings to the U.S. Ambassador Eikenberry, who urged for no troop surge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGRp995K2Xg

Zekerullah, “Eikenberry Sir & your wife, do you have time to be with us at the Bamiyan Peace Park?”

Nazuko : “We wish for peace. Love is how we’ll ask for peace.”

This seems a time when we keep asking each other what is enough, what numbers, what measures…

Against the grain, even the decay within ourselves, we stand with friends in the quiet resolution that love is enough, yes, love is enough.

Others may take everything away from us, but they cannot take away love.

Love is how we’ll ask for peace

2^nd Cup of Tea Peace Vigil, our second mile of love

Come stand with us for love!

The heart-storm of love is slowly seeding. We thank the individuals from the groups below who inspire us to plod on in Afghanistan!

Olympia Washington Vigil

Photos :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tricyrtis_hirta/sets/72157622733609809/

Evergreen State College Vigil, Olympia Washington

Photos :

http://s896.photobucket.com/albums/ac161/jjacobro/2ND%20CUP%20OF%20TEA/?start=0

Mideast Solidarity Project, Evergreen State College, Olympia Washington

Sheridan Peacemakers, Wyoming USA

Stand Up for Peace, Laramie USA

Contagious Love Experiment

We also thank Douglas Mackey, Dennis Mills and staff of Olympia High School for making possible a long-distance tele-conference with the Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers on the 24^th of November 2009.

The love in Zekerullah’s journey to peace ; restoring the truth

2009-11-19T02:05:00.000-08:00

Please watch 13 year old Zekerullah explain why ‘there’s no justice or truth in Afg today’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgCXy60yy2U

Zekerullah, a 13 year Afghan youth peace volunteer who is taking part in the peace vigils at Bamiyan Peace Park, is learning to walk that 2nd mile for love.

Love speaks the truth with gentleness, calling corruption corruption, not a budding democracy.

Love will not nurture greed in Afghan robes or international suits.

Love walks 2 hours in the mud to earn a decent penny though it is aware that, by economic design, money and power are not with those who walk.

Love deliberately asks ‘Does Zekerullah deserve a decent livelihood as much as I do?’

Love waits eagerly for peace and justice, even if, by ‘fateful neglect’, it is un-noticed and un-rewarded.

Love knows that killing in whatever name, even in the name of ‘Overseas Contingency Operations’, is killing. Killing removes life and love; we are not able to justify to Zekerullah that killing is a civil response for our ‘contingencies’.

Love recognizes that war is not peace, whatever its prize.

Love empathizes with soldiers and victims who suffer post-traumatic stress, knowing that it is an ORDER of human conscience that can guide Mankind to wholeness, pleading ‘Enough. Please stop!’

Please speak the truth in love together with Zekerullah, not later but now.

Say it as it is.

This may be a chance for Afghan youth to raise the possibility of love,

for Man to do a little something for other Men,

by standing and waiting firmly for peace before the giants that be.

Killing goes against everything we're taught from childhood about love and compassion. It goes against every religious doctrine and moral code. It's small wonder that so many come back from war "sick at heart."

Irish Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire

Text of video

Zekerullah, 13 years old, stopped Grade 6 school last year

Good morning! Good morning, teacher!

Is it winter already? Yes, it’s become really cold.

Did it snow? Yes, the snow melted & so it’s very muddy.

How do you come (to the city from his village)?

I walk here. Sometimes I hitch a ride on the buttock (back) of a truck.

When you walk, how long does it take? Did you ask how long it takes? 2 hours.

2 hours? Are your legs strong? My legs….yes, they’re strong. Show me your strong legs.

Zekerullah works at a bakery in the city, making biscuits & cakes

How can Afghanistan become peaceful?

We need to act in truth.

We should not lie or cheat. Then, Afg can become peaceful.

Does justice and truth exist in Afghanistan today? No. Why?

If you have a legal case handled by the government authorities & you don’t pay a bribe, they won’t sign the documents

If you fail the exams in school or in college, but you have connections in the government or if you pay a bribe, you’ll pass

Also with the police, if you give some money, your matter will be settled.

You promised the U.S. Ambassador & indirectly President Obama that you would return to school next spring. Would you fulfill your promise?

If bad days do not come my way, Ill definitely fulfill my promise.If bad days come,no one would be able to.

What do you wish from President Obama? That he answers our message of peace.

2nd Cup of Tea Peace Vigil begins our 2nd mile for love

2009-11-17T21:37:00.000-08:00

Please watch the growing smiles of friendship over tea!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-4ZMh8Z9ts

‘Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person ‎to person.’ Mother Teresa

Come and have the 2nd cup of tea and deepen our friendships of peace.

Friends, join us wherever you are!

