Elementary athletes fight for playground with words

• Hawai'i school children contribute cloth to peace quilt

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Religion & Ethics Writer

Lanikai Elementary students participated in a negotiation process to settle how football players and soccer players would use the limited space on their school's playground as part of the "Season for Peace" program in Hawai'i. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser Aloha Peace Day Entertainment, activities and lectures, including music by "peace troubadour" James Twyman of California Noon to 6 p.m. Saturday Kapi'olani Park Bandstand Free Other Season For Peace events Peace Walk, March 2, with location and time to be announced. An Aloha Peace Cloth, with material from participating schools in Hawai'i, will be completed in time for the Peace Walk. Closing ceremony, April 4. Location and times to be announced. Mohandas K. Gandhi's grandson, Arun Gandhi, will hold lectures in March. For information, check the Web site: SeasonForPeace.com

Is this the Mideast? Border skirmishes in Bosnia?

Nope. It's "the soccer players" vs. "the footballers" at Lanikai Elementary.

Who gets to play on the field at recess may look like a playground issue to you. But to Lanikai principal Donna Estomago, it looks more like an opportunity.

Lanikai Elementary students are participating in a "Season for Peace" program in Hawai'i, designed to "create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and our communities." The program was largely organized by Unity Church members.

As part of their involvement, they are learning that achieving peace requires active involvement.

This was no powder-puff game being played at Lanikai; it was tackle football. Some teachers were concerned that play was too rough, and disputes and name-calling were occurring between players of each sport.

At one point, Estomago suspended the playing of football on the field.

Estomago gathered two members of each classroom to a neutral territory (the school library) to hammer out an accord. There, each of the 14 schoolchildren attempted to define the problem.

"The purpose of this meeting is to have peace between the soccer players and the football players so there are no fights and everyone is satisfied," she wrote.

At first, inside the library, some representatives from warring factions still nursed their grudges.

But then the negotiators began to make small, incremental steps, opening the students' minds to the possibility of rapprochement.

Sixth-grader Taylor Cook and a fellow classmate had gathered information ahead of time on a fact-finding mission, quizzing schoolchildren about their playground concerns.

He reported to the peace tribunal that there had been a perceived bias toward soccer; that some felt the football players should have their own field; that some people were excluding others from playing.

As the report was being read, fifth-grader Mike Richey listened intently. He wanted to make sure "people feel safe," he said later.

By the time the students had broken into small groups to address different portions of the issue, potential solutions had already been tossed around.

Perhaps someone could take a day to teach all the interested parties how to play each game, and explain the rules?

Perhaps they could reconfigure the fields so each has their own turf?

Maybe they'd just have to make peace with the fact that they'll never be able to find a solution that makes everyone happy?

The accord began to take shape.

This school, which utilizes peer mediators and has students sign contracts, gently nudges its charges into buying into a solution. Peace, here, is no nebulous, pie-in-the-sky concept.

The 14 members of the tribunal met again yesterday to refine the agreement, which will be presented to the entire student body tomorrow in a ho'olohe ("listen to me") assembly. One enterprising committee came up with a sketch for dividing the plot of green field to accommodate both groups, and the students are continuing to look into other possibilities.

But ultimately, what is decided will come second to the process.

The peace process.