By Christy Darr | Programming and Develoment
It's been a busy summer with Little Friends for Peace, with summer camps to peace workshops to weddings -- and sometimes all of them at once!
Thank to our faithful volunteer corps, we have (as of today!) finished our summer camp season! The summer began in Arlington with a camp at UUCA, continued with a camp at Cheverly, Good Shepherd and wrapped up with two camps in Mt Rainier. Through it all, we were a "special" at Perry School Community Center. We held weekly workshops at Beacon House, with the HIPPY Program at Perry School, and at Virginia Gardens. On someday we were even in three places at once! That is all thanks to your support and involvement!
This summer, Little Friends for Peace has been planting seeds of Peace Internationally, inviting children of torture survivors from Cameroon, Uganda, and Ethiopia to attend our Peace Camps in Mt Ranier, while many Hispanics joined us in our Cheverly camp. All campers learned basic skills of Peace Building, met Peace Makers (from Martin Luther King and Dorothy Day to our volunteers Elizabeth who spent her spring break in New Orleans and Christy who is moving to volunteer in El Salvador this September).
It was so rewarding to see the benefits of Peace Camp grow and flourish throughout the summer. One camper at Perry School in particular grew astoundingly in skills of Peace. This camper had never been to Peace Camp and on his first day had a very difficult time working a group or even listening to a point of view besides his own. When we went to the Peace Table to try to resolve the conflict, he would interrupt or turn away. By the end of camp, he was initiating problem solving by asking to go to the Peace Table. He was able to express his point of view, listen to the other side without interrupting and maintaining eye contact, and make a deal! What an enormous growth in communication skills, self-confidence, and nonviolent conflict resolution skills!
See the link below to visit our website, or check out our new youtube video of LFFP Students Peacemaking quotes! As always, we treasure your support and greatly appreciate any comments or feedback.
Links:
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