With love,

from the Afghan & International Youth Peace Volunteers

Dandelion Salad and Peace Works
We thank our peacemaker friends in PeaceWorks, Columbia Missouri USA, for giving us their support. We were encouraged by all your smiles!

Thanks to Dandelion Salad, below is the link to the photos of the smiling faces from Columbia, MO when the Peaceworks organization gathered for their annual dinner

‘Love is How We’ll Ask for Peace’ (Set)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorri37/sets/72157622681524727/

Oregon Fellowship of Reconciliation
We also thank Oregon Fellowship of Reconciliation for writing to us on You Tube, saying :

The Oregon Fellowship of Reconciliation endorses your efforts! Let love bring peace! A photo will follow!

Our growing peace vigil friendships
Thank you all for encouraging us. Please send us your vigil information and pictures, wherever you are standing for peace, to youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com

2nd Cup of Tea Peace Vigil, our 2nd mile for love

2009-11-17T21:35:00.001-08:00

Though we may be discouraged by the loud words, the self-interest, the disunity and the sinking sense of futility, we can share a cup of tea as we keep a vigil for peace.

Though we may be surrounded by neglect, anger, pride and the meaningless mire of violence, we can find mutual comfort in transforming our struggle for love.

Mohd Hussein and 8 other Afghan peace youth volunteers will begin their 2nd Cup of Tea Peace Vigil on Sunday, the 15th of November 2009, daily from 12 noon to 1 pm Bamiyan time, at the Bamiyan Peace Park.

Please watch Mohd Hussein invite us for Afghan tea!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF0msK8dlh4

We’ll have our 2nd cups of tea, in deepening our friendships and strengthening our love.

We wish for you to join us in our 2nd Cup of Tea Peace Vigil,
person by hopeful person, friends with new friends
in homes, in parks, along the streets
and in the warm places of your hearts!

بار اول دوست , بار دوم برادر!
The first time, we’re friends. The second time, brothers.
Afghan proverb

2nd Cup of Tea Peace Vigil, our 2nd mile for love

2009-11-17T05:10:00.000-08:00

The love in Abdulai’s journey to peace

2009-11-17T02:51:00.000-08:00

Abdulai, who is leading the Afghan peace vigilers, speaks of human dignity in this video

The love in Abdulai’s journey to peace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sttdyu38CWw

I’ve discovered the quiet dignity of young Afghan children working to help make ends meet.

Whereas abusive child labor should be addressed, I’ve not personally found specific instances of such abuse here.

Rather, in Abdulai’s and the Afghan person’s common poverty, I’ve witnessed their patience with the ‘fairness’ of un-chosen fates while reflecting on the privilege of ‘first world’ comforts that sometimes spoil ‘first world’ children.

Yes, daily life and work for kids in Afghanistan is generally tough but we know that dignity isn’t just economic. The rich child becomes ‘ugly’ when he is violent in his anger. The poor child carries dignity when he stays meek even when angry.

I can see that quality in Abdulai and therefore am privileged to walk with him in the love with which he asks for peace.

Text of video

13 year old Abdulai in his small shop,

a student, farmer & shopkeeper whose

father & grandfather were killed in war

The love in his journey to peace...

Need we suggest at all, that instead of spending millions on war, you can build factories to give us work & a future?

What do you wish for in your life?

‎I wish for…truth and love.

Do you think you can find love and truth in your life?‎

I don’t know.‎

Elisa, Abdulai’s pen pal : I am 14 years old from the United States & on our news channels they never show any of Afghanistan's children speaking.

This is the first time I’ve heard voices of Afghan people & seen the beauty of Afghanistan.

Please keep smiling & never give up your hope, because all youth are the future of the world Elisa

Have you been encouraged as a pen pal of Elisa? Yes!

Why? I’ve found a friend.

Now that you’re a friend of Elisa & international peace volunteers, would you hurt them? No.

If unfortunately, war begins &‎ you meet these friends in war, would you incidentally......kill them?

No. We should surely understand human dignity.

What’s that in your hand?

This is Obama with his family.

What do you wish from President Barack Obama, the Nobel Peace Laureate?

My friends & I are waiting for his answer to our peace message.

Abdulai carrying his load of collected wood home for winter fuel, in his journey to dignity & peace

The Love in humanity’s journey to peace ; our shared gratitude‎

2009-11-13T01:19:00.001-08:00

“The ‘warrior’ knows that the most important words in all languages are the small words :

yes, love, God

They are words which are easy enough to say and which fill vast empty spaces.”

Paul Coelho

Please watch Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation’s Love in saying thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg7TBpPUoFA

Text of video

سلام! …… Salam! ( Peace! )

تشکر! ...... Tashakur! ( Thank you! )

These friends from Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation have encouraged us with their love is saying ‘thank you’, in the Dari language of Afghan hearts.

