Schoolchildren raise funds for Obama’s poll campaign

Thursday, October 30, 2008 Khalid Kheshgi

PESHAWAR: A group of schoolchildren in Peshawar collected 261 US dollars for ‘Uncle Obama’s election campaign’ in a bid to help restore peace in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Frontier province of Pakistan. Holding placards and charts inscribed with slogans for peace and ‘No more war and bombings,’ the school children, mostly aged between 10 and 13 years, denounced increasing incidents of blowing up of schools, bombing of residential areas and displacement of families in the Fata and the volatile Swat district of the Frontier province. “Uncle Obama we expect peace from you,” read one placard held by a 10-year-old boy. Another chart, shown by an 11-year-old girl, stated: “Let us smile and play.” They appealed to Barack ObamaBarack Obama, the Democratic party’s nominee for office of the US president, to give them books and pens instead of bombs and missiles. After protest in front of Peshawar Press Club, the children, six of them boys and three girls, told journalists that their small donation for Obama’s election campaign was to show to the world that the children of NWFP and the Fata were facing serious trouble because of the unrest. “We have arranged this donation for the election campaign of Obama to invite him to play his role in resolving the problem through peaceful means,” said one of the boys holding a handwritten chart inscribed with “No violence.” Accompanied by their parents and teachers, the school kids said women and children were the ultimate victims in wars and conflicts. “We can’t keep ourselves aloof from these horrific developments and excessive use of force, extremism and terrorism.” They said they did not know who was behind the violence and why. “However, we were told that all the violence was because of the ‘flawed policies’ of the United States. Therefore, we decided to collect fund for Obama’s election campaign to help give practical shape to his electioneering slogan of change we need,” said one boy. “We hear Obama speaking in television debates and addressing public meetings and talking about a safe and prosperous future for the American children and people. And this is what we desire for ourselves, our society and the human race at large,” said one of the boys. “We want to attend schools without any fear of suicide blasts, bombings and heinous acts of violence and therefore, we collected the donation for Obama’s election campaign to convey our message to him through media,” he said. Speaking on the occasion, Aisha Ayaz said they had collected the small amount out of their pocket and Eid money. “We earnestly hope that our voice and appeal for working together to build a safe world will reach Obama, his party and the American people. We have heard that America is a very powerful country and its president enjoys immense powers to bring improvement to the world. We have attached great expectations to Uncle Obama that his vision of ‘change’ will also benefit other societies of the world,” she said. The children said they were presenting the $261 to the US authorities in Pakistan for onward dispatch to Obama on behalf of the children of Pakistan. Interestingly, they did not mention the name of McCain, Republican candidate, either in their demands for peace and normalcy, which indicated that the children believed Obama would sweep the US presidential election.