In January of 1998, Zaid Gayle & Marni Otway sat in a meeting with leaders of the Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence Organization. Their simple dream was to create a peaceful, safe haven in the middle of Watts, site of the nationally recognized 1965 civil unrest known as the Watts Riots and one of the most violent urban environments in Los Angeles. In honor of the Season for Non-Violence, a nationwide campaign to promote peace by commemorating two of its most esteemed advocates, Mahatma K. Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr., Marni and Zaid created a plan. Using a 64-day timeline, their hope was to build a garden that would serve as a place of beauty and inspiration in an otherwise blighted area. The garden was to be installed at the renowned Watts Towers so that everyone in the community could relish in its splendor.

However, there was resistance to our idea because we were not part of the Watts community. Although they liked the concept, we were outsiders who the decision makers at the Watts Towers believed would not follow through with our proposal. Fortunately a small group of teachers from a local school got wind of our idea and invited us to do an assembly at 99th Street Elementary School. We did the assembly and it seemed that there was not much interest. Yet, a week after the assembly at the school we received a package of letters from the students. The letters were called "99 Reasons Why We Need a Peace Garden". Each of those 99 reasons were testimonials from the students of how violence had had a profound impact on their lives. The stories were tragic but at the same time uplifting, because there was a sense of hope that was so apparent in their words.

In March of 1998, we kicked off our Peace Garden Project with a group of about twenty elementary school students. Every Saturday for three months, the kids faithfully picked overgrown weeds without complaint simply to prepare the soil for the garden. After the initial three months our numbers of kids had tripled as well as the number of volunteers. We also discovered that our program was attracting a number of kids who were in foster care. Marni Otway, also a social worker, realized the great sense of kinship that the garden was providing the foster kids and invited more of them to come and participate in the program. The Peace Garden was not only becoming a safe haven, but a place where young people were taking ownership of their own community and lives and making a statement about what they believed was their birthright, peace and a family.

The Peace Garden grew quickly. Soon the program was too big to simply stay in the confines of the school. We added camping trips and outings to the curriculum to expose the kids to things that they had never experienced. We learned that many of them had never been to the beach even though they lived only 8 miles east of it. Most of the kids have never even seen the Watts Towers even though it was almost in their backyards. Soon, we began to notice how heavy of an impact the program was not just having on the kids, but on the volunteers as well.

Though the garden thrived, no one anticipated that this would become a full time job. By the time the summer of 1999 neared, there was a beautiful garden but no one could dedicate the same amount of time. The kids noticed the lack of commitment and stopped coming as frequently. Many volunteers stopped participating. It appeared as though the garden program was nearing a premature end.

However, tragedy hit and re-inspired the efforts of the Peace Garden community. One of the kids who had been involved in the program was murdered on the streets of Watts, at the age of 14. Zaid Gayle attended the funeral services.

The next day Zaid and Marni agreed that now was the time to recommit and strengthen the Peace Garden program. Thus Peace4Kids was born! It became clear that the children would help shape the program based on what their experience in life communicated what they needed. The program is now over 5 years old and has four components. The services that we offer include; Creative Educational courses, a Mentorship Program, Athletics/Nutrition courses and Life Skills training. Over 500 children have been a part of the efforts and many of them continue to come back and participate although they may be in different foster homes or have moved to different communities. Peace4Kids continues to strive towards its greater vision, which is to ensure that every child discovers and reaches their potential regardless of the obstacles that life places in their way.





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