LAHORE | Schoolchildren under the banner of “Seeds of Peace” will raise funds across the globe for the flood-hit people of Pakistan.
The Seeds of Peace (SoP) is a New York-based non-government and non-political organisation which brings together children from various conflict-torn regions around the world for about four-week activities designed to promote peacemaking and hone conflict resolution skills.
“Moved by the flood devastation in Pakistan, the schoolchildren (seeds) have decided to raise funds in their countries for the affected people,” Eva Gordon, director of Strategic Initiatives of Seeds of Peace, told Dawn.
She said it would be a collaborated effort and the ‘seeds’ from Pakistan and India were planning to launch an initiative. She said over 200 Pakistani and Indian students had attended the programme since its launch in 2001 in South Asia. Besides, the network now encompasses over 4,300 ‘seeds’ across the globe.
Mehak, Fahad, Mehreen, Aleena and Faheem told this reporter that they would launch the fund-raising campaign in schools. They were optimistic that they would manage to collect maximum donations from their institutions.
Sharing their experience about their interaction with the students of other cultures especially the country which is in direct conflict with their own, the ‘seeds’ said they became more tolerant and accommodative about viewpoints of others.
They want the government to bring about changes to the curricula especially in seminaries to deal with growing extremism in the country. “We have scores of problems but education is the only way forward to eradicate poverty and extremism,” Mehak said. She said only people-to-people contact could help improve the relations between Pakistan and India.
Students for the SoP programme are chosen through a competitive process involving recommendations, essays and interviews. From 46 Israeli, Palestinian and Egyptian teenagers in 1993, the organisation has expanded its programme to include young leaders from South Asia, Cyprus and the Balkans.
DONATION: Coca-Cola has doubled its flood relief pledge to one million dollars from the already earmarked sum of $500,000 as part of the overall relief efforts for flood victims.
A large portion of additional funds will be used for rehabilitation activities of flood victims who will direly need infrastructure support once the floodwater recedes.