PeaceJam Buffalo started in October 2008, made possible by the support from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, as a partnership of the WNY Peace Center, Stop the Violence Coalition Inc. and Concerned Ecumenical Ministries. PeaceJam is an international group formed by a coalition of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates who developed a curriculum to teach peace, cultural diversity and leadership.  We meet Tuesdays from 4-5:30pm at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, hosted by Erie County Counsel for the Prevention of Alcohol & Substance Abuse, now also a partner in the program.  Last year, the youth-led, adult-supported group worked with younger students facilitating peaceful conflict resolution groups as their Global Call to Action Project.  Below are a few Peace Jammers’ inspiring words after returning from meeting Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum at the Northern Region Peace Jam conference in Chicopee, Mass.  Youth age 14 and up are welcome to join in next year's program, as are adult volunteers – call 884-0582 or 444-1991.

“Peace Jam opened my eyes to alternative ways to solve problems. By organizing our project to break the cycle of violence, it taught me to work together for a common cause. The conference was amazing and many of the people I met I will continue to keep in contact with.”
 
Bubbling Brittany Williams

“Hi, I’m Excellent Yves. I've been in the Peace Jam group for 4 months and I  now understand more what Peace really is... Peace Jam means a lot to me because it helps me understand more and more every day what Peace means and what it’s like to work for Nonviolence. It has affected me and my hopes for the future. Now I know, for example, we can stop the violence in the future by starting to teach youth right now about being nonviolent… What really inspires [me] is that even though Rigoberta Menchu Tum had a violent childhood, she didn’t give up or go in revenge, she instead worked for peace.”

Excellent Yves Dushime

“Last  August  my  mother  handed  me  a  newspaper  with  a  small  excerpt  circled  in  black  advertising  “Peace Jam”, a forum for the discussion of local as well as global concerns and solutions. It was in this [program] that I discovered  a  way  to  not  only   voice  my  ideas,  but  also  to  work  with  nonviolence  professionals  on  ways  to constructively  and  realistically  discuss  the  problems  gripping  our  schools,  neighborhoods,  and  the  global community  as  a  whole.  We  discuss  social  injustice,  the  spread  of  diseases,  extreme  poverty  and  global militarization, placing an emphasis on such dilemmas as the genocide in Darfur, the rights and roles of women in developing  countries,  and  the  alarming  number  and  severity  of  youth violence  in  Buffalo Schools.”

Joyful Jordan Mitchell

“When I started going to Peace Jam, I was someone who didn't care about anything; going to Peace Jam for me was a way to relax. But after some meetings, after we shared our life stories with people of our peace jam group, I began to realize how people were suffering all over the world. I never knew that in the US, the most powerful country in the world, many persons live without houses, clothes, or food. And that's how my ambition of doing something as a contribution for my society began. Because I realized that even though I am young, I can make a difference.”

Perfect Patrick Ishimwe