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July 20, 2009

‘March for peace’ leads soldier to Edmond

Courtney Crauthers

EDMOND — When Gunnar Swanson, a member of the North Dakota Army National Guard, was deployed to Iraq he, like many soldiers, connected with the Iraqi children in the area he was stationed.

He said, however, when reports began coming in of how children were being recruited by insurgents, they had to cease contact with all Iraqi children because they couldn’t know for certain which children had been manipulated by the terrorists.

“That was hard on the soldiers and it was hard on the children. When I came home from Iraq, doing my own thing, I never forgot the kids on the streets there,” Swanson said. “I’ve always wanted to help those kids.”

He began searching online for organizations that would allow him to do just that and he came across Dina Fesler, executive director of Children’s Culture Connection, the parent organization of War Kids Relief.

War Kids Relief supports troops by raising funds and awareness for programs that help kids who have been traumatized by war to realize new possibilities for their lives.

Fesler recognized Swanson’s leadership abilities and his passion for the Iraqi children and hired him to be the project manager for War Kids Relief.

One of Swanson’s first projects, A Soldier’s March for Peace, brought him to Edmond Friday to talk to children at the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City Edmond Branch, 1220 S. Rankin St.

Swanson is walking 1,000 miles from Texas to Minnesota to speak with children at YMCA locations and other organized youth groups. Fesler said during the 10-week period, Swanson will stop at about 60 different locations.

She said this is an effort to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to build a rehabilitation center for children in Mosul, Iraq, which continues to be the most violent area in the country. Swanson already has helped raise several thousand dollars.

The rehabilitation center will provide a safe place for children to go and spend their time, as well as get counseling. Fesler said many children allow themselves to be recruited by insurgents out of boredom. The schools in the area still are closed and the children have nowhere to spend their time, Fesler said.

“It’s not only about helping those kids, but also the troops,” Fesler said. “This helps cut off the supply line for insurgents. These kids are vulnerable. They’ll do it for the money.”

The idea is to help children know that they have a role in the future, Fesler said. Swanson read letters to the children at the YMCA from children in the Middle East about their likes, dislikes and hopes for the future.

A girl from Baghdad wrote, “I am afraid of not keeping up my study because of being kidnapped. I would like to travel outside my country. I hate to see people killed in front of me and terror.”

The YMCA children wrote similar letters that will be passed out to Iraqi children at the rehabilitation center.

“It kind of builds empathy for what those kids are going through,” Swanson said. “If you start caring about someone, you want to help them.”

The idea is to start friendships between kids in Iraq and the United States because friends don’t go to war with friends, he said.

Michaela, a child participating at the YMCA, wrote, “I hope there can be a day where we could all just get along. I hope everyone is all right and will be all right. I am sorry this happened to you.”

Swanson now has been on the road for about two and a half weeks and has walked about 156 miles.

“It’s tiring but good,” he said. “I’m ready for a cold front.”

For more information about A Soldier’s March for Peace and War Kids Relief, visit www.warkidsrelief.org.

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