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Kazakhstani Students Offer Message of Hope to American Children

November 2001

Schoolchildren in Kazakhstan are expressing their sympathies to those whose lives were affected by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. They are conveying their thoughts through paintings, drawings, and letters that are being shared with their teachers, fellow students, and now with the world, through the World Wide Web.

The project formally began on September 26 at School #5 in the southern Kazakhstani city of Shymkent, where local children drew more than 300 pictures and wrote letters to American children on the theme "Children Against Terrorism." The event was organized by the public union "Art-Production," Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) alumni from Shymkent, the teachers of School #5, and IREX's Internet Access and Training Program (IATP) staff. A group of ECA alumni reviewed the projects and chose the best pictures and letters, which were then posted on the Children Against Terrorism website, located at www.antiterror.freenet.kz.

Shortly thereafter, on October 1, the Alumni Advisory Council (AAC) in Karaganda followed up the Shymkent event with the initiation of an action entitled "Children Against Terrorism." The project's goal was simple: to support all people, particularly American children, whose relatives and friends suffered from the acts of September 11.

Multiple schools in Karaganda and the nearby city of Temirtau participated in the project. Students from grades one through ten painted pictures, made posters, wrote essays, and one participant even submitted a model of the New York City World Trade Center towers.

The projects were posted on the IATP Karaganda Public Access Site, www.iatp.kz, and at the end of October a jury consisting of local teachers and Peace Corps Volunteers chose the 15 best works to be displayed on local pub sites as well as the Children Against Terrorism website. The US Department of State recently gathered several of these projects into a poster entitled, "Children's Voices Against Terrorism."

Internet public access sites such as those created through IATP are becoming important gathering places for community members. Through the Internet, cities such as Karaganda and Shymkent, approximately 500 miles apart, can work together efficiently and share the creative arts and thoughts of schoolchildren with each other and the world.

IREX/IATP has been active in developing online resources and training local citizens in Internet usage in Kazakhstan since 1996. Currently, IATP maintains seven access sites in the country-in the cities of Almaty, Astana, Atyrau, Karaganda, Shymkent, and Ust-Kamenogorsk-with plans to open three more sites before the end of the year. IATP is also operating in the four other Central Asian republics, Western New Independent States, and the Caucasus. For more information on the ECA-funded IATP program, see the IATP website, www.iatp.net.

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