Reuters AlertNet Lite - WV helps 100 children plant 100 cedars for peace

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FROM THE FIELD

WV helps 100 children plant 100 cedars for peace

29 Oct 2007 14:15:54 GMT
Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe office (MEERO)

Nahil, 11, from Burj el Barajneh Palestinian camp proudly plants her own &quot;cedar for
peace&quot;.

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Nahil, 11, from Burj el Barajneh Palestinian camp proudly plants her own "cedar for peace".
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

More than 100 children 7 to 14 years of age from all areas and all faiths of Lebanon came together on Friday to plant 120 cedars for peace in the Barouk Forest Reserve.

Referred to as 'Cedars for Peace,' the event was the first of its kind for World Vision Lebanon and was enthusiastically covered by five local news outlets whose representatives were also active participants to the event as they planted their own cedars.

'Children have tremendous power,' said Ain El Remmaneh Area Development Program manager Khalil Sleiman, who was also World Vision Lebanon's spokesperson on that day.

'They have the power to work together to overcome divisions that spawn conflict and cause poverty. In doing, they are able to create a brighter future for themselves and their children,' Sleiman said. 'It's for this reason that World Vision has brought together children from all over Lebanon, to promote peace through planting cedars.'

Being the national emblem, the cedars have a long history in Lebanon, stretching back millennia. To the Lebanese, the cedar represents the strong and proud resilience of their country which has never surrendered to the hardships that have long threatened it for so many decades now.

Sleiman compared the Lebanese cedar to World Vision's long and hard work 'to develop sustainable programmes that bring hope to the children of Lebanon and is committed to doing so into the future.'

The children who came from Bsherri in the north, Marjeyoun in the south, Beirut and Burj el Barajneh Palestinian camp were delighted with their 'baby cedars' as they called the little trees.

'I watched my kids planting those trees with so much love and attention,' said one teacher who was supervising a group of children, 'it was a very moving sight.'

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Tue Oct 30 20:54:37 2007