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People Choosing Peace: Stephen (USA)

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At the age of 23, Stephen Schirra founded his own nonprofit organization Around the Worlds, Around the World – with a mission of bettering the lives of underprivileged youth all over the world through the game of soccer. He runs free-of-charge workshops at orphanages, schools, churches, feeding programs, refugee homes, and earthquake relief centers in 21 countries.

Stephen believes the game of soccer has always had the power to transcend boundaries in race, gender, religion, and even socio-economic status.

“In essence, that’s what makes it the perfect platform to affect change where change is needed,” he said.

“Soccer can be seen as an escape for children who have endured such struggle at such a young age, and for some, it can even represent an opportunity to break away from the perils of poverty. When connecting these kids to the sport, it is never truly known what the final outcome may be, but we can only hope that their lives have been changed just as much as ours have.”

Stephen often works in dangerous neighborhoods all over the world, running programs in gang-controlled areas of San Salvador, El Salvador, and the mountains of Medellin, Colombia, as well as in the earthquake-devastated regions of Guayaquil, Ecuador. After working at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, Stephen was inspired to start the Gabriel Yeris Scholarship Fund – an ode to a clinic participant who emerged from an Around the Worlds program motivated enough to earn a scholarship at a prestigious new school. The new scholarship fund has been designed to recognize one graduating high school senior using sports to make a difference in the community and beyond.

His organization also runs domestic clinics for underprivileged children coming from youth shelters and refugee foundations.

“Although much of our work is done internationally, I’ve seen poverty in our own communities here in the US, even as close as our own backyards,” Stephen said.

“Often, these issues go unnoticed, especially when placing a heavy focus on underdeveloped communities abroad. However, I never wanted to forget about the multitude of need that exists here in our own country.”

Farmers Unite Across Israel/Palestine Borders

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Nearly 90 villages in Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan are proving that the divided regions can work together – in the olive oil trade. The Near East Foundation’s project Olive Oil Without Borders, funded by USAID, works with Palestinian and Israeli farmers, strengthening economic cooperation, and building peace.

Israel/Palestine Farmers Unite

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Can Israel and Palestine work together? One group is proving it’s possible.

The Near East Foundation’s project Olive Oil Without Borders works with farmers from Palestine and Israel to improve farming techniques and oil production.

“This project, funded by USAID, aims to promote reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis by strengthening the economic co-operation between the Palestinian farmers and the Israeli farmer, the Palestinian olive traders and the Israeli olive traders, together,” said Salah Abu-Eisheh, Near East Foundation Country Director, Palestine.

Nearly 90 villages in Israel, the West Bank, and now Jordan are involved, including over 2,000 olive producers, 25 mill owners, and 50 ancillary businesses.

“I wanted to get to know [the Israeli farmers] more, because they had expertise to share, that could really benefit me and my work,” said Somaya Sawalmeh, a Palestinian Farmer.

“Israel and Palestine is the same market, so we are talking about trade – for example from Israel they are buying olive oil from Palestine, from the West Bank, and from the West Bank they are buying olive oil from Israel, so for trade, for marketing, it’s very important,” said Dr Fathi Abdelhadi, OOWB consultant.

The project even established a cross-border trade agreement that still stands, despite the conflict.

“We found, with our donors, different ways to overcome those obstacles and find solutions, to the level that we were able to reach hundreds – now I can say thousands – of farmers across the borders,” said Mr Abu-Eisheh.

“The people from both sides, they are meeting, they talk – one to the other – so for the peace I think this is one important reason to meet, more and more,” said Dr Fathi Abdelhadi.

For more information in the Near East Foundation’s work, visit here. Cover Photo and footage courtesy of Near East Foundation.

People Choosing Peace: Ambar (Iraq)

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Peace News Staff
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My name is Ambar. The war stole my father from us and forced me to leave school when I was in fifth grade to start working to make a living for my family. I work in the garbage industry; my job is to collect the garbage and put it in the cart, then I throw it away.

Most of my work is in the Shorja area and many shop owners know me and give their garbage only to me, because they know my work is clean and impressive. Sometimes I find very interesting things in the garbage. One time I found a wallet with 18 dollar in it. Sometimes I find broken toys or clothes. I earn 4 dollars a day.

I hope I grow up and make enough money to buy a garbage car to work with. I could never leave my job because I spent my whole life in the garbage business, since I was a little kid. If I earn a lot more money? I shall buy two garbage cars.

Reaching Your Enemy: Interview with Hawk Newsome (Black Lives Matter)

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Peace News Staff
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When a Black Lives Matter group from New York protested at the “Mother of All Rallies” the unexpected reaction made headlines.

Hawk Newsome, president of Black Lives Matter Greater New York, and his team were invited on stage to speak. By the end of Mr Newsome’s speech the crowd was cheering, breaking into applause when he said “If we really want to make America great – we do it together”, and protesters and participants mixed afterwards.

“When I walked off that stage I was like ‘Wow – what just happened?’,” said Mr Newsome.

“Realistically, a lot of those folks, they were shocked – just like me, I was shocked as hell – a lot of these guys were, you know, pretty hard core Trump supporters, didn’t really care about what was happening to black people, what we were fighting for, and here they are opening up, opening their hearts,” he said.

“Some people were even opening up their homes, they aware like ‘Hey, if you ever want to come and visit, you know you can stay with me’.”

“That’s a stretch – that’s a stretch – right now I am just happy with starting a dialogue that we can build on.”

Hawk’s tips for reaching others?

1. “Communicate with love and respect.”

2. “Find common ground. And throughout the communication, just revert back to that common ground. If it’s a moral place, if it’s biblical, if it’s constitutional – let’s just remind people of the common ground.”

3. “Stay out of the Weeds. When we say stay out of the weeds it’s that little stuff that we can argue about – let’s not even argue about that, let’s not argue racism case-by-case, let’s just admit that we know racism exists, and try and find ways to fix it.”

“What we need is a dialogue, we need people speaking to one another, we need people understanding one another,” Mr Newsome said.

“We need – we need to understand one another, before we destroy one another,” he said.

Cover Photo: Vas Sagar

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