On Saturday, October 23, 2010, Adapt International with the support of youth, friends, neighbors and various communities in Seattle held a planting for peace ceremony as part of "Children's Peace Day" celebration.
In 2003, the Mayor of the City of Seattle declared October 23rd as Children's Peace Day in Seattle on the day the "Middle East Peace" sculpture was dedicated to the City. The sculpture was created as part of an Arab Jewish peacebuilding project.
The event was a success, with more than 100 children and community members joining in to plant bulbs throughout the day. The youngest participant was a 3 year old.
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Photo credit: Amineh Ayyad Reverend Guo Cheen of the Compassion Network, a Buddhist nun led the group in meditation and prayers for peace. David MacGrath, a local musician and gardener, played the flute and demonstrated how bulbs are planted. Amineh Ayyad, event host and organizer shared the story of the project and community dedications. |
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| David McGrath |
Mahmoud Darwish's A Soldier Dreaming of White Lilies was dedicated to children and soldiers on all sides of all conflicts, and to peacebuilders everywhere. I dream of white lilies, streets of song, a house of light. I need a kind heart, not a bullet. I need a bright day, not a mad, fascist moment of triumph. I need a child to cherish a day of laughter, not a weapon of war. I came to live for rising suns, not to witness their setting. He said goodbye and went looking for white lilies, a bird welcoming the dawn on an olive branch. He understands things only as he senses and smells them. Homeland for him, he said, is to drink my mother’s coffee, to return safely, at nightfall.  |
| Photo credit: Ron Espina |
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| Photo credit: Amineh Ayyad |
