Children learn about people's differences at St. Margaret's Peace Camp

St. Margaret's Cedar Cottage found a fun way to gather children and help them connect what peace feels like within themselves, with others, with our environment, and our world.

The walls were covered with colourful lips ("Lips for Peace") setting the scene. Some17 children - nine from the parish and eight from the local community - gathered through story, song, prayer, sharing food and doing crafts. They made their own paper for peace flags, and turned cloth into peaceful birds.

Each day a story of peacemaking was acted out with the children's involvement, and the peace theme of the story was woven throughout the activity and the food prepared for that day.

Illustrating the connections between people, a lot of fun was had in the "tugs of peace." Wool throwing tangled everyone up together.

Jo-Anne Stephens was the co-coordinator of the camp. I had a role of dressing up each morning as "Wisdom" appearing in "strange" dress. The children worked to find ways to connect to Wisdom who appeared so different. How do any of us connect with those who seem different from us?

The theme of befriending differences in oneself and others was also carried out in as we made dragons out of re-cycled boxes. While building a dragon, the children were told the story of St. George. They were invited to see a way that those who are different can be included in community - and indeed that they themselves can be included despite their own "differences."