The 2008 PeaceJam Northeast Youth Conference was held on April 5-6 at Elms College, where 275 high school-aged PeaceJammers from around the Northeast, along with their teachers and advisors spent the weekend with Jody Williams, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1997 for her role as founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
During the weekend, PeaceJammers heard about how Jody Williams sees the issues facing the world today and what she is doing to address them. They had the opportunity to ask her questions, and talk about what's on their minds. They heard her talk about what inspires her to keep building peace in the face of great challenges, and shared what inspires them when the going gets tough. Jody's powerful voice told them that "Don't sit back and complain about something that's not going the way you want, because complaining without action is a waste of your energy... I don't care what your issue is. You do not have to make world peace in order to contribute. Pick one thing that you care about and work on that... Anybody can do it. It just takes getting up off your butt, finding a group doing what you want to do or, if it doesn't exist, starting it."
They worked in small groups (we call them family groups) with other youth to deepen their understanding of what they have been learning. They chose a workshop from a broad range topics that included peacebuilding practices in schools, communities, and prisons; organizing communities for power; stereotyping; fair trade and economic justice; civil disobedience; organizing a truth in military recruitment campaign; hunger and food security; youth leadership for consensus building; poetry and resistance; choosing a college and a major to launch your career; songs of peace; meditation and other practices to stay connected to yourself and others; and drumming as a metaphor for building community and teamwork.
Every year, we perform service projects at the conference, and this year we worked at 25 sites in Western Massachusetts, doing maintenance and cleanup at shelters and food banks, collecting food for local food pantries, and assisting people with voter registration.
Photos from the 2008 Conference
Check out the 2007 Conference
During the weekend, PeaceJammers heard about how Jody Williams sees the issues facing the world today and what she is doing to address them. They had the opportunity to ask her questions, and talk about what's on their minds. They heard her talk about what inspires her to keep building peace in the face of great challenges, and shared what inspires them when the going gets tough. Jody's powerful voice told them that "Don't sit back and complain about something that's not going the way you want, because complaining without action is a waste of your energy... I don't care what your issue is. You do not have to make world peace in order to contribute. Pick one thing that you care about and work on that... Anybody can do it. It just takes getting up off your butt, finding a group doing what you want to do or, if it doesn't exist, starting it."
They worked in small groups (we call them family groups) with other youth to deepen their understanding of what they have been learning. They chose a workshop from a broad range topics that included peacebuilding practices in schools, communities, and prisons; organizing communities for power; stereotyping; fair trade and economic justice; civil disobedience; organizing a truth in military recruitment campaign; hunger and food security; youth leadership for consensus building; poetry and resistance; choosing a college and a major to launch your career; songs of peace; meditation and other practices to stay connected to yourself and others; and drumming as a metaphor for building community and teamwork.
Every year, we perform service projects at the conference, and this year we worked at 25 sites in Western Massachusetts, doing maintenance and cleanup at shelters and food banks, collecting food for local food pantries, and assisting people with voter registration.
Photos from the 2008 Conference
Check out the 2007 Conference
REPORT FROM THE 2008 PEACEJAM NORTHEAST YOUTH CONFERENCE
NextGen Leaders Inc.,
a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is the Northeast affiliate of the PeaceJam Foundation.
a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is the Northeast affiliate of the PeaceJam Foundation.
Coming soon...
2010 PEACEJAM NORTHEAST YOUTH CONFERENCE REPORT