The One Village Project is a year-long program that unites local, international, refugee, and immigrant youth with the objective of creating a diverse Village of youth leaders who are committed to supporting each other and serving Austin and other communities in need. The One Village Project begins each year in August with the Global Youth Peace Summit, an 8-day peace conference where 100+ youth representing over 25 countries and seven languages, come together to learn how they can positively impact their homes, their peers, their community, their environment, and themselves.

The youth exit the Summit as a united Village of Peace Leaders and meet monthly throughout the year to gain cultural competency, to improve their leadership skills and to put compassion into action through local and global community service projects.  The youth are encouraged to initiate service projects where they see a need in their communities. They serve locally and globally, integrating themes such as: hunger, shelter, communication and environmental stewardship.  Over the last several years, The One Village Project has partnered on youth led community service projects with several agencies in Austin. Some examples of these service projects include: serving hundreds of people food at the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless (ARCH), partnering with the Lower Colorado River Authority and Keep Austin Beautiful to clean up Town Lake, spending an afternoon at the South Austin Care and Rehabilitation Center, holding a peace rally downtown in honor of The International Day of Peace, and conducting a T-Shirt Design Contest to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.  When some of their fellow One Village members were caught in the middle of a war in Nigeria, the One Village youth rallied together and created video love letters, offering their love and support to their Nigerian friends.  The youth most recently partnered with the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association and Austin Parks Foundation to clean up Bouldin Creek and the Greenbelt.  Youth from the One Village Project also spent this past Holiday painting a beautiful and uplifting mural at the Austin’s Children Shelter.

The Youth

Many of the youth who attend the One Village Project have experienced poverty, religious persecution, child labor, gang violence, and neglect; some have witnessed the atrocities of war and have literally run for their lives; many have been uprooted from their native cultures and struggle to integrate into an entirely foreign world.  With recognition that sustainable peace begins within, the One Village Project brings together youth from all over the world including:

The Need

As large populations around the world are displaced by wars, poverty, and natural disasters, refugees and immigrant families are resettling in growing numbers in the United States. At a time when people seem increasingly polarized along lines of faith, nationality and political belief, the One Village Project addresses the need for adolescents, including refugee, immigrant and underserved youth, to develop values of peace, service, compassion, and leadership. Offering the youth creative and educational opportunities for community involvement, positive role models and mentors, and opportunities for youth to connect socially with an international peer group, the One Village Project is a model for sustainable peace that begins within the hearts of the youth.

The One Village Project also offers youth who have survived war and the hardships of extreme poverty an opportunity to develop trust, self-esteem, while offering support as they heal and adjust to life in a new country.  Regarding refugee youth specifically, who account for roughly 35% of the One Village population, there is a need not only to heal, but also to establish a support system around them that helps them adjust to their new lives.  This is a growing need not only in Austin, but throughout the country – 80,000 refugees are expected to enter the United States in 2010.  Once the refugees arrive in the United States, they struggle to build sustainable lives.  While parents must focus on survival needs like housing and employment, children in refugee families are often left with very little support as they adjust to a new school system, language barriers, and an unfamiliar culture.  The One Village Project provides refugee youth with an international community of loving and supportive peers and adults, easing their transition by offering compassionate counsel, peer support and opportunities to discuss past and present challenges caused by war, trauma, and poverty. The refugee youth also embrace the opportunity to become part of a larger community by serving the people within it.

Sponsor A Youth

The Amala Foundation provides scholarships to approximately 70% of the youth that participate in the One Village Project. Scholarships are provided by local businesses, congregations, associations and individuals like you. It costs $775 to sponsor a youth to attend the Global Youth Peace Summit and $1000 to sponsor a youth to attend the Global Youth Peace Summit AND year-long One Village Project. To sponsor a youth, please Click Here.

We are currently attempting to raise enough money for two Palestinian youth and two Israeli youth to travel from their homelands and join us for the Summit. We need to raise $13,500 in order to make this a reality and create a living experience of peace for these youth.

Serve

At the Amala Foundation, we recognize that the most direct way to experience a fuller life is to serve others. We unite those seeking more meaningful lives with those in great need by channeling this into humanitarian service projects that matter like The One Village Project and Global Youth Peace Summit.

If you wish to serve at this year’s Global Youth Peace Summit, August 6th – August 13th in Wimberely, TX, please fill out our volunteer form. Please note that space is limited.

Potential Delegates

Do you know a youth between the ages of 13-18 who would like to participate in the Global Youth Peace Summit? There are only a handful of spaces left. Please contact us as soon as possible at info@amalafoundation.org or 512.476.8884 as spaces are limited.

Wish List

• Experienced Caterer/Kitchen Manager
• Donated Food
• Airline Miles
• Backjacks
• Floor Fans
• Clothes For Youth (including swimsuits)
• Shoes For Youth
• Toiletries For Youth
• Sheets For Youth
• Water Bottles
• Towels

The Amala Foundation is accepting applications for youth delegates and adult volunteers. Learn more about how you can join the Village!