Kids for Peace Movement
Fatmire had conceived a program where kids from various ethnic groups in Kosovo could come together to share their war experiences and learn from each other. She wanted to “make friends with the others.” Soon, her idea developed into the Kids for Peace movement. The goal of the program is to positively impact the children of Kosovo by promoting peace and understanding among elementary school children.
The program currently has 14 clubs in five towns. In November 2002, Fatmire was selected as an Angel of Hope by World Vision Canada. She was chosen because she “brought hope to others and made a difference in her community.”
In the summer of 2003, Fatmire was invited to join the city of Mitrovica’s Council for Peace and Tolerance as the youth representative. This is a local NGO committed to doing away with all ethnic, religious or gender based prejudice and striving to promote mutual understanding by implementing community-based projects, including sports days, training on tolerance and peaceful coexistence and artistic programs.
Fatmire organized an artistic program promoting peace that was part of the city’s International Day of Peace celebrations in September 2004. Fatmire works closely with the Danish peacekeeper contingent in Mitrovica to organize various events for the children of Kosovo.
During the March 2004 violence in Kosovo, especially in Mitrovica, Fatmire mobilized her schoolmates and they marched through a number of villages to request “a peaceful response to the recent tragic events” that claimed the lives of three young boys. Fatmire made pleas through the local media and to the local youths to “stay calm” and not to “overreact.” Unfortunately, tensions later spilled into the streets across Kosovo and resulted in 19 deaths and over 500 injured.
In May 2004, Fatmire was invited as a delegate to speak during a session of the Global Movement for Children Conference at the Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona, Spain. This conference brought children together from all over the world to share their first-hand experiences and their views about child labor, conflict, disability, migration and HIV/AIDS.
This past summer (2005), Fatmire conceived and helped to organize a children’s peace builders summer camp. This camp brought together 28 children from Bosnia and Kosovo (Bosnian, Serbian and Albanian) for a summer Building Bridges of Peace Camp in a small village on the Adriatic coast in Montenegro. The camp consisted of workshops and games, introducing the young participants (11 to 17 years of age) to concepts of identity, tolerance, differences and similarities, peace education and strategic planning.
Fatmire was instrumental in putting all the pieces together in order to get this camp off the ground. She was able to convince a number of private donors from North America to support her initiative.
The Cleaning the Environment project was Fatmire’s initiative that came about as an outcome of the Building Bridges of Peace Camp. Fatmire was again able to mobilize over 300 children from across Kosovo for this one-day event, which was organized to clean up the garbage left around the countryside as a result of the recent war. She managed to convince the Danish peacekeeping contingent to provide support and protection for the event and raised all the financial support through private donations.
In August 2004, Fatmire was invited to speak at an International Conference organized by World Vision in Bucharest, Romania. This conference, which is held every three years, brings together the World Vision International Board of Directors Leadership, as well as senior staff members from all over the World. As the special guest, Fatmire was invited to take part in the World Vision International Council meetings and had the honor to address a few hundred delegates as she spoke on child protection issues and on the role of children as peace builders.
In October 2004, Fatmire was once again instrumental in organizing a multi-ethnic, inter-religious day for Serbian and Albanian children. On her own initiative she reunited some of the children who had participated in the Building Bridges of Peace Summer Camp and who lived in the City of Mitrovica (both Albanian and Serbian alike).
She made arrangements for the multi-ethnic group of 15 to visit the Decani Serbian Orthodox Monastery in southwestern Kosovo and the main mosque in the City of Mitrovica where Albanian Muslim and Serbian Orthodox religious leaders led discussions about the particulars of each faith tradition.
This event was not only outstanding for the children but it also brought together a handful of adults and parents who participated as chaperones. The children and adults all walked away from this trip with a new-found appreciation for each other’s cultural and religious heritage.
In December 2004, Fatmire was selected as the Youth Ambassador for the Eagle Down Foundation. This Canadian-based organization is a charitable foundation that seeks to support children in conflict zones around the globe with a vision and commitment to a more peaceful and prosperous world. Through the funding and implementation of peace education initiatives, summer camps and workshops, the Eagle Down Foundation encourages children to act as a symbol of unity in a world often divided by ethno-religious borders.
In 2005 Fatmire helped to organize a Summer Peace Camp for Children in India. The camp, was held for children who live in segregated slums in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Mumbai and consisted of group discussions, arts and craft, poster making, song writing, drama, and group projects.
These are the types of activities that helped Fatmire recover from the pain she suffered during the war in Kosovo, and she now wants to bring these activities to other children around the world who have suffered like her and her siblings. In her capacity as Youth Ambassador, Fatmire has also recently been invited to speak to a number of church and community groups in Canada in and other places in the world.
Fatmire is a true inspiration for her young friends and for adults alike. She is energetic and tirelessly committed to her efforts to promote peace in a very difficult region of the world. Fatmire continues to highlight the dignity, beauty and value that exist in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious world as she inspires others to do the same. Her dream has always been to help create a world where children may live in safety, protected from the horrors of war.
