[JNV] Urgent Appeal for Children Against War

[Justice Not Vengeance]

Children Against War activist trip to Jordan
to help Iraqi child refugees speak out for peace

An appeal for support

1) Sonia's appeal
2) How to help
3) Sonia's article in Peace News (July-August)
4) Kathy Kelly's article from Jordan (24 July)


*****


Dear friends

For the past five years we have been privileged to support and assist
an extraordinary young peace activist by the name of Sonia, who formed
Children Against The War at the age of 7. Two of us, as editors of
Peace News, feel very fortunate to have Sonia as the editor of the PN
Youth Page.

Yesterday Justice Not Vengeance and Voices in the Wilderness UK
received the following appeal from Sonia, who is now 12, asking for
our support for another Children Against The War initiative, which we
think is very exciting.

Please read Sonia's appeal, and read on to discover how you can
support her. (We are trying to raise 807 pounds.)

Please do also forward this appeal to whoever you think might be
inspired by Sonia's example.

Best wishes

Maya Anne Evans
Emily Johns
Milan Rai
Justice Not Vengeance


*****


1) SONIA'S APPEAL

My name is Sonia, I am 12 years old.

At the age of 7 I founded Children Against the War;  I have organised
many demos and vigils regarding the war in Iraq and especially how it
was destroying my generations lives.

I have written to Mr Blair and Mr Bush many times. I have organised
candle light vigils on my birthday and other days to remember children
who are suffering and those who have been killed because of the war in
Iraq.

When I was ten, I was invited to go to New York. I spoke at the
demonstration at Colombia University. I interviewed the students and a
proffesor who attended, the demonstration was about ending the
occupation.

I was also invited by War Resisters League as a main guest speaker at
a one day workshop called Peace Training for Kids. During this trip, I
 made a film called Speaking Out for Peace in New York, which included
interviews.

At the moment I am campaigning for the Iraqi children living in
Jordan, and neighbouring Countries as refugees.I have written and
delivered a speech about this, it has been published in Peace News
[see below].

I would like to go to Jordan, to make a documentary - giving voice to
Iraqi children, I feel very strongly that Iraqi children should be
allowed to speak out.

I feel Iraqi children have a right to tell children of Great Britian
and United States what's happening to them.

My Family funded for my trip to New York and to make a film about
Speaking for Peace. They can't afford to fund me to go to Jordan.

I feel this is a very important project. I am appealing for your help,
could you please donate money towards my project.

Thank you!

Sonia


*****


2) HOW TO HELP

Sonia will be guided in Amman by her friend Kathy Kelly of Voices for
Creative Nonviolence, who is in Jordan for the summer, supporting
Iraqi refugees.

The outcome of the trip will be a video edited by Sonia (she has
experience in this and will have adult assistance), which will be
printed to DVD and distributed by Justice Not Vengeance.

We think this initiative can be a real inspiration to young people and
adults in the anti-war movement around the world.

If you agree with us, please give as generously as you can to enable
Sonia to make this trip, and send us any ideas you may have about how
to spread the message of Sonia's delegation.

Please make cheques out to "Justice Not Vengeance" - and marked
'Children against war' on the back - and send to us at 29 Gensing
Road, St Leonards on Sea, East Sussex TN38 0HE.

If you prefer to transfer money electronically, please send your donation to:

Justice Not Vengeance,
A/C 78520921
Nationwide Building Society,
40 London Road,
St Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex
TN37 6AN
Sort code 07-00-55

In either case, we would be very grateful if you could notify us by
email of the amount you are pledging at "info at j-n-v. org", so that
we don't have to wait for the post to let Sonia know how her appeal is
doing.

Any excess will be donated to relief for Iraqi refugee families in Jordan.


*****


BUDGET: Fundraising target 807 pounds

Sonia has consulted with Kathy Kelly and phoned Royal Jordanian
Airlines, and the budget for the trip breaks down as follows:

Flight for Sonia: 546 (including insurance and visas)
Flight for Sonia's adult companion: 546 (including insurance and visas)
Double hotel room for three nights: 36
Food, travel, telephone in Amman: 80
Extra camcorder battery, tripod and miniDV tapes: 100

Total cost: 1308 pounds

We have already received a pledge of 500, leaving us to raise 807 -
ideally by Friday 3 August.

In order to fit in with Sonia's school holidays, and to give time for
editing her footage, Sonia intends to be in Jordan 16-19 August, and
should book her ticket this weekend in order to be sure of getting the
seats she needs.


