Luther student awarded Projects for Peace Grant

Luther College sophomore Natalino Guterres has been awarded a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace to support his "Music for Peace" project in his native country of Timor-Leste.

Guterres will travel in the summer of 2011 to his home in Santa Cruz, province of Nain Feto, Timor-Leste to direct his peace project.  With the assistance of a non-governmental arts education organization, he will purchase and distribute musical instruments to school children, coordinate music lessons and rehearsals, and organize Concert for Peace in nearby Dili, the capital city of Timor-Leste.

Guterres' music education and performance project will feature songs that promote peace and reconciliation. His goal is to help rebuild communities ravaged by the island nation's decades-long struggle for independence against Indonesia, which cost the lives of an estimated 100,00-250,000 people, displaced tens of thousands more, damaged Timor-Leste's infrastructure, and devastated its economy and communities.