Last night I attended a talk at my friend Louis' house by people involved with the organization
Search for Common Ground. I had previously only heard vagueries about this group, so it was extremely eye-opening to hear about the massive scale of the work they do around the world in
conflict resolution. The specific branch of the organization that was being focused on last night was that of youth involvement in conflict. We met
Randolph Carter, who grew up in
Liberia, and told us about his own narrow escape from the fate of many of his friends, who were kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers for rebel leaders. These children, who still are subjected to this in different countries where rebels are at work, are abducted, drugged, tortured, and then brought back to their villages, where they are given AK-47s and forced to shoot their favorite family members. Once they have done that, Randolph explained, they can kill anybody they are told to, because they have been completely dehumanized. The stories are truly heartbreaking. These are the scenes you may remember from the
Rwanda massacre, or documentaries. Young people wiping out villages with machetes and machine guns. But Search For Common Ground is all about proactive and positive resolution to this heartbreak, and has given these children a voice in those warring countries, inviting them to tell their stories on their own radio programs, which has a huge audience in the villages and has greatly helped the issue. They are also given a forum to meet with leaders and offer their insider perspectives for resolving the devastation in those nations.
I just want to call attention to Search For Common Ground, which deals with conflict resolution in the above situations, as well as
everything from conflict mediation between Democrats and Republicans
here, to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, to gang violence, to U.S.-Iranian
relations. If you've got dollars burning holes in your wallet, please consider
helping them out. I felt very hopeful when hearing about the work that they do, a real fresh perspective on creating peace in the world.
