Then, we taught them to make cement posts--instead of wood which could be burned or cut down--and the rest was history!
JB: What a great story! You didn't stop with removing landmines and restoring the communities' livelihood. You also went on to build schools and soccer fields. Tell me about your daughter's project, Heidi.
Heidi and Kyleigh with group of female Afghani students in Bam Saray, Afghanistan
(Image by courtesy of Heidi Kuhn) Details DMCA
HK: My daughter, Kyleigh, walked her first minefield with me at age 13--a rite of passage.
Born and raised in Marin County, I did not want her to formulate her ideas of the world from only a place of privilege and a 'bubble' to the suffering of much of the world. Holding her hand, we walked the minefields of Croatia together, and ushered in her teenage years with children who had lost limbs to landmines. Driving her girls' soccer team to games in California, they often discussed the latest designer jeans. And, this perspective of traveling to a war-torn country gave her the perspective of knowing it was 'a gift' to have two legs to walk forth into the world.
Kyleigh turned 16 years old, and got her driver's license. She also wanted to drive the impact of landmines home to her fellow classmates at Marin Catholic High School, but didn't know how. Cheryl Jennings, ABC7 News Anchor, invited us to lunch following her noon broadcast and we discussed what it was like to actually walk through a minefield--this was not your normal conversation, and very few American women had this experience, other than the military.
Together, we decided to start a Roots of Peace Penny Campaign to build schools and soccer fields for children living in Afghanistan. It was only a year after the tragedy of 9/11, and we felt the empathy for children walking through villages and wondering if those steps would be their last. They needed an education to take them out of the rubble, and fair playing fields.
And, so, CHANGE, ONE PENNY AT A TIME! became our battle cry!
Penny by penny, Kyleigh spoke at various schools from kindergarten to college. And, she partnered with Dr. Jane Goodall in her 'Roots of Shoots' program, because animals are also victims of landmines. It takes only eight pounds to detonate a landmine, the average weight of a newborn child. The Animal Kingdom was also at risk, so the vision of the penny campaign expanded.
Over time, Kyleigh raised over 50 million American pennies for peace!
JB: 50 million pennies; that's huge! As an equally dedicated mother and activist, how did you walk that tightrope between being home with your kids and implementing Roots of Peace? I imagine that wasn't easy on any of you.
HK: Dancing between Marin and the Minefields was like walking a tightrope. There was a core of mothers who knew the passion in my soul, and would show up each day to volunteer in the basement of our family home. My typical day was to wake up at 5:00am to begin my calls to Washington, D.C. and New York. I earned a reputation for being the first call on the East Coast, since there is a three hour time difference and I wanted to get so much accomplished before flipping pancakes at 7:00am, making sandwiches, packing lunches and dashing off to school before the bell rang! Breathless at 9:00am, I would return home, and we would descend into the basement to begin our work to plant the Roots of Peace--filing papers, answering calls with the United Nations and researching grants. Balancing babes and briefcase was not an easy task, and I would have to finish my work before driving the children to ballet, soccer practice, and manage to squeeze in grocery shopping to cook a healthy dinner for the family at the end of a long day.
And, the next day, I would do it all again!
JB: It sounds like it took you twenty years to write this book because you've never slowed down. I'm exhausted just hearing what your days have been like. I know that your team has implemented Roots of Peace in numerous countries. Can you give us some of the overall stats so that we can get a sense of the scope of what's been accomplished in this time?
HK: Roots of Peace has raised the funds to remove over 100,000 landmines/UXO in Afghanistan, according to the final report by The HALO Trust and United Nations Mines Advisory Group.
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