By Alejandro Vazquez | GVI Mexico Logistics Coordinator
Dear Supporters,
World Peace Day was celebrated on 21 September. We decided to celebrate this day this year by focusing our projects on the topic of spreading peace and dealing with troubles.
Sadly, in Mexico, there is delinquency and the famous drug trafficking war, and even though the area where we work has not been affected by the last one, people tend to have a hostile response to things which, in turn, makes an impact on the kids. This adds up to the way people are educated and how they deal with expressing themselves and engaging with others.
A Peaceful Scavenger Hunt
Based on the objective and the goals of Peace One Day, we created a scavenger hunt full of activities related to peace and conflict management.
The activity began with questions and answers about what the kids thought peace was, looking at how they behave, what did they do when something they do not agree with happens and how they treat other kids and people in general. The following activity was to work in teams, but not with their friends, to complete a puzzle. After that, we all drew and colored a big peace sign without giving any specific order, this to see how the kids acted by themselves when having to share space and material with others. The next activity was to blow up a white balloon and give it, along with a huge hug, to a person they had been having a conflict with and to try and sort out their differences.
The response of the scavenger hunt was amazing. We confirmed our hypothesis- kids react as they are used to be treated instead of how they really believe is okay. For example, a little one in the Ludoteca almost is often bullying another child, telling him he is not good for this and that and showing him his weaknesses. During the activity with the balloons, this little one went directly to the other kid asking for forgiveness and hugged him with authentic feelings.
He explained to us that at his house he is the little one and he is always being treated like that, so in Ludoteca he has to prove he is the big one but he really doesn’t mean it. It was just there was no one to tell him he can act differently.
By doing this event we realized they actually know how to deal with conflict in a peaceful way but in order to meet the expectations adults put on them, they often act out and copy patterns of behavior they are used to seeing. We still have a lot of work, to provide them a secure space where they can develop properly. The celebration of Peace One Day reminded them of how important is to treat and be treated well and that there are always a lot of ways to resolve their troubles.
Thank you for your support.
With Gratitude,
GVI Mexico
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