Washington, July 22: Moving, emotional stories of children from across the US, merely 12-13 years of age, were heard as they told their personal encounters with violence.
This came in a program hosted annually by Kuwait-America Foundation (KAF) for the past 15 years, known as the “Do the Write Thing” (DtWT) Challenge Program, which comes in coordination with the National Campaign to Stop Violence.
During a reception late Tuesday at the National Press Club, KAF Chairman Dr. Hassan Al-Ibrahim told KUNA that during the past 15 years, the program was able to reach out to and communicate with 1.5 million American children.
This year, the program reached out and communicated with children from 30 cities in 16 states, he said, noting that both parents and children needed to be taken into consideration in order to maximize contact.
“This, to an extend, achieves one of the Foundation’s important goals, which is to reach out to the grassroots … we are very interested in reaching out to villages and small cities, as we believe that the American public opinion is made in those areas,” Dr. Al-Ibrahim noted.
He explained that this was the experience gained from the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, when “we were not aware of the strength and influence of public opinion on Washington.” He added that through the ordeal of the invasion “we learnt one lesson, which is that relations between the Kuwaiti and US governments are very strong, but have to be further boosted through contact with the public.” Dr. Al-Ibrahim said that when KAF was established in 1991, its aim was to thank the Americans for their role in liberating Kuwait, therefore “we were looking for a means to present a gift to the American children from their Kuwaiti peers.”
KAF discovered that some children suffered from violence in main US cities, especially in inner-cities and the under-privileged areas, he said, noting that this violence, whether in their neighborhoods or at their homes, left an impact on their lives and their futures.
“Through this program, we ask the students about the violence phenomenon, their experience with violence, and what they can do to face this violence in their surroundings,” he indicated.
According to Dr. Al-Ibrahim, over 150,000 essays were received from students this year, out of which 60 essays were selected by local committees and the finalists, known as the National Ambassadors, were invited to Washington.
During their trip, the finalists meet with Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US, visit the Congress and meet Senators and their congressmen to present to them a book which includes their writings. The book is submitted to the Library of Congress.
The essays are put in the Foundation’s database, along with the contact information of all the students throughout the years whom were selected so their progress could be tracked throughout the years.
Asked what had been gained through such a program, Dr. Al-Ibrahim said that “Kuwait is now on the map, not just in Washington DC, but from coast to coast.”
For his part, Chairman and Founder of the National Campaign to Stop Violence, Daniel Callister, told KUNA that the aim of the program was to “see America’s culture through the eyes of a young person … We give them the opportunity to write an essay and tell us what should be done differently, and how is it affecting their lives if they have had their lives affected by violence.”
The program stresses personal responsibility and education, he said, adding, “The kids’ essays are quite powerful and have motivated thousands of people to volunteer to be engaged in the program, and through their involvement in the program a lot of people are seeing Kuwaitis through different eyes.”
He noted that the 60 students who were brought to Washington get to interact with their Senators and Congressmen, and tell them about the program and “how grateful they are for the Kuwaitis support of the program.” He said that what was important to Dr. Al-Ibrahim and himself was that “we also hear from the parents who come to us and say, ‘Your Kuwaiti sponsors don’t know my kids. They live thousands of miles away. Just tell them that this was a life changing-experience for my kid’.
That’s why it matters and that why we continue, both of us, to give our time to this (program).” Callister explained that parents found this program life-changing because, for the first time, someone was interested in their children’s stories, and that someone had given them a way to communicate and had listened to them.
He noted that every year “we will hear some horrible things that have happened to students, and that is a burden for them to carry.” For Callister, an essay that mostly touched him was one by a boy who did not like to leave his home because of how he was bullied every time he went to school for being fat. Kids teased him or threaten him.
In his essay, the boy said that it was important to get to meet people, make friends and build relationships that would last a lifetime, but he noted that he was too scared to leave his house, and that in that respect, violence was taking his life away from him.
“This is very insightful for a 12- or 13-year-old to realize that everyone needs a network of positive relationships and he didn’t have it. That’s not right and should not be happening,” Callister remarked.
During the reception, which concluded a week-long program, Chris Matthews of NBC told the audience that the 60 Student Ambassadors chose to accept the challenge by writing about the causes and solutions for youth violence.
He added that through the “power” of these students’ words, one would get to know how violence had impacted their lives and “their words shed light on problems that need to be addressed in our communities.” Moreover, he said, “These students invite us into their world … giving community leaders direction on where to focus attention and resources.
” Also in a reception held at the Kuwaiti cultural office earlier this week in honor of those students, Kuwait’s Ambassador to the US Sheikh Salem Al-Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah told them that the basic mission of an ambassador was “carrying a message.
” He told the students that they, like himself, were also ambassadors and that each and every one of them carried a very important message – that of anti-violence.
Sheikh Salem told the students, “You should be very proud with the message you carry. You should carry it well.” In the concluding event, former US President Bill Clinton also had a message delivered in which he recalled the youth violence that occurred during his presidency, which left him “struggling to make sense of the senseless.”
He stressed that “government, while crucial, can never work alone,” therefore the involvement of organizations, such as the Campaign, was needed “to push forward real change.” Clinton affirmed that the Campaign and DtRT Challenge “play an invaluable role in building a healthier, safer future” for the children who told their stories and for their nation.
—–Agencies