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Koko Kondo from Japan, Pat Montandon, Zhanna from North Ossetia and Beslana, our Beslan cat, at the Moscow airport

Well, we wrapped school #1 in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia, in the World Banner of Hope and it did, indeed, change the energy. As for the media. we were interviewed and the wrapping of the school photographed by about 20 media folks from all over the world. I think our story was lost in the US because of the horrible news about New Orleans. ( A tragedy of nature made more tragic by man.) (men?)

Before going to Russia I had my contractor put in a cat door which turned out to be rather small so we laughed and said I have to find a small cat. I planned to get a cat after my return from Russia. So: I had the door, a litter pan and litter, cat food, and everything except the cat. While we were wrapping the school in Beslan, a kitten/cat came out of the rubble of the school and right to me. I petted her. She purred (I knew she was a female, so gentle and sweet)! We were very busy with lots of young people helping us to put the banner on the school and in high temperature. I wilted and went to a lady's house to rest. When I returned we were working on a different part of the school when up strolled the kitten. Well, she, Beslana, is in my kitchen right now having her breakfast after traveling half way around the world with me.

In NYC I stayed with my son Sean who took me to his vet with Beslana. The man sprayed the kitten from head to paw with foul smelling stuff to get rid of fleas and almost killed her with the toxic fumes. My vet here hospitalized her, bathed her, discovered she had a high fever, put her on antibiotics, and said she has a heart murmur (like I did when I was born). We didn't want to x-ray her because she has been through so much for such a young (about 6 months we think) animal. When she recovers I'll have her X-rayed to find out if she needs it have heart surgery. I told Nguyen Vu, now a pediatric cardiologist (and vice president of CATP), to bring his stethoscope when he and Rachel Skiffer come to see me next weekend to talk about having the Peace Prize Ceremony in Beslan next year.

It's quite a story and Beslana has been through hell: shots, long endurance flights, an infection-hospitalization, and de-fleaed. But still when she sees me she begins to purr.

She is an angel cat. I honestly think she carries the spirits of the children who died in Beslan. She is sweet and gentle and nothing seems to faze her.
I'm planning to wrIte a children's book about Beslana. I'll need a collaborator and an illustrator. If you stumble across anyone let me know.  

Lots of Love,
Pat

RED SILK MEMORIAL WILL MARK 1st ANNIVERSARY OF

BESLAN MASSACRE

 Children As The Peacemakers (CATP), a non-profit organization (peace-kids.org), will cover Beslan School #1- the school where children were taken hostage last September 2004 and more than 330 murdered on September 3, in North Ossetia, Russia – with their mile-long red silk Banner of Hope. Wrapping of school # 1 is scheduled to begin on September 2, 2005.

Their Beslan Banner will join the World Banner of Hope. Led by the founder and president of CATP Pat Montandon, the red silk Beslan memorial was created in Beslan January 15, 2005. Forty ten-foot long panels of silk carry the photographs and names of those lost in the terroists attack in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia.

The mile-long World Banner of Hope is inscribed with the names and ages of children killed in wars and in acts of terrorism from around the world dating back to 1935. The entire memorial will be displayed on school #1 in Beslan. Survivors and family members will carry the Beslan portions of the memorial, to school #1, on September 3 rd .

Patricia Montandon and the artist Ariel, created the Banner of Hope Memorial in 1986. This traveling Work is dedicated to children killed in wars, forgotten victims, from around the world. It has an illustrious history having been presented all over the world: Moscow's Kremlin, Washington DC, Berlin, Belfast, the United Nations in New York City, and on the Great Wall of China.

“We want to memorialize those innocent lives lost to horrible acts of violence, and to show compassion to the survivors and families of those victims,” states Pat Montandon. “We hope that this memorial will make the world wake-up to the senselessness of war and the killing of our young.”

Montandon took an international group of children and adults to Beslan on January 15, 2005 to comfort the survivors and to create the Beslan Banner of Hope memorial. Students at The Robert Lewis Stevenson Elementary School in Burbank, CA, sewed white doves onto the red silk – the universal symbol of peace. CATP collaborated with the grieving survivors to start the healing process. This emotional journey of compassion is documented in a film “Remember Beslan: Journey of Hope.” The compelling documentary will be completed during the upcoming trip to Beslan.

The journey to Beslan will include Moscow and an anticipated meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Children as the Peacemakers had requested that he sign their Children's Declaration of Dependents, currently signed by three world leaders.

A letter from Pat



February 3/05

Our journey to Beslan, North Ossetia, was incredible hard and incredible rewarding. When the survivors of the massacre understood why we were there they opened their homes, their lives, and their hearts to us. "We don't need food or clothing we need acknowledgment of our loss," the mayor of the town said. His daughter had been killed in the school we learned.

Our red silk Banner of Hope, covered with photographs of the lost children, and adults (since they were all killed together in a school we decided to add the photos and names of the adults) was a true work of compassion. One we had flown half way around the world, at our own expense, to bring to fruition.

When completed the survivors of the massacre carried thirty panels of the Banner of Hope, covered with the photographs of their lost loved ones, on a fog shrouded day with icy trees bearing witness to their pain, from school #1 to the Cultural Center. The memorial was carried in silence except for the sound of weeping, through the empty streets of Beslan. We ended our walk in the large rotunda of the Cultural Palace, the silk memorial surrounding us as we hugged each other and cried, one human family sharing grief. "Spacibo bolshoi," thank you very much, was whispered to us continually.

Those sorrowing people and the faces of their loved ones are like members of our own family now.

