There are so many ways that you can help our Future Guardians of Peace!

1. Tuition/School Fees
We have a waiting list of pre-screened ex-combatants, boys and girls, who are eager to go to school. Candidates are selected based on good behavior, prior school performance, behavior and attitude in the community, and willingness to work hard. Our team will see that they are enrolled in school and will monitor their progress. We will keep you informed of their needs and progress, and send photos and report cards if you are interested.
School fees: $600 per year pays school fees, uniforms, shoes and books for one person for one year. Consider adding an additional $25 per month for a small food stipend and allowance.

2: Soccer Jerseys, Shoes, Balls
Soccer remains the #1 peacemaking choice for both boy and girl ex-combatants. These games bring together former enemies and give many kids a way to focus their peacemaking skills in helping organize and run the games. And the games are a healthy outlet for pent-up energy. Our core team has already begun peacemaking with friends and rivals through soccer games.

• Soccer balls (with inner tube, better for withstanding uneven and rocky playing fields) - $30 each
• Soccer jerseys - approx. $100 per team
• Shoes, socks - approx. $25 per peson
note: donations can also be made to ‘Little Feet’ (www.littlefeet.com), a partner organization specializing in soccer equipment for war affected children, and earmarked for everyday gandhis.

3: Sponsor Training Workshops For Ex-Combatants:
$350 each workshop / 20 participants
Healthy Relationships, Peacebuilding, Ecological Restoration and Conservation, Permaculture
Trained everyday gandhis staff are prepared to conduct workshops for local ex-combatants in Voinjama.

Workshops are 2 days long and include the following:
• A small stipend for instructors ($150)
• All teaching materials
• Gas for our generator
• Hot meals for participants
• Incidental organizing expenses, including phone cards, so that our kids and staff can go into the community to recruit and monitor participants.

4: Sponsor A Peacemaker’s Circle: $250
Many former child soldiers remain traumatized by their commanding officers, who often promised a better life but never even kept in touch. The kids depended on these commanders for survival and what scant emotional support they could find. Many of these former commanders are themselves traumatized and struggling to make a life for themselves. Bring together former fighters and their former commanders in a Peacemaker’s Circle facilitated by teams of our trained staff members and our fledgling Future Guardians of Peace. Costs include hot meals for participants, phone cards, gas for our generator, basic transportation for participants and a small stipend for circle leaders.

5: Sponsor Photography Equipment And Training For Ex-Combatants
Cameras have proven to be an unexpected and very powerful tool for peacemaking. Our Future Guardians of Peace regularly go into the community, cameras in hand, taking pictures of local people, telling stories of peacemaking, mediating disputes and educating people about Permaculture, ecological restoration and peacemaking. Help us expand our work to include more former child soldiers, especially female ex-combatants, most of whom have no outlet whatsoever for their stories and talents. We especially need a printer and ink so that the kids can print copies of the photos and give them to their photo subjects without delay (and not have to wait for us to print photos in the US and send them back, a process that often takes weeks or months.)

• Nikon digital still cameras: $1200 each, including camera body, lens, case and flash cards
• Printer, ink and paper: $250
• Laptop computer: $750 for PC, $1500 for Mac
• Photography workshops: Travel and fees for instructor, renowned photo journalist Andre Lambertson, who has been working with our kids for two years $5,000 includes RT airfare and 5 days’ instruction

6: Sponsor A Safari For Ex-Combatants Next Year
This year’s photo safari to Tanzania was a life-changing experience for our seven former child soldiers. It was a trip of many firsts, including first time in an airplane, first time seeing another African country, first time seeing animals up close and in the wild. The kids are now enthusiastically sharing their wildlife photos with the local community, especially elders, and speaking about how important it will be for Liberia to preserve its forests, bring back the animals which are currently hunted to the brink of extinction and establish eco-tourism in Liberia. There is no training that can match first-hand, life-changing experience. These young people are now committed conservationists and peacemakers on behalf of the wild. Contact our office for details.

7: Permaculture Tool Kits: $350
Permaculture is a form of sustainable agriculture that incorporates ecological restoration, food security, drought protection and sanitation, using local materials and simple tools. You can sponsor teams of ex-combatants to learn basic Permaculture skills and provide the community with much-needed manpower to build gray water systems, compost toilets, ferrocement rainwater catchment tanks, square-meter kitchen gardens, mulching/composting, integrated rice farms and food forests. Local leaders and trained everyday gandhis staff are standing by to mobilize and monitor ex-combatant teams for whom this work would provide food, dignity and meaningful work.

Tool kits consist of:
• 2 wheel barrows
• 15 hoes
• 5 shovels
• 10 cutlasses
• 10 pairs of rubber boots
• 10 pairs of work gloves
• starter rice and other seeds

8: Host a Speaker, Training Workshop, Film Screening or Fundraiser
Contact us for details.

everyday gandhis
820 E. Mason St
Santa Barbara, California 93101
805-966-9300
info@futurguardiansofpeace.org