Kerry had a breakfast with High School kids, involved in a cultural exchange with Rwanda on 3/25

[karynnj]

This is a fantastic article about Massachusetts kids, who visited Rwanda in 2009 and were then visited by Rwandan kids this year. In between they connected via the internet. This really is Grassroots diplomacy. This sounds like an incredible educational experience for the kids.

Rwandan exchange students and their American counterparts from Massachusetts recently received encouragement from Senator John Kerry, the son of a U.S. foreign service officer, in their efforts to foster greater cultural understanding through examining the past.

"I've found as I've traveled around the world that cultural understanding and building relationships" are critical to world peace, Massachusetts Democrat Kerry told the 38 participants of the educational exchange program Facing History and Ourselves at a breakfast he hosted on Capitol Hill March 25.

"We have to face history and each other as individuals," said the former 2004 presidential candidate, now chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, because "it's critical to things that are right in moral and human terms."

And "what you are engaged in," he told the secondary school students, is "a very important person-to-person, grassroots effort because you can't know where you're going if you don't understand where you've been."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201004051182.html

[Blaukraut]

1. This is great!

What better way to learn about different cultures than to be an exchange student. The exchange program isn't a new idea, but this is the first time I've seen an exchange with a country that isn't one of the usual program participants, like France, Great Britain, or Germany.

[YvonneCa]

2. Beautiful...both the words from Senator Kerry...

...and the idea of cultural exchange. This is why I remain hopeful for our future.

[karynnj]

3. Video!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8sx5oR5gE