Let There Be Peace

The following poem was shared by Rhona Bhuyan, an InterChange member and a teacher currently working at the  Khartoum American School in Sudan.  The poem was written by two Grade 10 students and was inspired by one of the stories by John Paul Lederach in his book The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace.

Let there be Peace 

By Lina Babiker and Rida Raheel

The hot wind blew

Shuddered the small shacks of Western Africa

Slowly, the Ghanaians watched as the world collapsed around them

Liberia spilt refugees into their borders

Sierra Leone was a chaotic land of bloodshed

And Ghana was well on its way to another civil war

Two tribes

At a feud since the beginning of time

A bitter history, the division remain

One saw themselves superior

For they had a chief

They had power, they had wealth

It started with a small dispute

A mere misunderstanding

But war is a flame, even the smallest spark can burn a forest

Peace talks were arranged

The chief of the superior tribe arrived

Spitting insults, furious that only a young man from the small tribe came to negotiate

The young man stood, nodded

When it was his time to speak

“Father” he said with the upmost respect, “you are perfectly right”

His humility caused the chief to pause and work for peace

There is much to learn from this young man’s wisdom

In order to achieve the dream of peace

We must stand United

For we are a community

Let there be diversity

To avoid adversity

To you we present the truth

Let us return to our youth

We seek to achieve our dream

That one day there shall be peace

Let our minds overflow with solutions

Lets take it one step at a time

Embracing, tolerating and celebrating our differences

Let there be peace