The children and adults on the trip were brave, hardworking and non-complaining, even though our living conditions and food sources were sometimes erratic.

We only had four days in Beslan to get everything completed before returning to Moscow, so everyone worked with a sense of purpose. We worked twelve hour days and more.

Andrew Anderson took digital pictures of the photographs of the deceased and printed them out on transfers. Davina Dixon, from Canada with her talented daughter Rebecca, along with Koko Kondo from Japan, ironed the transfers onto the silk in record time. Kathy Henry, both grandmother and granddaughter, did whatever the moment demanded of them. Bob Fox and Bob Thorndike, along with Andrew, the documentary crew, carried not only their heavy equipment but also our heavy suitcases up countless flights of stairs with good humor. They also got good footage of our journey. Rev. Julius Magee kept spirits high for the entire trip along with his daughters, Katina and Kaila.

There were no Prima Donnas on this trip. We worked in a limited time frame efficiently and without a negative word from anyone.

We have been invited to return to Beslan on September 1st for the anniversary of the massacre. But right now I'm so exhausted and jet lagged I can hardly think much less plan that far ahead. And while I thought I handled my emotions well during our stay in Beslan, now I'm having dreams about the loss of life during the siege of school #1. I was deeply affected by the sorrow I encountered there.

In Moscow we were treated beautifully and entertained by several schools as well as by Ella Pamfliova, our host. Buses were provided for all our trips through the snowy streets of Moscow.

Your help and your belief in the value of what we were trying to do, made it possible for us to do it. Thanks to everyone one of you.

I'll let you know when the documentary is completed. Soon we will have photographs of our journey on our web site.

Love,
Pat

Identify Yourself as a PEACEMAKER!

Moscow News September 9, 2004

"The women of Beslan will be wearing black for the next year. People will be coming to the cemetery for years. People here will not forget. But will people remember the victims elsewhere?

Irina, 24, watches the news channel, where Beslan is still in the headlines. She is bitter and skeptical. "You'll see, in a month no one will remember this. No one."

The Journey to Beslan

We will not forget the Children of Beslan

On January 15, 2005, several adults and children will travel to Beslan, Russia, in Northern Ossetia, to show Irina and all the others, that we will not forget. We will take with us drawings and letters of compassion from American school children as well as ten-foot panels of red silk upon which American children have sewn white silk birds.

In Beslan the bereaved parents and friends of the children lost in that inconceivable attack will be able to inscribe on the silk, the names and ages of their lost children. The Beslan Banner will become the backdrop for a fund raising effort. A bracelet, Identify Yourself as a Peacemaker, is being designed for this endeavor.

The funds will be used for a permanent memorial in Beslan and to support our International Children's Peace Prize. The bracelet will be available on our web site peace-kids.org as well as other sites and places to be announced.

We will not forget the Children of Beslan

Pennies For Peace

"Peace" was the "topic of the week" at Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School in Burbank, California USA, and Principal Deborah Ginnetti wanted to extend the lesson beyond "talking" to "doing" something about promoting peace. As a result, she created "Pennies for Peace," a grassroots fundraising idea that other schools are now adopting to encourages children to contribute to peacemaking efforts.

The "Pennies for Peace" idea came to Ginnetti when she was preparing for the schools "peace week," and working with the Los Angeles based Children as the Peacemakers Foundation (CATP) to launch the "Remember the Children of Beslan" project, created in memory of the 187 children killed in Beslan, Russia in September. "It was spontaneous," she said. "The Beslan tragedy was very real for our students. Many are the same age as those killed and the devastation saddened, frightened and confused them. Giving pennies to support Children as the Peacemakers was a good opportunity for them to do something positive for the grieving families, to show them that they care."

One week later, by forgoing extra ice cream and tapping into their piggy banks, the children at the Stevenson school filled dozens of jars with nearly 40,000 pennies for the children of Beslan. "This will be a lasting memory for these students. It helped them define who they are because it taught them compassion," said Ginnetti.

Thank you Ms. Genetti and the kids at Robert Louis Stevenson school!

If your school, church, or club would like to launch a Pennies for Peace project, let us know. We will give you any help you might need. Your pennies add up to dollars. Those dollars will go toward helping the survivors in Beslan, Russia and for our Peace-Kids Peace-Clubs. Hooray for you!

A Day at Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School on November 17, 2004

On November 17th, 2004, more than 155 fourth and fifth grade students from Robert Louis Stevenson Elementary School participated in creating the Banner of Hope, a memorial, for Beslan, Russia. The students cut and sewed white silk doves onto red silk panels and inscribed the names and ages of the children who were killed on their first day school in Beslan, Russia. The Stevenson students took great pride in helping create the stunning memorial. They also wrote letters for us to take to the surviving children of Beslan.

The students also generated a fundraiser called, "Pennies for Peace." The entire school collected over $300.00 dollars for the Children of Beslan to use for School Supplies. The Stevenson School is an outstanding example of children half way around the world making a difference in the life of a child they have never met.

	Salina
	Marley Marra and Kathy Henry	Principal Ms. Deborah M. Ginnetti

Burbank High School Students make Bears

Burbank High School students under the guidance of their English teacher Anne Burnett, crouched bears for grieving families of Beslan Russia. Each bear is tagged with a photo of the bear-maker with the bear as well as the students contact information. Children as the Peacemakers will deliver the bears as part of "Remember the Children of Beslan" project, created in memory of the 182 children who were terrorized and murdered on September 1, 2004, their first day of school.