More than ever, peace is pertinent in today’s society. We are in a humanitarian crisis unlike anything we’ve seen since World War II, the environment is in trouble and global political power system is in a state of flux.
However, as a small group of social entrepreneurs wanting to invest our efforts into creating change, we’ve decided to turn this energy into something tangible. Instead of worrying about the future, we’ve decided to change it.
The Peace Crane Project uses art to connect children of the world in a message of peace. It’s a simple and creative project that concurrently educates students about peace while giving them to opportunity to share the message of peace with their counterparts in other countries. The project cultivates the message of peace on an international, local and personal level and has so far involved 2.5 million students worldwide since 2013. We believe the key to changing the future is getting the leaders of the next generation involved in peace, and having them learn from experience that one person can and does make a difference.
The Peace Crane Project has been facilitated in more than 154 countries since it’s inception, making it the largest independent school based peace program in the world. Each year, the project grows in scope and this year our aim is to have schools in every country in the world participate for the 2017 exchange. We are using art to actively contribute to growing connection and peace in our world.
The way the PCP operates is simple – students in classes around the world make origami peace cranes and doves and write or draw messages of peace on them. The students are given the opportunity to brainstorm peace and what it means, its relevance in the world and its impact on people and the community. Students therefore engage in this critical topic in a fun and creative way – using art as a tool for education is powerful and effective. Students then bundle their messages of peace together and post them to an international partner school, and in return, they receive the origami made by their partner school back.
The beauty of the project is that it promotes peace on multiple levels; kids are given the opportunity to use their creativity and positively interact with each other which creates personal peace. Students help one another, laugh and use their minds to actively engage in what peace is. On top of this, they know that their messages of peace are going to be shared with students just like them in another place. This invokes a sense of accomplishment and pride that is shared between the students. On a larger scale, this international exchange of peace messages means that millions of students each year are learning about peace and spreading the message across the world.
The Peace Crane Project is also kids a voice and sense of pride in their actions. Kids in rural India sent their doves to students in suburban Austria. Cambodian students made doves out of recycled paper and told me that peace is just as important at home as it is between countries. A student in Cost Rica shared a beautiful story of her family’s hardship and separation through the symbolism of three origami doves.
On top of this, schools in some of the world’s least peaceful countries have participated including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan and Iraq. That means children in the countries that have experienced war, conflict and trauma are receiving messages of peace from students all over the world. So even in times of conflict and trauma, we are able to let children of the world know that others care about them – a simple message that goes a long way.
This is a project that works. Combining creativity with compassion to yield positive results for students all around the world.
We believe that getting students educated about peace now is critical for the future. Peace is not an unattainable ideal; it’s critical for human progression and is an achievable goal if we work for it. It is the means to an end. For so long the world has been suffering from conflict and violence, and it’s not getting better. Greed and power have dominated the mentality of our world for too long and things need to change.
Our goal for 2017 is this: Join us. We want schools in every country in the world participating in the Peace Crane Project this year. Your part makes a difference and it’s this collective effort of everyone that will create change on a global scale. So join us in the global movement for peace this year.
Join us today for the Peace Crane Project at www.peacecraneproject.org & https://www.facebook.com/ArmedWithTheArts/