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Archbishop Tutu
tells teens at PeaceJam gathering
they can change the world - and they must
DENVER, Sep. 17, 2006
By CHASE SQUIRES Associated Press Writer
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(AP) |
(AP) Archbishop Desmond Tutu looked across a sea
of cheering teenagers from around the globe Sunday,
saying they not only can change the world, but they
must.
"I look at you, and I am in awe," he
said on the final day of an international call
for peace and action called PeaceJam. "You
are the ones who are going to make this a better
world."
The South African archbishop, the 1984 Nobel
Peace Prize recipient, was one of 10 Nobel laureates
to commune with 3,000 young people from 31 countries
for the 10th anniversary of the PeaceJam movement
at the University of Denver. Over the three-day
run, laureates urged the world's youth to yearn
for peace _ and to do something about it.
"The fact of the matter is, Nobel laureates
don't come floating down from heaven," Tutu
said. "There was a time when we were very
much like you."
From writing letters urging the United Nations
to push the government of Myanmar to change, to
seeking the end of political imprisonment worldwide,
the laureates demanded that the assembled teens
answer the call.
"You come here and you say, 'I will make
a difference. I care about poverty. I care about
war,'" Tutu said. "And all of you are
peacemakers. We are opposed to war. We stand for
peace."
After his speech, Tutu called on participants
to come onstage and speak about something that
inspired them. One by one, from Costa Rica, from
Minnesota, from Michigan, teens read a line of
poetry or recalled a memory.
One, 23-year-old Lway Cherry of Myanmar, drew
a huge crowd by addressing the U.N.'s new role
in monitoring the oppressive regime in her country.
The Security Council voted last week to put Myanmar
and the country's military dictatorship on its
agenda.
"I want to thank you, Archbishop Tutu,"
she said, before turning to him and receiving
a hug.
Neil Robinson, an administrator at the Westmount
Charter School in Calgary, Alberta, said that
he brought 31 students with him to the event,
and that more wanted to come.
"They are so passionate; they are so inspired,"
he said. "It's up to us to channel all that."
Tutu told the teens not to be overwhelmed by
the scope of the world's problems. Even the smallest
acts pay big dividends, he said.
"You feed one child, you feed two children,
that's important," he said. "That's
how you make a difference. You make a difference
where you are."
PeaceJam, founded in Arvada, Colo., in 1996 by
husband and wife Ivan Suvanjieff and Dawn Engle,
is a global program promoting peace through education
and encouragement of youth that hosts conventions
around the world.
MMVI The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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