The Picha Mtaani exhibition returned to Nairobi on Sunday 12 August, going back on display at the Choose Peace Concert.  The event featured Juliani, Avril, and various activities.

Onlookers on Moi Avenue react to Picha Mtaani. The original exhibition returned to Nairobi as part of the Choose Peace! concert at Bomb Blast Site in early August. credit: Anjali Nayar

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY 2012

EAST AFRICA “CHOOSE PEACE!” CONCERT

Sunday, August 12, 2012
1 p.m. local time
Bomb Blast Site (August 7 Memorial Park), Nairobi

Nairobi ‘Choose Peace!’ concert and conference set for International Youth Day
Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Performers Juliani and Avril and Kenyan dignitaries will tribute rising youth leadership

NAIROBI, Kenya – Rising Kenyan performing artists rapper Juliani of the Kama Si Sisi social initiative and vocalist Avril (Judith Nyambura Mwangi) will join other artists and Kenyan dignitaries at a youth-led International Youth Day “Choose Peace!” Concert in Nairobi, Sunday, August 12, followed by an International Youth Day conference August 13-15.

The youth conference is expected to draw more than 1,000 attendees from Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania, all of whom are young heads of orphaned households and participants in Church World Service Africa’s Giving Hope initiative in Africa.

Giving Hope now serves nearly 40,000 young caregivers and children in five East African countries and reaches beyond the traditional focus of simply helping orphans go back to school – instead, helping youth succeed in the family caregiver responsibilities they now shoulder – through building small businesses, pursuing their dreams, helping each other in collaborative youth working groups, and becoming voices for peace in their communities.

Described by the Giving Hope planners as “an artistic extravaganza,” the Youth Day concert with Juliani and Avril is free and open to the public. The nonprofit, community outreach concert and Youth Day conference is aimed at rekindling the spirit of peace among youth as Kenya’s December election approaches and learning from the violence that occurred following the country’s disputed 2008 election.

The Hon. Martha Karua, Kenyan Parliament member, advocate of the High Court of Kenya and former Minister of Justice, will be special guest speaker for the Sunday concert event, joining other guest speakers and orphaned youth leaders who will give testimonies and their perspectives on Kenya’s post-election violence, the Rwandan genocide, and the continued scourge of forcible recruitment of child soldiers.