Destiny , MB and Elvira , ON

Over the past four days 75 students from around the globe have gathered in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada to discuss children as victims of war and possible solutions. The students represent numerous cultures with different religions, values, and ways of life. The general media was not permitted to enter the hotel at which we were staying at, so to give the general public a bit of insight as to what we were up to, we are writing this article.

The first few days were "get to know each other" activities. After all, we would have to be spending the next 10 days together in Winnipeg (South of Gimli) for the official conference. We participated in activities such as painting images of war to express feelings of conflict and destruction, and we were lucky enough to have the Manitoba Theatre for Young People come and teach us other ways of communicating without words in order to help us overcome language barriers.

Overall, everyone enjoyed meeting new people from all over the globe. "ItÕs different, being around so much diversity, itÕs great," said one Canadian.

And the international delegates felt about the same. "I have enjoyed meeting other people because that means IÕm not alone in the feelings, emotions, hopelessness."

But the truth of the matter is, itÕs not hopeless because weÕre the next generation. If we can get together, even though all of our differences still remain, to have one common goal - to stop war - itÕs not at all hopeless. So, the truth of the matter is, it doesnÕt matter where youÕre from, what religion you believe in, or anything else for that matter, weÕre all about the same when it all boils down. And together we want to stop war.