25 million pennies for peace

10/2006 - We continued our journey to Mir Bocha Kot in the Parwan Valley, where I had visited the previous year with ABC News Anchor Cheryl Jennings and my own daughter, Kyleigh, who was 18 years old at the time. As young Kyleigh peered from the roof of the Roots of Peace cold storage facility, she spotted a large grapevine with only one tent where dozens of children were gathered beneath the hot August sun to learn lessons.

Through a translator, she asked our driver “why” these children had to study in the blazing summer heat without shade? He replied that his own children attended this school and they had no money for tents or school supplies and could never dream of attending an enclosed structure for learning purposes. Quietly, Kyleigh requested that we stop by the outdoor school to say “hello” to the children…

Inspired by the warm greeting from the hearts of Afghan children who could only communicate with the gift of a smile and laughter, Kyleigh set forth on a quest to raise the necessary “pennies” through the Roots of Peace Penny Campaign. ABC News supported her journey to fund a series of tents so that the children may have mock-classrooms in shaded environments for various levels of learning. Pencils, pens, notebooks, and other practical items were shipped from Napa Valley to the Shomali Valley to empower the Afghan children to learn lessons of peace in the next generation.

Over 25 million pennies for peace were ultimately raised to turn war-torn lands into schools and soccer fields in Afghanistan!

Through community support, there were enough pennies raised to establish a 10 room school built out of red bricks to withstand the sands of time. Unknown to us, the Ministry of Education officially registered the new school as the KYLEIGH KUHN ROOTS OF PEACE SCHOOL. The Afghan students greeted us with flowers and a giant heart while we laid the cornerstone of the new school as the building began.

Shamim and I added our “2 Cents” for peace represented by the two American pennies inlaid in cement.