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Global
Explorers Kids has participated in and,
or produced many special projects to help connect
children across borders.
Flags
of Peace: Tibetan Prayer Flag Project
In 2007, over 200 children participated in Flags
of Peace: Tibetan Prayer Flag Project. Inspired
by Tibetan prayer flags which offer prayers
to be carried by the wind, the project asked
children to send messages of peace for the world.The
children learned basic block printing techniques
as they transferred their images of peace onto
cloth flags.
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Flags
of Peace culminated in an exhibition at Belle Plaine
Studios. In conjunction with the exhibit, Tibet Center
Chicago provided children with tickets to their concert
of Tibetan music. Flags of Peace are available for exhibition,
or the project may be recreated at a school or community
organization. |
Chicago-Jamaica
Culture Quilt
In 2008/2009, Global Explorers Kids produced the Chicago-Jamaica
Culture Quilt Project in partnership with VIJON (Volunteer
in Jamaica Opportunity Network). Thirty-one children
in Chicago and 24 children in Treasure Beach, Jamaica
participated in the project. Children as young as three
and up to age twelve interpreted their cultures to share
with children from the other country.
The
children were given the opportunity to communicate with
each other in a variety of media. They created paintings,
fabric collage, photos, and videos portraying their
favorite things about their home towns, their favorite
foods, and their favorite holidays. Eight volunteers
spent over 80 hours sewing the children’s artwork
into a quilt. |
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The
quilt and video were exhibited at the Chicago Children’s
Museum. Through the project, Global Explorers Kids and
children in Chicago collected school supplies to donate
to the children in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. |
| View
the children’s videos on You
Tube. |
Uthando
Project
In 2009/2010 Global Explorers Kids worked on a special
activity in conjunction with Waters Elementary School,
Oakwood Shores, and the Uthando
Project, a nonprofit organization in Australia that
is coordinating volunteers around the world to make
cloth dolls for the children of KwaZulu Natal, South
Africa. Uthando means “love” in Zulu, and
this project spreads love to children suffering from
poverty and the effects of AIDS.
KwaZulu
Natal is home to 1/4 of South Africa’s children—1.5
million under the age of 6. Two-thirds of these children
live in poverty, while 1 in 5 have lost one or both
parents to AIDS. Over 10% of South Africans over the
age of two are infected with AIDS. KwaZulu Natal is
the province in South Africa most affected by the AIDS
virus. The Uthando Project was formed to help the children
use play as a form of therapy. Play
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Global
Explorers Kids coordinated doll making sessions in Chicago,
to help families in our community reach out to children
in need throughout the world. Children and families
from Waters School, Oakwood Shores, and elsewhere made
over 100 dolls that were sent to the children in KwaZulu
Natal. |
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