A Magic Kingdom

10/2006 - As we carefully followed the footsteps of our demining guide, he sincerely thanked me for the generous financial investment made by Roots of Peace which enabled the courgeous deminers to remove over 100,000 landmines and UXO's from the soils of the Shomali Plains located north of Kabul. Gazing into the distance, I thought of all the amazing individuals who gave of their hearts to put Afghanistan back on their feet—without the fear of landmines beneath their plows. Now, I was here to witness the harvest of hope. The hours from our many voluteers, the dedication from our Roots of Peace staff, and the buckets of pennies from school children across America were providing a priceless return on the investment—fruit of the vine and the work of human hands…

 Through the generous donations by a most special woman, Diane Disney Miller, we were able to restore childhood dreams for children living in these mine-affected regions. Diane's father was Walt Disney, and she came from a family of visionaries who had the courage to turn their ideas into reality. A quiet “tashakor” from my heart was sent to Diane for truly creating a Magic Kingdom for innocent Afghan families to play and enjoy the fruits of the earth, for little did we both realize that we were funding the removal of landmines around a true traditional Disney Castle in another context of Afghanistan. Images swirled through my mind, as I remembered enthusiastically watching Walt Disney on Sunday evenings as a child and always singing the opening song, "When you wish upon a star, doesn't matter who you are...anything your heart desires will come to you..."

Our heart's desire was to inspire peace from the ground up, so we kept walking...
  Children came running from all directions to greet the foreigners to their village. My instincts were to cry out "Be careful where you walk, there's thunder in the ground!" But my English words would not be understood, and somehow I had to trust that their parents had given them landmine-risk education.