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Indian kids' letter to be unveiled at Lahore stadium
DailyIndia.com - 26 March 2006
Lahore, Pakistan
By Indo Asian News Service
The 'World's Largest Love Letter' from Indian children to Pakistani children will be unveiled at the Gaddafi stadium here April 3, Pakistan Today reported Sunday.
The colossal letter, made of tarpaulin, would then be cut into 12x12 feet pieces to be made into tents for the earthquake-hit people in Pakistani Kashmir.
The 86,400-square-foot letter has been prepared by Indian children following an initiative of Friends Without Borders (FWB), an Ahmedabad-based NGO working for education and social development.
'Around 99 percent of the movement's members are children,' said Mark Jacobs, an FWB volunteer who worked on the preparation for the letter. 'Even the few grown-ups working for the organisation let the children's voice be heard.'
During its journey through India, children from various schools in various cities penned their names along with messages of friendship to the Pakistani children.
Apart from the colossal epistle, many regular sized letters from the Indian children are being mailed to Ahmedabad's Gandhi Ashram where the FWB is based.
Jacobs said his team had started contacting schools in Lahore to send their students to participate in the letter's unveiling.
'In India, we used to involve children of all backgrounds, whether rich or poor, in our campaigns. The strategy in Pakistan will be no different,' he said, adding that they had recruited 24 volunteers within a day, and the number was increasing by the hour.
Jacobs said that letters from more than 1,000 children volunteers from India would be presented along with the large sized one.
Copyright Indo-Asian News Service
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