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Ethics Promoting Campaign - GNRC Sri Lanka Children's Camp, Wallawaya
Background
The GNRC Sri Lanka Team organized their inaugural Children’s Camp in Wallawaya, Monaragala (Uva Province) from the 11 to the 13 January with the participation of sixty-six kids representing thirteen villages of the Monaragala District. The camp was held in a temple named “Waliyaya Pirivena” in Wallawaya, Monaragala.
The Children gathered on the 11th (Friday) after school at the temple and had the inaugural session around 6.00 p.m. in the evening where they had a couple of ice breakers and a short introduction to the camp. Surely the camp became the most happiest times of their entire life, as they always wanted to be playful, enjoy and learn at the same time.
The programme of the camp itself was completely different from the traditional programmes that you would have ever gone through. The GNRC Team always tried to emphasized, what does the simple words like “respect”, “responsibility”, “empathy” and “reconciliation” affects our lives.
The life tree exercise gave them a insight to their own lives and also made them comfortable being safe with in each other as every one of them were open and honest and understanding the other person by getting in to their shoes.
The programme of the camp aimed more at making this process a campaign and there by giving them examples of similar campaigns done by youth for youth and also others. All the sessions were participatory and the resource persons were just acting as facilitators, thereby giving the kids a chance to put in their own ideas and to learn from the others at the same time.
Connecting our lives…
“respect”, “responsibility”, “empathy” and “reconciliation” are just four simple words we always use in our schools, communities and also we always hear and see the use of these words in the newspapers and in the media every day, but did we ever understand what it meant and what a difference it can make? When the kids started to talk about these four words and then shared their own stories. When they kept on building up on every ones’ thoughts they realized that simply what those meant and the power of those words.
The kids realized that every person should have those qualities in order for this world to be a peaceful and unique place, thereby making it, a place where everyone would love to live in.
The culture
The cultural night to share each others cultures and also to different talents the kids possessed. When the kids heard and saw what each other had to say and show, the kids realized that, even though we live in a relatively small world it’s very much diverse and people have made them barriers and thereby creating huge misunderstandings and leading to wrong information.
When some one showed and told something related to that person everyone out there realized and understood what that person was sharing with them.
Outcomes
1. Children learned to share things without any hesitation.
2. They started to understand the value of time and putting in to practice.
3. The group of children came from the different areas of the same village were able to leave as a team of the same village.
4. They were able to think out of the box and come out of various creative and innovative suggestions.
5. They interacted and worked together very much once they felt comfortable with each other after the life tree exercise.
Future plans
The children, when the got back to their village groups and later presented to all a bunch of suggestions and some of them can be laid as follows;
1. Small group discussions at the village level using the “Singithi Haula” setting.
2. Putting up posters in schools.
3. Organizing drama competitions, public speeches at the school assembly, peer group discussions.
4. Getting the parents and other adults involved.
Learning points
1. Even though the programme ran smoothly, the bad whether prevented us from moving out and using the out-doors to do more games and interactive sessions.
2. The absence of parents and other adults made the children much open and forward.
3. Case studies and real life examples make a huge impact than explaining each and every thing.
4. One of the monks of the temple who was long with us helped us when ever needed and became a huge strength and added a value to the entire programme.
5. The support of the District Staff and a set of young volunteers worked behind the screen helped things move smooth and fast.
To have a look at the photos please click here
For more information please email us at n.muthaliph@gnrc.net
Other Children’s Camps conducted under the Ethics Promotion Campaign;
The previous Children’s Camps conducted
The GNRC Sri Lanka Team organized their inaugural Children’s Camp in Wallawaya, Monaragala (Uva Province) from the 11 to the 13 January with the participation of sixty-six kids representing thirteen villages of the Monaragala District. The camp was held in a temple named “Waliyaya Pirivena” in Wallawaya, Monaragala.The Children gathered on the 11th (Friday) after school at the temple and had the inaugural session around 6.00 p.m. in the evening where they had a couple of ice breakers and a short introduction to the camp. Surely the camp became the most happiest times of their entire life, as they always wanted to be playful, enjoy and learn at the same time.
The programme of the camp itself was completely different from the traditional programmes that you would have ever gone through. The GNRC Team always tried to emphasized, what does the simple words like “respect”, “responsibility”, “empathy” and “reconciliation” affects our lives.
The life tree exercise gave them a insight to their own lives and also made them comfortable being safe with in each other as every one of them were open and honest and understanding the other person by getting in to their shoes.
The programme of the camp aimed more at making this process a campaign and there by giving them examples of similar campaigns done by youth for youth and also others. All the sessions were participatory and the resource persons were just acting as facilitators, thereby giving the kids a chance to put in their own ideas and to learn from the others at the same time.
Connecting our lives…
“respect”, “responsibility”, “empathy” and “reconciliation” are just four simple words we always use in our schools, communities and also we always hear and see the use of these words in the newspapers and in the media every day, but did we ever understand what it meant and what a difference it can make? When the kids started to talk about these four words and then shared their own stories. When they kept on building up on every ones’ thoughts they realized that simply what those meant and the power of those words.The kids realized that every person should have those qualities in order for this world to be a peaceful and unique place, thereby making it, a place where everyone would love to live in.
The culture
The cultural night to share each others cultures and also to different talents the kids possessed. When the kids heard and saw what each other had to say and show, the kids realized that, even though we live in a relatively small world it’s very much diverse and people have made them barriers and thereby creating huge misunderstandings and leading to wrong information.
When some one showed and told something related to that person everyone out there realized and understood what that person was sharing with them.
Outcomes
1. Children learned to share things without any hesitation.
2. They started to understand the value of time and putting in to practice.
3. The group of children came from the different areas of the same village were able to leave as a team of the same village.
4. They were able to think out of the box and come out of various creative and innovative suggestions.
5. They interacted and worked together very much once they felt comfortable with each other after the life tree exercise.
Future plans
The children, when the got back to their village groups and later presented to all a bunch of suggestions and some of them can be laid as follows;
1. Small group discussions at the village level using the “Singithi Haula” setting.
2. Putting up posters in schools.
3. Organizing drama competitions, public speeches at the school assembly, peer group discussions.
4. Getting the parents and other adults involved.
Learning points
1. Even though the programme ran smoothly, the bad whether prevented us from moving out and using the out-doors to do more games and interactive sessions.
2. The absence of parents and other adults made the children much open and forward.
3. Case studies and real life examples make a huge impact than explaining each and every thing.
4. One of the monks of the temple who was long with us helped us when ever needed and became a huge strength and added a value to the entire programme.
5. The support of the District Staff and a set of young volunteers worked behind the screen helped things move smooth and fast.
To have a look at the photos please click here
For more information please email us at n.muthaliph@gnrc.net
Other Children’s Camps conducted under the Ethics Promotion Campaign;
| Ratnapura | 1 to 3 February 2008 |
| Trincomalee | 8 to 10 February 2008 |
The previous Children’s Camps conducted