*****


3) SONIA'S ARTICLE IN PEACE NEWS

This is the speech Sonia gave at an interfaith event in London in
June, which was published in the last issue of Peace News:

My name is Sonia, I am 12 years old and I am a Muslim. 5 years ago I
formed a group called Children Against the War. When I was eight years
old, I wrote a letter to Mr Bush and Mr Blair pleading for them not to
start a war in Iraq because it would destroy Children' lives.

Today I feel angry and sad because the war has caused nothing but
misery for Iraqi children. Thousands and thousands of children have
lost their lives; Thousands have fled to neighbouring countries with
their families and are homeless.

These children can't go to school, don't have toys to play with and do
not feel safe.

Children have a right to feel safe and to be educated.

I would like to quote President John Kennedy:
'Our problems are man-made; therefore they may be solved by man. No
Problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.'

Today I would like to ask Mr Bush and Mr Blair to help the Iraqi
children and their families living as refugees in Jordan and Syria.

Children Against the War are campaigning for the Iraqi children.
Adults please support children against the war.

Thank you


*****


4) "Attuned to Tom and Jerry" by Kathy Kelly
July 24, 2007

Last week, Umm Daoud, (her name means "Mother of Daoud"), met me and
three friends at a bridge that crosses into her neighborhood.  It was
just after sundown; the streets were darkening as she guided us toward
the narrow path which leads to her home.  She and her five children
live in a humble two room apartment in a crowded "low-rent" area of
Amman.

As guests, my friends and I sat on a makeshift piece of furniture, an
old door placed atop two crates and covered by a thin mat.  She and
her children sat on the floor.  Apart from a television and a small
table, the living room had no other furniture.  The television
remained "on" while Samil, her youngest son,  seemed completely
absorbed in a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon.

"Tom and Jerry" antics are a favorite in almost every home I visit
here. Spanning multiple generations and regions, the duo's popularity
seems to reflect benign values.  "Sometimes Tom wins and sometimes
Jerry, and sometimes they both win, especially if they team up against
an enemy," a young Iraqi woman told me.  "You love them both.  It's a
bit like fights between brothers and sisters."

Incalculably less benign are the "real life" chase scenes Umm Daoud's
family has endured.  When I first met them, five months ago, Abu
Daoud, the father, told me that he had been a prosperous goldsmith in
Baghdad.  "We had two houses and two cars," said Umm Daoud.  "Now, I
have two brothers killed, and all this suffering, and no way to take
care of my children."

Abu Daoud told us that two years ago, Daoud, his teenage eldest child,
was kidnapped for ransom in Baghdad.  Fearful for their son's life and
wanting to save him from torture, the family sold all that they had,
gained his release, and swiftly escaped with him into Jordan.

Abu Daoud came to Amman and moved his family into their current home,
hopeful that he might eventually find work.  But for an "illegal"
resident in Jordan, among hundreds of thousands of others who've fled
Iraq, there was no work.

He sought help from the few groups doling out rations of food and
assistance with rent.  Young boys would taunt him, calling him an old
man and an "Iraqi terrorist", while adults would threaten to report
him to the authorities as an "illegal" - but still he had to keep
seeking work.

Three months ago, Abu Daoud learned that his cousin, in Iraq, had
received a death threat.  The cousin tried to flee Baghdad, but was
unable to do so swiftly enough.  When his body was found, it was
chopped into pieces.  This news further  traumatized Abu Daoud.

Engulfed by pain and misery, he became abusive toward his wife and
children.  Fights erupted between them.  Two months ago, Abu Daoud
disappeared.  His wife believes he fled because he couldn't bear
facing them, each day, with his feelings of anxiety and guilt.

Umm Daoud's eyes fill with smoldering fury as she spills out feelings
of frustration, mistrust, and humiliation.

Neighbors in adjoining homes practice a very conservative form of
Islam.  Even though Umm Daoud is a Sabean, she fears being judged
harshly by them and opts to cover her head whenever she leaves the
house.  When her husband left her, some of these neighbors said this
was a punishment she deserved.  She'd like to live elsewhere, beyond
their threats and curses, but she can't afford the rent anywhere else.

Two of the daughters are diabetic, needing weekly insulin injections,
but Umm Daoud can afford neither the medicine nor the lab work to
track their illness.  Now, one of her daughter's eyesight is failing.
Untreated insulin can lead to full blindness.  Umm Daoud has to hide
all of this from her neighbors.

