International Day of Peace

Tonight we celebrated the International Day of Peace! Each year, Girl Guides of Canada choose 5 special days to be recognized by Guiding members as "Make a Difference Days". This was the first day for the 2016-2017 Guiding Year.

The International Day of Peace was established by the United Nations to be “devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace.” The first International Day of Peace was observed on September 21, 1982. Until 2001, the International Day of Peace was held on the 3^rd Tuesday of September, and since 2001 has been held on September 21^st.  Since 2011, each year’s International Day of Peace has had a theme. The theme for 2016 is “Building Blocks for Peace”. 

The activities we did were inspired by the International Day of Peace Instant Meeting found on the Girl Guides of Canada website, however, we went with activities that we thought our girls would enjoy.

Things were a bit hectic as the girls were dropped off as we were short a Guider and had cookies to distribute at the same time.

One Guider organized an active game to keep the girls busy and then everyone was asked to add their ideas for different themes - Games, Neon Night, Crazy Night, and Technology Night. These themes came from the list of suggestions developed last week.

We then had our first attempt at forming a horseshoe and did quite well, especially as only 6 out of 16 girls had made a horseshoe before!

Our Peace-themed activities started with a quick discussion about the International Day of Peace and what the girls thought of when they thought about peace.

The first activity was to make individual peace poles. The Peace Pole project was started in Japan in 1955 by Masahisa Goi. A Peace Pole is a hand-crafted monument that displays the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth" on each side, usually in different languages. Peace Poles can be found in 180 countries around the world. Each girl painted a wooden garden stake to take home and display in a plant pot or garden.

After cleaning up from painting, we played a game to learn more about people working for peace. The girls were asked if they could think of anyone who worked for peace and then everyone was given a slip of paper with part of a description of a notable person who has worked for peace in a non-violent way. They had to find the other three people who had the rest of the description. Once everyone found their groups, they read out the information so we all learned a bit more about Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Golda Meir and Aung San Suu Kyi. This activity comes from the BC Instant Meeting - Give Peace a Chance.

We broke up the evening with a game, "Chicken in the Coop", explained and led by one of the Guides.

For our final activity, the girls broke up into groups to come up with skits about how they could work for peace at home, at school, or in the community.

We played a final game, followed by reminders for next week, and closed with Taps.

Peace Badge

Our December 3rd meeting was based on the Peace Badge. As the girls arrived, they finished off their Tasty Treats lapbooks from Friday night.

We started the meeting with our opening horseshoe and an active game then discussed what meant to each girl. We also talked about the Remembrance Day ceremonies held at the cenotaph and at the local schools that each girl had participated in.

After this discussion, the girls split up into patrols and each patrol made a list of ways to promote peace - one patrol on peace at home, one on peace at school, and the third on peace in the neighbourhood. Each patrol shared their ideas with the rest of the unit and the other patrols added any new ideas that they had.

We took a break for an active game, playing "Red Light, Green Light", a game that was popular during the 1940s.

The "it" person stands at one end of the playing field, with the rest of the players at the other end. "It" turns their back to the others and calls out "Green light!" or "Red Light! The players then run as fast as they can towards "it". At any time, "it" can face the players, calling out "Red light", and the others must freeze in place. If anyone fails to stop, they are out or must return to the starting line. Other variations include calling out "Yellow light" as a diversion, or where they must walk instead of run to "it". The first player to reach the person who is "it"picks up an "object" positioned near the "it" person and return with it to the other side of the field. Once the person who is “it” realizes the object is gone, she can chase the player who has picked it up. If that player reaches the starting line, they become ‘it’ for the next game. If ‘it’ catches the player before they reach the starting line, they continue as ‘it’ OR get to choose who will be the new ‘it’. 

Next, we looked at some common peace symbols and then the girls got creative and designed their own symbols to represent peace.

At the end of the meet, 4 girls shared information about world leaders for peace - Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Craig Kielburger, and the Dalai Lama. We ended the meeting with a song, "Peace I Ask of Thee O River" - listen here
 

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.

When I learn to live serenely, cares will cease.

From the hills I gather courage, vision of the day to be,

Strength to lead and faith to follow, all are given unto me.

Peace I ask of thee, O river, peace, peace, peace.