Youth Against War
Creative Expressions Against War
By Suzanne Freeman

	When Penda Diallo (left) needed help translating her poem from French to English, she enlisted New Yorkers Samantha Lasry (center), 16, and Lauren Thomas (right), 16. (Suzanne Freeman)

They came from all over the world armed with poems, stories, songs, dances, and pantomimes. At an event called Creative Expressions: Youth Against War, young people who had suffered hardships in their countries told their stories the best way they knew how.

Their hope was to teach others about the plight of children in their countries and to show others pieces of their culture.

Palestinians Jeneen Za'al, 15, and Reem Assan, 16, performed a folk song and dance in their native attire.

Meet Penda Diallo and Dafima Kurti
Penda Diallo, 17, of Guinea, read two poems she wrote in French, while Dafima Kurti, 19, of Kosovo read the English translation.

A group of youth from the Sri Lankan Centre for Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada, performed a pantomime called "In the Cradle of War."

Meet Bah Abdul, 20, Sierra Leone
Bah Abdul, a refugee from Sierra Leone who now lives in New Jersey, presented a dramatic reading of a story he wrote about his village.

Students from New York performed a role play based on the UN novel Marie, In the Shadow of the Lion.

The three-hour show needed three emcees to get through the whole program. Stealing the show from his fellow delegates, Kip Oebanda of the Philippines was called back for an encore.