Amman, Jordan, 8 June 2010: Paul Yithak was just like any other eight year-old. He was full of mischief and adventure and the moment his mother’s back was turned, he would join friends in messing about and playing games on the streets of his local neighbourhood.
But Paul was forced to grow up a lot faster than most infants of the world. For it was one dreadful day, when he was playing with his friends close to his home, that government forces swept into his community looking for rebels, opening fire at will and cutting down anyone in their way.
For Paul was born and brought up on the tough streets of Sudan and those bursts of gunfire cut down 12 of his friends who lay motionless around him as he slowly rose to his feet once the gunfire had faded off into the distance.
Paul, now 53, grew up witnessing the sort of horrors that most have only watched on television and, by the time he was 11, he had lost dozens of family members and friends and had even been shot twice himself. Many boys his age had also joined the civil war, barely strong enough to carry the weight of the Kalashnikovs forced into their hands by ruthless rebels and warlords.
“There has been too much pain and division in Sudan,” said Paul, who is one of 77 delegates taking part in the Prince Feisal Al Hussein-inspired Generations For Peace camp in Amman. “It is clearly obvious that violence does not bring a solution. The biggest battlefield is between the ears and we need to look at new ways of winning over the people that have got caught up in the cycle of war and destruction.
“And it is not just about the physical destruction that war leaves in its path. There is the psychological damage also. I have tried to help some young girls that have been raped by more than 50 men. They have lost their pride and self respect and many just wish to die. There are the young children too who have seen parents and friends killed and tortured in the worst possible ways with their own eyes. There is so much work that needs to be done.”
Paul has dedicated his life to conflict resolution in the search for a lasting peace. He attended the pilot camp for Generations For Peace in 2007, an experience which “changed his life” after meeting like-minded people from his own country and further afield.
“We got to work immediately after returning home from Amman,” he said. “We worked together to bring girls from the north and the south to one location for a peace-building football camp and it was hugely successful. The media covered it extensively which ensured lots of people got to know about it and we had 10,000 people attend the match that the girls played. Many had tears in their eyes after witnessing something they never though they would see.”
Now Paul is undertaking a two-year peace building course in Canada but is determined to return home in order to further implement the new skills he has learnt at this ongoing camp.
“It is incredible to see how far Generations For Peace has developed in such a short space of time since 2007 when I last attended,” he said. “It has improved even further, and that is saying something because we all felt that initial pilot camp was excellent also.”
Paul is one of 500 delegates from 39 countries and territories that have attended one of the six international camps to date. The unique Generations For Peace 10-day curriculum teaches leaders of youth on how they can use sport to bring a change to people’s lives within troubled communities in order to encourage a lasting peace.
Generations For Peace enjoys incredible support, none more so than from its Founding Partner Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a renowned humanitarian from the Abu Dhabi Ruling Family. The sixth international Camp will mark the continuation of Samsung as the Official Regional Partner with the camp’s official suppliers being Sama Mineral Water, Sama Juice and Mudieb Haddad & Sons Co.