“I need yellow and blue. If I have to make a peace mandala, there must be the colors of Ukraine!” So, when Edoardo, 9 years old, approached the table to color the peace mandalas, he began to look for the colors of the Ukrainian flag. That is the place where peace is most needed today and so they could not be missing from his drawing. The mandalas that the children colored together all around a table, became messages of peace that, once at home, will be given as gifts to friends, family or anyone who wants to leave a message of brotherhood. Artistic spirit and imagination were also unleashed by the children in two other stands of the festival. In the first , a large drawn banner was waiting for the children to fill it with colors to make it become the symbol of the day. And so, here someone takes care of the horizontal stripes, someone of the flowers, someone still of choosing the colors for the writing. Peace also comes from the exercise of cooperation and mutual aid, just as some older children did with some younger ones, less experienced in the use of brushes and colors.
Cooperation and teamwork were also the elements of Sport4Peace : activities in which each person’s skills are not enough to complete the “task” if they are not measured and adapted to those of the other participants. And so Michela, 11 years old, and Sara, 7, immediately learned to help each other carry a ball through a complicated and fun system of strings “It wasn’t easy, everyone was running too fast and I was going slow. Then Michela explained to us that we had to go at the same speed and I also helped and we did it!” , Sara tells us. In a period in which news of wars, violence, physical and verbal clashes weigh down our hearts, weakening the hope of a better and more fraternal future, seeing dozens of girls and boys express their idea of peace, having fun and making small gestures, allows us to look to the future with hope. Finally, two memories to take with you: the Peace Dice , which has intrigued many children who, in addition to cutting it out and composing it, have asked how to put into practice the actions described above. “And then I think I’ll make one more and get one for my brother too, so maybe we’ll argue less” is the idea of Flavio, 8 years old, while Claudia, 9 years old, wants to propose throwing the dice, every day in class. We hope she succeeds and maybe she’ll tell us what fruits it will bear.
The other object that the kids brought with them, comes from “sowing peace”, an activity with which the little protagonists colored and composed a small vase containing a plant to take care of and grow, just like peace. Here too the most popular colors were red, like love, and green that reminded someone of friendship! What remains of a beautiful afternoon of celebration spent together? Perhaps the simplest phrase that Sara, 6 years old, gives us, who with great simplicity tells us that: “ For me, peace is being all friends”. If you want to find out more about Living Peace International and propose its activities to your school, go to www.livingpeaceinternational.org Or write to educazione@amu-it.eu
Experience Peace – A Celebration of Togetherness!
Saturday in Grottaferrata with Living Peace International we spent an afternoon together with families, among colors, games and many activities. The protagonists were almost 100 children between 5 and 12 years old who expressed their idea of peace!
