Meeting of alumni minds in Richmond!

Kashawn Rogers (front, right) with friends from around the world

From Jennifer Lewis, Global Youth Village 2011 Peace Building Instructor

As a Conflict Resolution Facilitator with the Richmond Peace Education Center, I gained the facilitation skills I needed to lead the Dialogue and Peace Building workshop with the Global Youth Village international summer camp.  After having taking a year off from this position, I was a bit nervous returning to lead a workshop leading young people with behavioral challenges.  Lucky for me, whenever facilitating with RPEC, I am blessed with youth co-facilitators, who often are the most influential leaders of the workshop.  Being closer in age to the participants, they often can make deeper connections with the participants and provide real-world examples that adults are simply unaware of.  During my most recently workshop I led, my youth co-facilitator doubly blessed me.

Due to scheduling difficulties, I did not meet my co-facilitator until the day of our workshop. When I arrived at our host organization and met my co-facilitator, I realized I knew this young man!  It took only a few seconds to for me to place Kashawn Rogers as one of the Global Youth Village’s 2011 participants!  I wish a camera had captured the smile on my face when I saw Kashawn.  Knowing that a GYV participant, especially Kashawn, was my co-facilitator for this workshop, which I had been nervous about, instantly put me at ease.

Kashawn was easily one of the most charming and genuine young men at the Global Youth Village that summer.  His positive demeanor carried over to his work as co-facilitation for our workshop.  He led activities with confidence and passion. Kashawn truly believes that young people need healthier alternatives to violence and most impressively, he makes non-violence sound cool!  Kashawn is applying the lessons he learned at the Global Youth Village to young people who genuinely need to hear that there are alternatives to violence and that youth are powerful leaders in our world.

Jennifer Lewis

Lead Conflict Resolution Facilitator – Richmond Peace Education Center

Dialogue and Peace Building Instructor – Global Youth Village, summer 2010 & 2011

**To learn more about Jennifer and Kashawn’s work with the Richmond Peace Education Center (RPEC) and Richmond Youth Peace Project (RYPP) visit: http://rpec.org/

GYV alumni circle the globe

Since 1979 we have over 4,000 people from over 100 countries that have joined the GYV family.  They are leaving LEGACIES of peace, tolerance and justice around the globe.

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Iraqi GYV Alum Reminisces about Memories in the U.S.

Alaq, GYV ’10 alum, reflects on her time at the Village and around the U.S.
My time in the U.S.A and at GYV

Legacy Alumni Working to Make a Difference

Christine Berg (Staff 2002-2005) worked as the Volunteer Director for the Democratic National Convention Host Committee managing the deployment of over 15,000 volunteers to provide convention support, hospitality and service to 50,000 delegates, guests and members of the press.  She then went on to work on Barack Obama’s Campaign for Change in Colorado overseeing a regional Get Out the Vote effort.  As campaign staff, Christine received tickets to the inauguration; she then happily invited alumni Jason Scott (Staff 2001,2003 – 2007) who lives and works in DC.  Jason is a Training Officer/eLearning Specialist with the Corporation for the National and Community Service, to witness this historic event.

Jason’s favorite part was (believe it or not) standing in line with crowds of people from all over the United States – from all different backgrounds and walks of life – and how great and kind everyone was to each other.  There was excitement in the air as people talked to their neighbors and shared their stories.