Patrick McGrann '94
Filling Darfur’s Skies With Kites, not Bombs:
Patrick McGrann ’94 Leads Economic Development Efforts for Refugees
If you read the Christian Science Monitor or watch ABC news you may have heard of the nonprofit organization Kitegang, which was established to bring joy to some of the world’s most impoverished children. The organization had plans to bring about the first-ever Darfur International Kite Festival on Universal Children’s Day in November. The festival, which was to break the world kite-flying record of 1,100 at a Darfur refugee camp, have been postponed.
But what you may not know is that one of Kitegang’s founders is Patrick McGrann ’94, and that the seemingly playful nature of the organization belies some very serious goals and projects.
For one thing, they’re helping residents of the Oure Cassoni refugee camp learn kite-making as on-the-job training for orphan-led households. “Potentially we could have 100,000+ kites made in one camp and then shared with 500,000 other camps near the Chad-Sudan border,” he says. “There was just an article in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that used the headline ‘Changing the skies over Africa—from bombs to kites’ that was a great description of what we’re trying to do.”
Since leaving Breck for Trinity College in Connecticut, Patrick has traveled the world many times over. While in Bolivia on a MacArthur Foundation grant, he helped rural towns with economic development plans. Through his fellowship with the Congressional Hunger Center and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development, he worked with peasants in Peru and at the agency’s headquarters in Italy. But the crisis in Darfur truly inspired him to do more.
As Patrick writes on Kitegang’s blog, “So after the fact, what does everyone here have to say? ‘Why aren’t you doing more’ is the common refrain. I think they understand that prior to Kitegang’s arrival there were more AK-47s and RPGs than toys to influence 17,000 kids. And now as our project winds down, that ratio is clearly in favor of fun. Or to paraphrase the words of the top UN official here visiting our program, ‘We need to not just provide food and shelter to these children, but also smiles — the future depends on it.’ Consequently I leave the Sahara next week with a rolodex of names and locations to further our efforts. We might not have everything ironed out just yet, but with the help of countless Darfur refugees, we took a big step in the right direction.”
Two of Patrick’s Breck classmates are part of Kitegang’s efforts as well. Chris Neher '94 is very active in the organization’s management, and Paul Boruta '94 is currently composing and performing all of our music for a documentary, as he is an accomplished musician.
In addition to his efforts in Darfur, Patrick is working on a technological initiative with Iraqi refugees in the Middle East, a partnership with the government of Jordan, and a program making toys from recycled trash bags in urban African slums in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme.
If you’d like to help Kitegang, and the people of Darfur, Patrick suggests the following. “Submit children’s art to decorate our kites or adopt some kites. 10,000 kites would be the equivalent of keeping a few families employed for six months or so as they try to save up money to leave the refugee camps. Any involvement is truly welcomed by the refugees.”
For more information, check out Kitegang’s website at www.kitegang.org.