Bonnie’s Global Café

06/22/2018

The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.
Susan Cooper

In a story written for Bonnie’s Global Café, a section of the World Forum Foundation website, Jerry Parr recounts an experience of visiting a new friend, Eddy from Rwanda, that he met at the 2017 World Forum in New Zealand. He explains shifts in his perspectives and renewed appreciations for the value of early childhood experiences that resulted from his trip:

“I was challenged to remove the filters I am so programmed to view programs through…regulatory filters, supervision filters, ‘developmentally appropriate’ filters. With Eddy’s help I was able to see the programs through his eyes…ripe with promise, filled with hope and expectation, challenges that needed to be conquered, centers of peace and peace building in a country too often remembered only for its history of genocide.

Eddy also introduced me to the men and women of one village that led a mediation process…as a means to keep peace in the villages and to avoid legal avenues such as jail and courts. In each village, seven men and women known for their personal integrity are chosen by their peers to serve as Abunzi…to reconcile differences, conflicts and adjudicate disputes…

We spent a morning with them learning so many things that are relevant to our ECE communities…practices found in our ECE classrooms: peace building, conflict resolution, listening to all sides of a situation…caring and respect for each other, celebrating differences and diversity, holding our classroom communities accountable. In ways that I felt were important I realized that our teachers and our children are Abunzi too.”

Source: Bonnie’s Global Café WorldForumFoundation.org/cafe

PS: If you’ve always wanted to attend a World Forum, consider applying to be a presenter, moderator or performer for the 2019 Macao World Forum. Applications close at the end of June, 2018.

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