BY MELANIE ULLE
There was once a couple that pondered what would happen if Nobel Peace Laureates mentored young people to make the world a better place. And then they did it. No, they really did. And it started right here in your town in 1996. Meet PeaceJam, the little nonprofit that started with Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff and some little-known figures like the Dalai Lama, Betty Williams and Desmond Tutu.
PeaceJam has taken me around the globe and across the country and back in partnership with students, alumni and Nobel Peace Laureates. What started as a consulting gig, became volunteerism, then financial donations and now a lifelong commitment to their vision to improve our world with youth leading change in partnership with Nobel Peace Prize winners. Joining the PeaceJam community has led me to partner with artists, activists, nationally-known attorneys, celebrity personalities, Green Berets, educators, survivors of mass shootings, and elected officials.
The program has grown into a vibrant year-long educational and service-learning program in over 41 countries that has transformed the lives of over a million young people across the globe. Many of the students who have enjoyed PeaceJam are so moved to action that they have taken on major industries, run for public office and started their own nonprofit organizations. I can think of few programs that are more successful in moving tweens and teens toward action.
PeaceJam takes young people through a journey of self-discovery and mastery of six core competencies while engaging them in service-learning to address the most pressing issues facing their communities and the world – building compassionate leaders with character.
Today, the organization is led by Kate Cumbo who holds a PhD in education, created the PeaceJam curriculum and can dance all of us under the table. She’s organized over 150 PeaceJam conferences and has the energy of a superhuman, fueled by passion and love.
Attending a PeaceJam conference is like pumping the limitless hope and vitality of youth into your veins while learning from those who have literally changed the world. I have attended conferences with Nobel Laureates including: Leymah Gbowee, who helped end a civil war in Liberia with her nonviolent women’s peace movement; Betty Williams, who built bridges between the Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland to achieve peace; Rigoberta Menchú Tum, who lost both of her parents, two brothers, a sister-in-law, and three nieces and nephews to violence in Guatemala. And yet, she never stopped fighting for Indigenous rights and successfully secured fair wages and land protections for Mayan people in her country.
As my friend Alan says, with PeaceJam you say to yourself, “if they can do it, I can do it.” And it’s true. Against all odds these three women have fought relentlessly against injustice, violence and tyranny and won.
Please consider launching a PeaceJam program in your community. It will change your life and the lives of the youth in your community by sparking inspiration from those who literally changed their corners of the world. www.peacejam.org