They may be here for a long time, and if the neighbors find out that
the girls are diabetic, she fears it could destroy their future.
Would it be difficult to find suitors for them?  I'm not sure.
Looking at these beautiful young women, it seems unlikely, but
blindness is a frightening condition, --who am I to guess?

Umm Daoud herself needs medical attention for a kidney ailment, but
her daughters' untreated medical crisis takes up all her attention.

Caritas, a charity organization in Amman, offers free medical checkups
for Iraqis, but no medications.

Through registering with the UNHCR, the family became eligible for a
"salary" of 60 Jordanian Dinar per month.   This barely covers rent.
A light fixture in the room where they all sleep is broken, but they
can't afford to fix it, nor can they manage a simple plumbing job to
repair a faucet that steadily, noisily leaks.

They are too terrified to invite a repair man into the home because
the daughters are vulnerable and could be exploited.  If a man took
advantage of them, they would have no recourse for protection because
anyone could accuse them of being illegal residents, causing them to
be deported back to Iraq.

Umm Daoud has already been stung by the humiliation of being so
vulnerable.  Once, in Amman, a gang stole a sum of money from her.
She reported it to the police.  In the investigation, someone accused
her of being a prostitute and the police department dropped the case.

One note of good news gladdened Umm Daoud and her daughters.  Daoud,
the older son, excels in soccer and recently qualified for an Iraqi
team invited to compete in Seoul, South Korea.

For Daoud, a victim of torture when he was kidnapped, playing soccer
has been part of recovery. He's in control on the field and the sport
has been an important form of therapy.  Numerous Iraqis in the
"illegal" community pooled money for Daoud's trip.

Toward the end of our visit, Daoud called from Seoul.  The family was
jubilant, except for little Samil, watching his Tom and Jerry cartoon
with his back turned to the family.  From where I sat, I could see his
face.  He showed no emotion whatsoever and never took his eyes off the
TV screen.

I remembered the playful ten-year old I'd first met, in January of
2007, a little boy whose eyes were alight and animated, who loved
climbing onto his father's lap.  The family seems to understand his
need to withdraw.

Before leaving, Noah Merrill, who, with his wife, Natalie, has worked
hard to design a project called "Direct Aid Initiative," (see
www.electroniciraq.net), suggested that they could help cover some of
the family's medical expenses.

He assured Umm Daoud that this would be an act of friendship, not
charity.  "Of course it's not charity!" she said, flinging her hands
upward in exasperation. "You already have our oil!"  She cocked her
head slightly, a smile on her face.  "You are perhaps living well with
our oil," she said, as we all nodded our heads, "so this is not a
charity."

Such humor, as if this whole nightmare of the war and its
complications were just brothers and sisters fighting, and she could
wryly forgive.

The UNHCR has appealed for $121 million dollars to assist Iraqis
who've been displaced from their homes, 2.2 million of whom are
internally displaced inside Iraq and close to two million more who
have sought shelter in neighboring countries.  UN documents appeal to
people's charitable instincts, but UN workers  know full well just how
politicized the discussions have become.

The U.S. could direct the amount of money spent on just six hours of
the war in Iraq and fully meet the UNHCR request to assist millions of
people who have barely survived this U.S. "war of choice."

This week, the U.S. government will continue deliberating over how
much money to earmark for particular defense expenditures.  They will
serve the insatiable demands of the largest lobby on Capitol Hill, the
defense lobby, which is asking for a total of $648.8 billion dollars.

Even Senator Kennedy, one of the few Senators advocating measures to
benefit Iraqi refugees, recommends allotting $100 million in the 2008
defense budget for a new General Electric fighter engine.  (The Boston
Globe recently reported that the Air Force said it didn't even need
the item.)

Democratic candidates claim they are interested in ending the Iraq
war.  They claim concern for Iraqi victims.  I believe these claims.
Yet by obediently funding the war machine, most of them play
predictable, scripted roles in a dull and murderous war without end.

The victors are always the same, the bloated and menacing producers of
weapons, - General Dynamics, Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed, General
Electric, - the fat cats whose menacing force always wins. The losers
can watch their children become crippled, starved, maimed or dead.
Period.

Yesterday, Umm Daoud and her daughters paid me a visit.  Samil chose
to stay behind.  He didn't want to miss an episode of Tom and Jerry.

Kathy Kelly (kathy at vcnv. org) is a co-coordinator of Voices for
Creative Nonviolence (www.vcnv.org)