Youth is incredible. I have met teenagers from several countries; mostly in the setting of the international summits we are hosting. The exit from the airport, the bus or the train station is often with a certain amount of uncertainty; what to expect; what to do; what to find at the place they are going to. A universal answer seems to be giggling and a nervous hanging around to see what will happen next.

After three days of hard work I see teenagers who really got to know each other; know that they can count on each other and know that they have met friends for life. The laughing is now serious; the giggling is gone and the nervousness has become a steady knowing. I see pride; pride when the youngsters present their projects; when they talk about the friends they made and pride when they discuss the accomplishments of the last few days.

All want to move forward and see the projects they developed implemented. They want to stay involved and see results. And results we have:

1. Teenagers in Sri Lanka have received scholarships when their parents couldn’t provide funding anymore because their income had been whipped away through the Tsunami
2. Books are delivered to a library in East Turkey where there were no books at all to begin with
3. School materials were delivered to schools in the South of Sri Lanka and in Bangladesh after the Tsunami
4. Illiterate homeless teenagers in Istanbul are received private tutoring to achieve an elementary school diploma so they can obtain training as an apprentice to become a barber
5. The TPB website was designed and programmed by the participants in Istanbul/Turkey 
6. A mural was painted with the method how to shift poverty to prosperity. The mural is to become a travelling piece being exhibited in all the schools of the participants at the summits
7. The method how to design, plan and execute a local fund raising projects within the timeframe of three days. It called for media participation, activating a local soccer team, preparing for a soccer match and winning! At the same time money was collected for a local youth group
8. the participants filmed a clip about poverty and the results/impact poverty has on the well-being of an individual. The clip was placed on the website as well as on YouTube
9. A school-in-box was developed for all students to be able to receive after a disaster, to give them a quick start as soon as possible after nature destroyed everything
10. A performance was given about the ideal school options any student should have “The Golden School” and why they should be established in this way in every country and city for all youngsters to be able to attend
11. A design was completed for a “school-in-a-box” facility, both one of a temporary nature as well as a permanent facility
12. A breakfast program was developed to be offered in any school in order to entice the students to come to school
13. A program was designed for mothers to be able to receive microcredits to allow them to establish and deliver the breakfast program and thus supporting and rebuilding the local economy
14. A documentary was filmed showing the ideas and opinions of the participants about poverty, the world economy and their ideas how to reverse the situation and create prosperity for all
15. and the story goes on: new summits are planned, new projects will be developed and implemented...

Testimonials

From Gayanee (Sri Lanka) 
Dear Herma. Thank you so much for the lovely time in Instanbul. It was one of the best times in my life apart from the time I spent with ThePeaceBrokers Inc in the Netherlands. It always feels like home to be with you and see your warm smile.
I would like you to know that I would give you 100% at any time you need. Thank you once again for giving me a chance to reach out to the world and get a taste of international friendship.
On the evening you were welcoming the whole group you said you see a lot of beautiful teenagers ready to make a difference, well, I got to let you know that I saw one person who was the most beautiful of the rest and it was you, the reason for me to say this is that I always measure beauty within and for me you were the one person who had the most beautiful HEART, because if not you would not be able to do such a great deed.
I admire your courage and strength to see things happen and make a difference in the world.
I wish you all the very best and God’s richest blessings

From Denise (Germany)
Heyhey. I am Denise. I was a student at the gymnasium in Immenstadt, Germany. I participated in the first summit in the Netherlands because I think it was a great opportunity to meet new friends from all over the world. Further I believed (and still believe) that everyone can change something in this world.
During the summit I came to understand different cultures and got divergent views on how to solve problems. Since the summit I can communicate more easily with people who speak other languages and have different customs.
It was important to me to get the feeling that you can do things most people don’t even think they are possible. I am more self-confident after the summit and can go my own ways more comfortable.
I think teenagers from every country and of any age could benefit from the program. In one week time teenagers learn much about other cultures and about them selves. Self-confidence and understanding and also good friendships are the result of every summit so far. At every summit it is much to early for everyone (all teenagers think so) the summits should be longer. More variety about the countries where the teenagers come from would make the summit even more interesting that it already is. Hope to see you soon as a summit.

From Tani (Sri Lanka)
It was really an exciting moment I heard that I have been selected to take part in ThePeaceBrokers’ summit. The moment this happened was a moment which I was badly suffering with the experience of Tsunami and wanted to speak out and heal my self. So isn’t it a great chance to speak about this horrible and fearful experience with friends from all over the world? I was really looking forward to it. By the time I was preparing to go, I had the idea of getting knowledge on how we can overcome from such an experience so that I can share that knowledge with needy kids when I return.
The participation meant a LOT to me. It was not just taking part at an International Youth Summit but a great chance to meet up with teenagers all over the world and identify the similarities and the differences of our thoughts, culture and the levels of the things that need to be done to rebuild the levels of teenagers who are affected with certain disasters.
Of course it made a difference to my life. By that time, I was just looking after my self, concerning about my studies and generally, it was all “ME” but none other. But while I was in the summit, I realized that there are millions of teenagers in the world who are less privileged than me and I have the responsibility of trying making their lives easier to the best capability of mine.
I started some projects in my school and while I was in school I joined my mother where she started teaching English to the kids in Peraliya which was badly affected by Tsunami. These needy kids have lost their family members, homes and etc. Now I have been working with them for about 2 years and now I am teaching in their schools too. It is very strange to understand their mentality, the way they think and act. Thank god I even have a small chance to help them. All these intention to work on certain thins came to my mind through the summits. So no doubt IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE.
I think for any teenager to get a chance to attend a summit will be a great privilege. They will get the chance to open up their minds to the around world and identify the needs of the other teenagers and to learn what similarities and differences they have among other. Also it will help them to improve their skills with moving with others who are totally strange to them. It will improve their team working skills as well.
Actually everything was fine in the summits. In addition I would like to say that it is always good to select students who have got average English because in the summit we had in turkey. We faced some problems in communicating. This interrupted the programme as we need to have a good communication with each other to make sure that we are making the best plan. All the other things were totally fine I must say. So I don’t think that you need to change anything.
Finally, I would like to say that these summits are very useful to the teenagers as they create a huge difference in their lives.