Yeny and the Children for Peace by Michelle Mulder Page A

protection from abuse, expression of opinions, access to information, justice, and peace. Yeny had no trouble making her decision. She put a great big tick mark next to PEACE.

    Even the soldiers and other armed groups respected the children’s day of peace.

    That night, the TV news program talked only about the election, and a government official made an amazing announcement. It wasn’t three hundred thousand Colombian children who had voted for their rights—it was 2.7
million
. In every place that had held an election, more than ninety percent of the kids had shown up to vote. And everywhere, children had chosen the right to survival, the right to peace, and the right to love and family as the most important and most abused.
    â€œCan you believe it?” Rocio asked. Her family, Juan’s, and Yeny’s had crammed into Rocio’s little living room to watch the news. And Rocio practically had to shout into Yeny’s ear over the racket of everyone’s cheering.
    â€œLook at that,” Yeny said. “The official is so amazed by the vote that he’s in tears.”
    The television, the radio, and the newspapers were full of news about the success that the children of Colombia had achieved that day. Not only had they told their parents and the other grown-ups of their country what was most important to them; on top of that, for the first time anyone could remember, there had been a day—a whole day—of peace. No bombs, no shootings, no kidnappings.
    â€œI bet my father’s listening right now,” Juan said. “I bet he’s really happy, and the grupos armados are probably thinking twice about how they’ve been doing things. I wouldn’t be surprisedif they start letting go of the hostages. Dad could be home any day now!”
    Yeny glanced at Aunt Nelly and her parents. They had big grins on their faces.
    â€œAnything is possible,” Aunt Nelly said. “I think you kids proved that today.”

    Many kids talked about peace to everyone they met, sharing peace stickers and anything else that would spread the word.

Historical Note
    The Children’s Movement for Peace really does exist in Colombia, and though the characters in this book are imaginary, their experiences of organizing the peace carnival and the details of the voting day are very real.
    In 1996, many children in Colombia began gathering together to discuss their rights. UNICEF—the United Nations Children’s Fund—helped young people across the country meet each other and discuss ideas to promote peace. Those children talked to other children, and soon, around the country, kids were gathering in fields, churches, parks, anywhere they could, to host peace carnivals and to organize a vote for the most important children’s right.

    Many adults were eager to help them. Close to thirty organizations assisted with everything from ballot-making to publicity. The children wrote letters to the
grupos armados
, asking for peace on election day, and most groups wrote back, promising to respect the children’s right to vote.
    Sure enough, on October 25, 1996, the guns, bombs, and kidnappings stopped for a full day. In three hundred towns and cities, 2.7 million children voted for their rights. In some places, the turnout was so high that they ran out of voting cards, and the children had to copy the ballot onto paper napkins to cast their votes. For the first time any of the children could remember, there was peace—and it happened because they were so passionate about peace and their basic human rights.
    And this was only the beginning. Until the children’s vote, the peace movement in Colombia had been weak because it was not united. The children’s vote changed that. In fact, it inspired ten million adults to vote, the following year, on ways to bring peace to their country.
    Today, the Children’s Movement for Peace continues to grow. Children in Colombia are