Kids for Peace help other children continue their education

Six members of World Vision’s Kids for Peace club in Gelancë village, Kosovo, reached out to eight children, between the ages of 6 and 16, from their community who had dropped out of school.

“I used to hang out on the streets of Kosovo with bad friends, selling metals or clothes,” remembers Remzi, 16. “In this way, I stared to miss classes. Then, I decided to drop out.”

Even through Remzi left school, his dreams remained with him. “I love the physical [education] class and drawing,” he says. “My dream is to become a mechanic, as I really love to fix cars.” 

I am so happy to be back, says Afize, 10. “My mother could not help me with my homework so I found it difficult to continue my education. Now I am decided to try once again and do my best to gain education and pursue school.

How can children help children?

The Kids for Peace clubs, made up of children between the ages of 11 and 16, functions like a small democratic family: everyone shares thoughts and ideas about how to help people and build peace in Kosovo. After identifying the problems in their area, the club members voted on which was the most urgent topic. Then, they made a plan to solve it. Recently, the most pressing issue identified was school abandonment.

“At the last meeting we held, we brought up some problems which are most indicative of our community’s life,” remembers Ferdi, 15, one of the club members. “We identified problems like: the violence at home, pollution, etc… and we voted for the most urgent one, which ended up to be the problem of children who had dropped out [of school] or were in risk of dropping out soon,” he says. 

To make parents and children aware of the importance of education, the members divided up the duties. One group prepared to explain the good things that education brings when students stay in school while the other group prepared to share the consequences for children who drop out.

After they had prepared, the club members went door-to-door visiting six families of 10 children they had identified in their community as individuals who were no longer going to school.  World Vision staff accompanied children in every step.

The Kids for peace club members discussed the importance of education with parents and their children, sharing that education is fundamental for every child in the world. 

Only three days after the awareness meetings, the members of the Kids for Peace club began to see a change that made them all very happy. Eight of the ten children they spoke with decided to return to school. Accompanied by their parents, one World Vision staff member, and club members, the returnees met with the director of their school and signed a commitment to pursue a full year of school ahead.

 “No school, no healthy life,” Remzi admits, after listening to the Kids for Peace club kids talk about the importance of school. “Thank you for visiting us and sharing how important education is! Now I see that school is the best place to be for me and other children. After I decided to go back, my parents were so happy. And, so was I. They prefer to see me in school instead of hanging out,” says Remzi.

Overcoming obstacles

For many parents, it is hard to convince their children of the value of education when they have little education themselves. And, for children this can add to their frustration as their parents are not able to help them with their homework as they have little education themselves.

“Now we see that it is worthwhile to try again to start school; thanks to you [Kids for Peace]!” says Sadushe, Afize’s mother whose child decided to return to school after Kids for Peace interventions.

“We thought this initiative will be so hard to try to use parents because they may close the door, but they were opened and they started to understand when we shared in concrete how fundamental education is,” explains Ferdi, noting that many parents wanted their children to continue their education, especially after their interaction with the members of the Kids for Peace club.

“We have been driven by the truth that these children will never have a future if they stay in the situation where we found them, “says Fjolla,12, ears old. “They are the future and the future needs investment,” she says.

Although they feel successful because of the positive response to this program, the Kids for Peace members are not done yet. There are many other issues they want to address for the betterment of their community.

“There are many other children here who need attention, so we are thinking do some leaflets and hand-outs to every passer-by in the streets, villages and even in the cities of Kosovo, to make our voice heard for the cause of all children who have left school,” says Ferdi.

“Gelancë club is a new group established only last year, but children there have so much passion and heart to build peace and bring joy to every child in Kosovo,” says Pajtim Smolica, World Vision Kosovo staff. “This was their first initiative which resulted in a changed life of eight children. I strongly believe that lots of amazing things will come out because of the heart these children have to see everyone happy in this world,” he ends.

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 A big thank you for this story goes to Pajtim Smolica, World Vision’s Kids for Peace Project Facilitator of Kosovo, who helped providing data from the field.