Beyond
the Global Divide:
2nd International Youth Summit
April 21— April 27, 2005
Young Leaders For World Peace
Making It Happen
NOWTIME On-Line is proud to introduce the world to a few of the amazing young people attending Beyond the Global Divide: An International Young Leaders Peace Summit between April 21st through April 27th. Their stories truly illustrate what it means to “show up” in community with a vision and the will to make peace a real reality for all.
Throughout the coming weeks leading up to Beyond the Global Divide, NOWTIME On-Line will feature youth leaders attending the International Summit in April. We hope their stories will inspire you to support this momentous event via money contributions to the Spirit of Truth Foundation, 739 Main Street, Suite 13, Stone Mountain, GA 30083. Your support will go a long way toward making world peace a reality for us all.
Spotlight ...
Michael Aaron Ware
Michael is introduced the vision for the Beyond the Global Divide to his friends and co-facilitators (Monica Mustilier and Starr Muranko) for the first Beyond the Global Divide in 2002. In addition to being the Youth Director for the Spirit of Truth Foundation, he is an artist and musician, a model, a student of indigenous wisdom and a trained firekeeper. Michael has traveled throughout the United States and to Ghana, West Africa where one day he aspires to purchase land and become an entreprenuer.Michael is currently an employee of the Transportation Security Administration.
Kimmie Weeks
Born on December 6, 1981 in the West African nation of Liberia, Kimmie Weeks spent most of his early childhood facing war, poverty, and suffering. He was barely 9 years old when a civil war began in Liberia in 1989. The war brought him face to face with death and the suffering of children. Kimmie recalls observing the plight of other children who seemed to suffer more than he did.
“All through the war I saw children suffer worse than I. I watched children die, cut down by bullets or disease that in other parts of the world would be considered no longer a threat. I saw children in my country spend long days on the streets of the capital under the blazing African sun trying to sell goods for their families to survive, while thousands of others carried guns, fighting and killing one another. I saw the growing number of young children barely in their teens that were becoming prostitutes. School for these and many others was a fantasy.”
In 1991, Kimmie came close to being buried in a shallow grave. He was all of 10 years old. He had been sick for days, dehydrated, not eating nor drinking because cholera had wracked his emaciated body. The cholera hit after the chickenpox and before the yellow jaundice. He saw no doctor, no nurse. He had no medicine, only a few herbs. This was war, after all.
When Kimmie’s caretakers could no longer find a pulse in his chest, an older man decided he must be dead. The man then told someone to wrap Kimmie up while a few other young men began digging a grave—out by the garbage pile where all the refugees’ bodies went.
His mother could not bear it. She refused to accept it. She screamed and hit at his body and kept hitting at him until Kimmie came back to consciousness. That same night, he vowed to dedicate the rest of his childhood and adult life to making the world a better place for children.
At age 10, Kimmie had already set himself on a trail of goodwill. His first achievement was organizing a group of local volunteers to clean communities littered by war debris. That same year he volunteered at understaffed temporary hospitals, caring for sickly babies and children. “It was there that a child first died in my arms, and I knew then and there what it felt like for a mother who lost her child,” he says when recounting his experience.
Three years later, Kimmie established The Voice of the Future, Inc. (VOF), Liberia’s first child rights advocacy and humanitarian organization run by young people his age. Today the VOF is an implementing partner of the United Nations agency for children UNICEF and works on several humanitarian programs including peer counseling for former child soldiers. VOF also provides health, informal education, and recreation for children in three Liberian counties using the aid of 3,000 youth volunteers. Kimmie’s biggest endeavor would be a project aimed at bringing peace to Liberia and ensuring the disarmament of approximately 15,000 children who had been armed during the hostilities. In 1996, 15 year old Kimmie founded and chaired the Children’s Disarmament Campaign. With support from UNIFCEF, the campaign lobbied a deadline for the disarmament of child soldiers, meeting with warring faction political and spiritual leaders and heads of civic societies to set a date for the disarmament. Several marches, indoor programs and publicity campaigns were also held to attract attention to the cause.
In 1997, with the holding of general disarmament in Liberia, Kimmieestablished Liberia’s first children’s information service, The Children’s Bureau of Information, which now works alongside Search for Common Ground, Talking Drum Studio, and UNICEF to produce radio programs aimed at reintegrating child soldiers into the community. The 15-minute weekly broadcasts air on three local radio stations. The bureau is also responsible for the publication of a national children newsletter, The Liberian Child and the annual Union of Young Journalist.
