Amazing Kids! is proud to highlight the Amazing Kids! of the Month!

Each month, we showcase kids who are accomplishing amazing things.  We hope that by telling their special stories, we will inspire other kids to accomplish their own amazing achievements. 

 Logo for youth peace activist Jason Crowe's 
non-profit organization "The Cello Cries On"
Image by Richard Kidd, creator of The Sharing Tree 

"I invite you kids (and any parents, youth leaders, club leaders, and/or teachers who will help) to become part of this human chain of hope. Joining our HEARTS in ACTION we will fight the destructive force of war with the creative energy of our HARMONY."

Recipients of the 1999 Global Youth Peace & Tolerance Awards 
L-R: DidierKamundu Batundi (Congo), Gerson Flores Perez (Colombia), Mircea Tancau (Romania), Nickole Evans (USA), Jason Crowe, Leonora Shiroka (Kosovo), not pictured Ibrahim Alex Bangura (Sierra Leone)

This month, Amazing Kids!  is proud to highlight the love and dedication of all of you amazing kids and teens from across the globe who are working for peace, in all nations, and all neighborhoods of the world. 

These caring kids are setting good examples for all of us, young and old, to follow!  Learning how to get along with others can be hard sometimes, but what an important lesson for us to learn!

Read about the amazing work these kids are doing by following the links below to their websites.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll be inspired to join them in helping spread peace! 
 

Give Peace a Chance: Amazing Youth Peace Activist Jason Crowe and the Peace and Harmony Statue

If someone ever tells you, "What can you do about it? You're just a kid!" just remember what kids like 13 year old Jason Crowe have done, and take heart.  Jason has created a 501c3 tax-exempt organization called: "The Cello Cries On" to help him in his work to bring peace to the world. 

According to Jason, the organization "exists to empower and unite youth across racial, ethnic, religious, economic, social, and cultural lines to work for human rights, social justice, multicultural harmony, and peace." 

How it All Began

"The Nightmare" - an excerpt from Jason's website

"In Sarajevo, on May 27, 1992, at 4:00 in the afternoon, a line of starving people formed outside a bakery hoping to get bread. Without warning, a mortar shell fell in their midst killing 22 innocent men, women, and children. One man saw this from his window and knew he had to do something. But what could he do? The following day he went to the crater left by the blast and opened fire. His weapon was his cello. His ammunition was his music. For 22 days, one day for each of those who had perished, Vedran Smailovic, the principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera Orchestra, played his cello while bullets flew all around him." 

Jason Crowe was 10 years old when he heard about this tragic incident.  It moved him so much that he began to dedicate himself to bringing attention to the plight of the people who were victims in Bosnia.  He organized a concert, and created "The Cello Cries On" to help raise money for a special Peace and Harmony Statue he commissioned an artist to create.  One of the main purposes of the statue will be to honor and remember the victims of war. 

Jason describes his vision: 

"I want the statue to be a gift from the kids of the world to the citizens of Bosnia, like France gave the US the Statue of Liberty. The statue will honor the spirit of the Bosnian people, who refused to be defeated by ethnic hatred and who continue to welcome and embrace all ethnic and religious groups. The statue will honor the spirit of harmony which, like a lone cello, cries on in a world too full of violence. And the statue will honor the spirit of children around the world who want peace and harmony, not war and genocide, to prevail in the new millennium."

Read more about Jason's Peace and Harmony project on his website: http://members.sigecom.net/jdc/bosnia.html

Read about Jason's Yellow Bow for Kosovo project: http://members.sigecom.net/jdc/Kosovo.html

Read more about amazing Jason, his other projects, and his many awards and recognition: http://members.sigecom.net/jdc/the_informer.html

To contribute to the Peace and Harmony statue, send your tax-deductible donation to: Jason Crowe, Founder The Cello Cries On, Inc. P.O Box 441 Newburgh, IN 47629-0441

Peace Activities for Younger Kids:

• Creating Peace - Children's Advice in Pictures and Words (compiled by Susan Bertomeu Albert): http://www.castle.net/~slalbert/advice.html
• Kids 4 Peace: http://www.kids4peace.com/
• World Peace 2000 for Kids: http://www.worldpeace2000.com/kids/
• One Day in Peace, an online story by Steve Diamond & Robert Alan Silverstein

and illustrated by Ginger Nielson: http://www.worldpeace2000.com/story/
• Free Animals Peace Stickers to print: http://members.aol.com/PeacePals/sticker1.htm
• "We Can Work It Out!" coloring pages: http://members.aol.com/pforpeace/WorkItOut/color.htm
• Kidz Care Story Center: http://members.aol.com/kidz4peace/stories/
• Kids Drawings for Peace: http://www.kids-drawings.com/index.htm

• Peace Pals: http://members.aol.com/pforpeace/peacepals/
• World Peace Clubs: http://www.peaceclub.com/
• Life-Link Friendship-Schools: http://www.life-link.org/

• Get Your Angries Out: http://members.aol.com/AngriesOut/ by Lynne Namka. Ed. D.
• 10 Tips for Expressing Healthy Anger (from Elaine S. Stoll, B.A., R.T.C.) http://www.7wv.com/7wv/getinv/10tips.html
• Peace Begins With You (from the Peace Pals website): http://members.aol.com/pforpeace/peacepals/you.htm
• Community Connection Peace Education Project of the Coalition for Peace Action: http://www.castle.net/~slalbert/famcon.html
• Community Building Resources: http://www.castle.net/~slalbert/resources.html

• Seeds of Peace: http://www.seedsofpeace.org/Empowering children of war to break to the cycle of violence. 
• Seeds of Peace Middle East program for Arab and Israeli teens: http://www.seedsofpeace.org/details.cfm?id=16&section=Mission
• Global Kids Inc.: http://www.globalkidsinc.org/, an educational organization dedicated to preparing urban youth to become community leaders and global citizens.
• International Youth Co-operation (IYOCO) http://www.iyoco.org/, provides an international platform for youth to discuss issues that concern them and their communities, via the Internet
• You Can - http://www.youcan.ca/index2.html,  A Canadian youth-led non-profit organization promoting unity, understanding and communication. 
• Peace Corps Kids: http://www.peacecorps.gov/kids/
• KidsCast for Peace 2000: http://creativity.net/KidCast/index.html
• YWCA Canada's Week Without Violence (Oct 15-21) http://www.7wv.com/
• More Groups That Help Kids Bring Peace on Earth: http://members.aol.com/pforpeace/peacepals/pcgroup.htm

• "A Lesson in Values from Columbine to Colombia -

Children's Advice from the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference"
May 11-15th, 1999, compiled by Susan L. Albert: http://www.castle.net/~slalbert/hagueadv.html 
• United Nations Global Teaching and Learning Project: http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/
• United Nations Peace Education: http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/peace/index.htm
• The Nobel Peace Prize: http://www.nobel.no/indexen.html
• About Alfred Nobel, the originator of the Nobel Peace Prize: http://www.nobel.no/alfreden.html

Essay on the 9 Women Recipients of The Nobel Peace Prize: http://www.nobel.no/abrams.html