The children of Kosovo need to move away from the constant violence. We will do what it takes to bring peace to our communities. We are the future, and the future is in our hands.

Fatmire Feka (17) is a Muslim Albanian girl from an ethnically divided town. In 1999, she lost a brother and a sister in the war in Kosovo and her family’s house was set on fire. Since then, she has organized and led many peace building initiatives and is the driving force of a children's peace movement in Kosovo. In 2002, she started the Kids for Peace movement in her community, which has grown to over 14 multi-ethnic clubs across Kosovo. She has also organized multi-ethnic summer peace camps. She is a member of her town’s Council for Peace and Tolerance.

Fatmire was living in a transit camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 1999, after she lost a brother and a sister in the war in Kosovo and her family’s house was set on fire. Eleven years old at the time, Fatmire watched how the camp staff members from World Vision were implementing a number of peace-building projects. One day she approached one of the staff and asked, “How can I help you make peace in Kosovo?” Since then, Fatmire has eagerly helped in a number of peace-building projects. Her first effort was in the summer of 2001, when she participated in a series of workshops on Local Capacities for Peace. Her story, poems and her passion for peace were so inspiring that the workshop participants responded with a sincere and emotional pledge to help do what they could in order to bring peace to Kosovo. Fatmire followed that up with a sponsored visit to Toronto, Canada, where she repeated her pleas for peace through poems that she had written. She made presentations to a number of civil society groups, churches, and to the local and national media. In 2002, Fatmire approached World Vision staff asking for help. She had conceived a program where children from various ethnic groups in Kosovo could come together to share their war experiences and learn from each other. She wanted to “make friends with the others.” Soon, her idea developed into the Kids for Peace movement. The goal of the program is to positively impact the children of Kosovo by promoting peace and understanding among elementary school children. The program currently has 14 clubs in five towns. In November 2002, Fatmire was selected as an Angel of Hope by World Vision Canada. She was chosen because she “brought hope to others and made a difference in her community.”

Kids for Peace