As a vocal activist for children’s rights and a universal end to wars, Kimmie has presented his case before numerous bodies, including a special joint session of the Liberian Senate and Legislature, The State of the World Forum (Belfast, Dublin), and the World Youth Leadership Jam (US). He has also headed several national committees, including The Universal Children’s Day celebrations, The Day of the African Child, and The International Children’s Day of Broadcasting.
In December 1998, Kimmie investigated and published a report on the training of children by the Liberian military. As a result, several attempts were made to assassinate him. Fearing for his personal safety, Kimmie Weeks fled Liberia in early 1999 and has since been granted political asylum into the United States. Kimmie’s dream for the future of children has not died, but has only been strengthened with time. He currently serves as UNESCO’s Ambassador of the Manifesto for Peace and Non-Violence, Director of Youth Action International, International Coordinator of Voice of the Future, Inc., Senior Planner to the ’03 International Children’s Conference on the Environment, and as an international activist for the rights of children around the world.
Starr Muranko
Vancouver, Canada
One of the Three Visionaries of the 1st BGD Summit 2002
Starr Muranko is a dancer, actor and youth activist committed to raising consciousness on the planet through the arts. She is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of STARCHILDREN Productions in Vancouver, BC, and former Director of the Foundation for Spiritual Democracy in San Francisco. Starr is an alumni member of the International Youth Leadership Council and was selected to represent Canada at the State of the World Forum in New York City in 2000. She has played a lead role in organizing international conferences throughout North America including the “Beyond the Global Divide Youth Summit 2002” in Atlanta, GA, the “Building Global Healing Communities Tour 2003” throughout British Columbia and the Annual “Leading Spa’s of Canada Conference 2003-2005”.
She has traveled extensively throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America and is Ambassador to the community of Chinchero in the Andes of Peru, working with local artisans and healers to preserve their traditional art forms. Starr is passionate about working with young leaders and traditional elders to ensure that the wisdom of our ancestors is kept alive through the next seven generations. She has over 20 years of experience in dance and theatre and is currently majoring in Dance/Arts & Culture at Simon Fraser University. In addition, she has over 12 years of experience in business/corporate settings and has held numerous senior management and leadership positions in the areas of marketing, project development and human resources.
Jabari Exum
Jabari is a percussionist, writer, rap artist, actor, facilitator, mentor, public speaker and teacher. He is a graduate of Duke Ellington School for the Arts in Washington, DC. He has an impressive life journey that includes community service, particularly working with, inspiring and motivating youth; performing arts as both a musician and actor; and as a creative writer.His poem Rhyme Deferred was published in the Winston Salem Journal as part of the National Black Theater Festival. In addition he had appearances in Vibe Magazine, Source Magazine and American Theater Magazine. He appeared twice on BET show Rap City.
Jabari and his Djembe (West African Drum) bless gatherings and recordings where ever he is called to be. His ancestors bless his hands and pour forth the rhythms of his beginnings.
Tangwan BAH-FON Emmanuel
I am Tangwan BAH-fON Emmanuel. I am a native from Ngwokwong village of Cameroon. I was born on the 25th of December 1976 in Yaounde, Cameroon.I attended primary school at the Government Bilingual School Yaounde where I obtained my First Schooll Leaving Certificate in 1988. I attended high school at the Bilingual High School Mbengwi and Government Bilingual High School Yaounde where I obtained both Ordinary and Advanced Level(1988-1998).
I belong to FAA- NGO( an NGO founded by the traditional leards of the North West Province , for the fight against AIDS with headquaters at GUNEKU village, Mbengwi. I am the MECUDA Youth President - Ngwokwong branch(Metta Cultural and Development Assctiation). I am the Vice president for the Ngowkwong Community Development Association with headquaters in Ngowkwong and finally I am a member of PROMETRA Cameroon( Promotion de la Medecine Traditionnelle)
I have attended many workshops on aids in Guneku and Bamenda. Presntly, I am in the phase of INITIATION at the Fon`s palace in my village as future traditional leader, chief of my village, Ngwokwong.