We thank all our friends who have registered their support with a Yes! to us.

We thank them with a gratitude that is adding meaning to our ordinary lives.

1. We thank the following who have written to us at youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com with their Yes!

Priscilla Singapore

June

USA

Kyle Kristensen

USA

Susan Asheville NC,

USA

Lynette Shek

Singapore

Carol and Jane Alexander Oregon

USA

( see Corvallis Alternatives to War’s 8 year vigil below ! )

Randel Mowen

USA

We also thank the Fans who have indicated their support through the Youth Peace Volunteers Facebook at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Peace-Volunteers/206186386153?v=wall

2. We have these 45 fans below as of 12/11/2009 2.15 pm Afghanistan Time. Thanks to each and every one of you!

Catherine Dawdy

Donna Schumann

Bernard Bernie Meyer

Linda Mackaman Young

Susan Bruce

Bert Jones

Jennifer Newell

Nayantra Nanda Kumar

Lisa Aceste DiMartino

Karen Griswold

Keith David Halloran

Raamesh Gowri Raghavan

Mridula Koshy

Michael Creighton

Peggy Love

John VanDyke Wilmerdong Jr.

Leanne Whittle

Chris Collier

Janice Matthews

Somer Loen

Ray A.Estrada Jr.

Sueli F. Lima

Anita Stewart

Dan Ryan

Lynette Shek

Dennis DeAsis

Asher Platts

Vin Gopal

Maya Kocian

Kayla Matthies Saville

Susan Marie Oehler

Jody Tiller Mackey

Kyle Kristensen

Cheryl Anne Crist

Larry Kerschner

Dennis W. Mills

Lo Daniels

Douglas Mackey

ForPeace With Love

3. We also thank others who have contacted us personally.

Willie Wee and wife

Singapore

Corvallis Alternatives to War’s 8 year vigil ( Carol and Jane Alexander are from this group)

http://www.alt2war.org/

Carol Alexander wrote to us saying :

Dear friends in peace,

We have forwarded on your moving message to many others. We are with you in spirit and in peace. Please see the Al Jazeera story about our daily vigil: http://english.aljazeera.net:80/news/americas/2009/11/20091110191657129146.html ( below )

Peace and love to you.

Carol Alexander, Corvallis, Oregon,

USA

Al Jazeera Article

The future of American troops in

Afghanistan

is again in the headlines in the

amid reports that Barack Obama, the president, has made up his mind about future troop levels there.

Despite speculation in US media, the White House is strongly denying that Obama has decided to send as many as 40,000 more troops to

Afghanistan

As Washington considers its next move in

Afghanistan

, protesters in a small

town are continuing an anti-war vigil they began eight years ago.

Sebastian Walker reports on the demonstration against the war in

Afghanistan

from the western

state of Oregon.

Watch the Corvallis Alternatives to War’s 8 year vigil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48xOVPa2RME

Afghan & international youth peace volunteers say with the world “Love is How We'll Ask for Peace.”

2009-11-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

‎

Our immediate goal

With love, we request the 2009 Nobel Peace Laureate, President Obama, to answer the Afghan youth ‎peace message ‘Reconciliation of Civil Hearts’, as part of his wider message of peace to the peaceful ‎future of our shared world, on or about the 10th of December, the day he will receive the Nobel Peace ‎Prize in Oslo, Norway.‎

Please watch our Afghan peace youth vigilers appeal to the world in the video above or at :‎
Love is how we’ll ask for peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLKR6iEdZGs

Our larger goal is to encourage Afghanistan and the world towards concrete love and peace, through wide scale ‎reconciliatory and humane relations. ‎

How we’ll work towards our immediate goal in the next one month , ‎

before the 10th of December 2009‎

The road had opened before us when the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, kindly visited our ‎Afghan peace vigil group at the Bamiyan Peace Park in Afghanistan on the 28th of October 2009. During the ‎visit, he promised the Afghan peace youth vigilers that he would get a response from President Obama, to their ‎message of peace “Reconciliation of Civil Hearts” ‎

Internationally, in the next one month before President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, we ‎will garner the heart-to-heart support of Afghan and international youth peace volunteer supporters by collecting ‎the signatures of supporters with pictures of their individual smiling faces. ‎

We will put them all into growing landscape-style pictures / motages. To rally a heart-storm of love in this ‎effort, we’ll encourage all supporters to blog at the blog-site http://youthpeacevolunteers.blogspot.com/, entitled ‎‎“Afghan & international youth peace volunteers say together, ‘Love is How We'll Ask for Peace.’ ‎

In Afghanistan, we hope to hold a Afghan national youth peace convention in Bamiyan in the month of ‎November.‎

All updates can also be found at http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog

