Peace - picture it!

Ingrid (11) is off to the US on a peace camp for a month with CISV. She celebrated 4th of July with her American host family and has now arrived at the camp. For one month she will live together with 50 other 11 year olds from 12 countries around the world in Smokey Mountains, TN. I envy her. Every time you go somewhere for the first time, when everything is new and unknown there is an excitement of a special kind. As one grows older the experience of being in a new unknown context becomes more and more rare and I guess that is why I envy her a bit.

For some people this is frightening (being in an unknown environment and not knowing fully what to expect) but I really like it and Ingrid is exactly the same. She has been longing to go for several months and I think her dad found it a lot more difficult to say farewell than she did. It is difficult to be at a new place, in a new country, with a different language and different cultural codes but it is also exciting, it stimulates new ideas and new insights and it shows one very simple thing – we are all humans and we are all the same despite looking at things from different perspectives.

The idea of "CISV – building global friendship" came from Dr Doris Allen who after World war II started the organisation saying; “ We must start with the children”! I was part of CISV when I was young and it had a real impact on me and on how I look at life and the possibilities we have in this world if we work together.

This is CISV according to thier website and if anyone of you would like to know more about it all I can say is JOIN!

Following the devastation of World War II, many people were focusing on initiatives to build and maintain peace. One particular idea caught the attention of child psychologist, Dr. Doris Allen. It was a proposal for a UNESCO peace education institute for postgraduates from many disciplines. The idea for Children's International Summer Villages (today known as CISV International) was conceived by Dr. Allen in 1946. As a specialist in growth and development, Dr. Allen, could not agree that the focus for peace education should be in the field of adult learning. She firmly believed that “the ultimate source for peace, long range, lay with the children.”

From this conviction came her vision of bringing together children from all over the globe to learn to respect different and common values. In 1951, she realised her dream when delegates from eight countries gathered in Cincinnati, USA for the first Children’s International Summer Village (CISV). Over the decades, the organization grew in numbers, countries and activities. In 1979, Doris Allen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize -the recipient that year was Mother Teresa.

Over 50 years after the first Village, this programme remains the cornerstone of our international educational activities. CISV's range of programmes has increased from one to six different types of international activities and from one village to around 180 international programmes a year.

Today CISV operates in over 60 countries and since 1951, more than 190,000 people have participated in more than 5000 international activities.

The theme of Ingrids camp is Peace – picture it! What is your picture of peace?