Going global : part 1

The first of the big events has been and gone, with somewhat more than a little bit of fun, laughter, noise and improvisation!! That was the 'global awareness celebrations' in a nutshell ... although there was the additional exploration of world music, language, craft, and culture ... and of course not to forget the fantastical food fest favoured by all (try saying that with your mouth full!!)

We were lucky enough to have the benefit of a lovely big kitchen, creative room, and games area, along with corridoor space to fill with visual and interesting resources for the kids to really get their hands onto and get up close and personal with!

I utilised wall space with posters which presented 'welcome' in tongues from around the world; scenes from countries around the world; quizzes; and a lovely big world map complete with pictures of all the world flags. On tables in each of the rooms we displayed lots of different travel and world story or poem books, world music CD's and language tapes with players, leaflets, pictures, information bites', and visual cues such as flags or world costumes.

The lead up to the hour of truth was a very frantic sight with volunteer arms and legs flying in all directions to set up activities and displays ... particularly as I was running round like a headless chicken dropping off all my resources in the right rooms, and trying to set up activity tables into some kind of logical 'organised mess'! It quickly became apparant that we definitely had way more resources than necessary, although many activities were planned as 'back-up' plans if the main activities were not successful. We also have such a diverse group of youth group members that it was important to try to cover as many interests and abilities as possible. The other volunteers really came into their own as kids started arriving ahead of time, and the activities needed starting and facilitating.

On arrival each person was given a sticker with the name of a worldwide country written on. This was their main country for the night, and they were then given a short quiz to fill out relating to their country. The task was for everyone to try to find out a few little details about their country, and most answers or information was to be found around the site. There was a question about the country's flag, language, food, neighbouring country and how they saw 'welcome' in the language. The results were fantastic with most people finding at least one piece of information about their country - many finding out all. The children were supported and encouraged to have a real sensory experience - looking, smelling, listening, touching and tasting lots of different things.

In the kitchen we had a full range of foods from around the globe, including a sample of everyday fairtrade items, out on display for the kids to see and taste. Each item had a label by it with its name on, and the name of its country of origin on the reverse. This provided for a fantastic game of 'try if you dare' and the aim was to work out where the food might be from, and if there was any food from their given country amongst the array ... most of the children (and volunteers) were more than brave trying foods for the first time, but there was no complaining all round (and no regurgitation witnessed!!)





Food tasting in action ... yum yum .....

Everyone joined in, Dean and Laura

The art room was over-run with information resources and world craft activity workshops ... although unfortunately time did not allow all the planned activities to be shared. There was a table where everyone got very sticky with coloured rice, decorating Indian Rangoli designs. The pictures looked lovely and would have been fantastic all side-by-side as they would be seen in Indian homes or buildings.

Indian 'Rangoli' artwork by Emma

There was another table where Indian mehndi designs and stickers could be found, and the results were many beautifully decorated hands, faces and arms - as would be worn by young Indian brides or women often on special occasions. Some even found some clothes to try on and wear to show others of traditional Indian costume. There was also an array of colourful face paints that materialised on faces as world symbols and flags.







Indian 'Mehndi' fashion, Christine

Traditional Indian costume dressings, Katie








Face painting - symbols and flags from around the world, Hattie and Faye

Amongst all that colourfulness there were stations where materials and activities about Totem poles, Chinese calligraphy and aboriginal artworks were presented. On another table were copies of world language phrase sheets for the curious to practice speaking words from another country, and the 'learn a language' tapes babbling away in the background in Turkish, Portuguese, Italian and Swedish. An area was also set off to one side for 'quiet time' where stories and poems from around the world could be read and shared, or poems could be written about or for the world.

In the games room we had a little less formal arrangement, with some 'world' challenges on the pool and soccar tables, ranging to crescendoing songs and chants from Africa. We had people milling all around in search of pictures, phrases or clues to their quizzes. The big world map stood boldly in the middle wall of the room, and people were encouraged to search out information on it, and consider other countries. By the end of the night there were little white stickers littering the map, showing where we had all visited around the world ... from lots of trips to central and southern Europe such as France, Germany, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Spain, Italy ... to Greece, Turkey, Finland, China, Singapore, Australia ... and Kenya, Tanzania ... as well as to the USA.

This will definitely allow for a themed night in the future at youth group - perhaps a 'show and tell' event to really share our experiences and tales from around the world!!!


Group singing and chanting - games room

Further quizzes were introduced to help us find out more about other peoples trips and experiences related to holidays to other countries, and how many different countries there really are in the world. In the background funky and melodic world music CD's kept the mood going, with songs from latin America, the coffee lands in Africa, the Pacific islands, and other regions of the world. Graeme was a real star of the night as he stunned us all with the range of his vocal skills as he lead the group in chants that he had learnt from children he had met on visits to Kenya. Though I think more than one of us became hard of hearing after that night with the volume of voices raised in unison to the challenge!!!!

To finish off with, we all came together in the games room to draw together what we had been celebrating this week. Prizes were given to certain other 'stars' of the night, and thankyou's shared, then plans for the workshops next week were introduced. Graeme will take a workshop in the games room to share with us his preparations and goals for the next few months in his bid to cycle the River Jordan, raising money for 5 charities in the Wirral!! My workshop will continue to pursue the world awareness theme and learning, and introduce my forthcoming project in Sri Lanka with VSO. Workshops will focus on starting to build foundations for setting up links between the group and members in this country, and a future group in Sri Lanka.

On reflection I have thoroughly enjoyed preparing and facilitating the events so far, but I have revelled most of all in seeing the excitement, curiosity and rewards on the faces of the group members, and hearing so many of us trying new things and learning from new resources and each other ... and i am sure there were very few moments where child or volunteer were not without activity or task in hand. However, I would really love to hear any other comments or thoughts about the event ... and suggestions for future events or activities for the youth group, or for establishing or maintaining links in the future.

So to finish off with for now, a parting shot from a few of the many stars of the group ...

Its decided ... fun was had by all!!
(Rachel, Jenny, Ella, Jane and Ben)