Our current partners

Our Journey to Smile ( the 10 Afghan peace vigil youth are part of this peace-building group in Afghanistan, ‎with international volunteers from Singapore )‎
http://ourjourneytosmile.com/blog
Contact person : Hakim at journeytosmile@gmail.com

ContagiousLoveExperiment (2 Iraq veterans’ Josh Steiber and Conor Curran who are actively promoting ‎peace)‎
http://contagiousloveexperiment.wordpress.com/‎
Contact person : Josh at desertcamel87@yahoo.com

Olympia WA Fellowship of Reconciliation USA and Iraq Memorial to Life ( who had up to 100 persons who ‎kept the vigil with the Afghan youth peace volunteers concurrently in Olympia, USA )‎
http://www.olyfor.org/‎
http://www.iraqmemorialtolife.org/
Contact person : Douglas Mackey at douglas.mackey@youthpeacevolunteers.org

This is the group we have now and with this small number of supporters we ask for your support – because it ‎will take more of us to deliver the message to enough people so that it makes a difference.‎
‎ ‎
We know our support will grow as we reach our list of individual personal contacts with international ‎peacemakers and peace groups.‎

How to support each other immediately

Any individual, young or old, who wishes to stand with the Afghan and international peace volunteers, in ‎support of their peace request to President Obama, can ‎

‎1.‎ Sign in as a Fan of Youth Peace Volunteers on Facebook ( click below )‎

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Peace-Volunteers/206186386153?v=wall

By becoming a Fan, you are indicating your support for the Afghan youth peace volunteers’ appeal to ‎President Obama

‎2.‎ Send a quick email to youthpeacevolunteers@gmail.com

Simply indicate: Yes to Youth Peace Volunteers!‎

Provide your name and nationality and if you are willing to have your smiling face put together in a collage ‎picture, send us your picture too!‎

We will begin to compile these hearts of love, peace and reconciliation into landscape and collage-style pictures ‎and watch humanity’s love grow!‎

Given the global picture of war and peace today, we believe that this is a unique, historical chance for all of us ‎to raise the possibility of love in Afghanistan and beyond.‎

How to support each other on a wider scale and for the long run‎

Tell others about our shared effort of love and encouragement towards true peace and reconciliation, that is, ‎let’s seed a heart-storm! We live, love and perish in the same world!‎

You can also blog with us at http://youthpeacevolunteers.blogspot.com/‎

Our call to stand and act together in ‎
‎‘Love is how we’ll ask for peace’‎

Most of us in our disparate world today would hardly believe or be affected by our ordinary, almost mundane ‎burden.‎

But we’ve always imagined that when people come together to stand for love, life changes.‎

Most often, changes happen in only a tiny part of the world, a little community, a small fraternity; and though ‎all of which will, like human civilizations do, eventually pass away, the changes are worthwhile for holistic, ‎consistent growth.‎

In standing for love, there’ll be the un-welcome laughter of cynical disbelief and hopelessness which we’ve seen ‎much of but will not cower to.‎

We’ll be hurt by self-righteous censure that has forgotten human empathy but we’re ready for that too.‎

The cold ‘alone-ness’ of such difficulties is common to humankind, but because love is also common to all ‎people, these challenges cannot touch those restful places of love within humanity. We believe it is love that will ‎triumph.‎

It is this love that would keep us journeying in the snow and the rain, even if we fall.‎

It is this love that lends meaning to any family or friendship.‎

It is this love we’re counting on not to fail.‎

This love is how we’ll ask for peace.‎

I remember a 12 year old girl dying from leukemia. In her final hours, she urgently asked the nurses to phone ‎her estranged and separated parents to come to her hospital bedside. They did come and she did die but before ‎she passed on, she asked that they would lay aside their conflicting differences and to reconcile, not just for her ‎sake as she was soon leaving them, but primarily for their own sake. That was not an urgency of desperation. It ‎was the clear, sincere urgency of a love that would not let go. There was nothing for her young heart to lose. I’d ‎like to believe that she recognized what many of us may spend all our proud lives denying, that when bodies and ‎tongues cease, love remains.‎

It is with this urgency of love that we ask fellow human beings all over the world to restore wide-scale humane ‎relations everywhere through love and reconciliation and thus build a kinder future.‎

We believe that the world is historically waiting (see “Is this our Afghan moment of peace?”), especially those ‎of us waiting meekly in the shadows for light and warmth to arrive.‎

Yes, we’re asking the Nobel Peace Laureate President Obama to respond to our ordinary message of peace ‎from Afghanistan, the place of wars.‎

Yes, we’re asking for true peace and reconciliation.‎

But above all, we’re asking un-ashamedly to raise the possibility of love, with hope that we may smile at one ‎another in affirmative, dignified greetings once again.‎

Love is how We'll Ask for Peace

2009-11-07T08:18:00.001-08:00