Day 4 - Our rights and responsibilities

Day four of the camp has been all about Human Rights and Responsibilities.We began the day with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the history of its creation. The students decided which rights they felt were the most important, but mostly found that they were all interconnected, making each one an integral part of the document.

This was followed by an activity called ‘Take A Step Forward’, meant to allow the students to experience life in someone else’s shoes.  Each student was given a role to play, such as a refugee, a teenager who uses a wheelchair, or a child of a bank manager. Standing in one line the students were asked to step forward if certain ideas applied to them, such as having easy access to technology and the internet or being able to practice their religion freely.  Some students were able to take many more steps than others, which gave them some insight into the privileges that are inherent in certain life experiences. During the debrief, the students were able to talk about the opportunity that came with their role and the empathy that might have conjured.

Our visitor today was Cathryn Casatuta, who is a Public Affairs intern for the summer at the American Embassy in Vilnius.  She is a college student from the USA and is studying political science at the University of California, Berkley. She talked with the students about helping the community and the benefits of inexperience that comes with youth, such as enthusiasm and bravery.  

This was followed by the Lithuanian delegations sharing their project proposals for how they will continue their learning once they have returned to their schools. We heard exciting ideas that involved sharing information about cultures and religions, changing perceptions regarding children in foster care, and helping out the elderly. They have a lot of work ahead of them, but there are exciting ways in which they will take the values of the camp back to their own communities.

Our evening session was about the creation of democratic ‘tribes’ where the students developed their own government structures, laws and rights, as well as judicial systems. They did an excellent job thinking through the necessary pieces to construct successful democratic tribes, but the most entertaining were the tribal dances they made up and performed as part of the cultural identity of their group.  

We finished up with a mock debate. The scenario was that the students had completed a successful school event and raised some money, and now they needed to decide how to spend the money. The sudents met in groups to develop an argument and plan their strategy. The winning solution involved using the money to enrich the school including: improving school safety, enriching the library, and updating the computer lab.  

It was a busy day of learning and fun.  In between all the thematic sessions, the students had a basketball tournament, went swimming in the lake, played volleyball and enjoyed the campfire. 

Day 3 - Our values: personal, social, global

We had a great day today at the We Care Camp. Our morning began with a wake-up call in the form of a guitar jam of “Smoke on the Water” from the incomparable volunteer Simas. The campers were clearly grateful for the gentle reminder to come out of their beds and into the field for some light calisthenics.

Following the morning exercise, campers began the day’s thematic activities. Our focus for today was “Our Values: Personal, Social, and Global”. The campers began the program by focusing on the core values that they held personally and how they could find common ground with others to build their community. The  students did this by identifying their own values from a list of 36 separate choices and were then to work with a partner to choose which they could both support. Then they extended to a group of eight and reach an agreement. The groups presented their work in the poster form.

There were two competitive activities that challenged their minds and their bodies. The camp first moved outside for a game of Extreme English where they were again put in the position of having to use their knowledge of values. However, in this exercise, the position they had to assume might be that of a crab walk, a straight-legged run, or other physical endeavors. The campers were divided into teams who ran a spirited relay race using both their bodies and their minds. The students continued their competitive spirit with a quiz game that tested their ability to answer 15 questions. Laughter and learning were shared by all.

One of the highlights of the day was the visit from the Cultural Attache from the US Embassy in Lithuania, Meghan Luckett. We were treated to an excellent overview of the need for diversity – not simply as a moral value – but also as a distinct social and economic advantage. Ms. Luckett guided us through a presentation and various activities that showed how inclusive groups were both more productive as well as being a moral good. Ultimately, the students were highly impressed by her work and were able to speak quite eloquently about their own experiences and the need for inclusivity in society. 

In the evening the students put all of this into practice. They conducted simulations of social situations that had them examining how to handle sensitive interactions that both enabled them to explore ways in which social prejudice could occur, but also how to handle potentially difficult interactions in a respectful manner. This was accomplished in three ways. First, students engaged in a simulation where they interviewed other students who were acting as a variety of people attempting to rent a room. Secondly, they interacted with fellow students who were adopting a variety of professional positions. And finally, students acted out personal social situations in a Forum Theatre activity where they learned better interpersonal communication. Through all of these activities, students put to use their values and communication skills and carried on lively discussions.

In the end, all students seemed to have a good time and were very engaged in the day’s work. They were challenged to engage not only in tolerance of others, but to make their communities a better place through truly inclusive actions. In this way we can all help create communities that reflect our values and also offer freedom and opportunity to all members of our respective countries.   

Day 2 - Our world: democracies, countries, languages

Today was our first day of thematic activities and we dove straight into our topic of democracies, countries, and languages.  We began the day with an activity titled “The Tree of Knowledge”. Students will begin each day by writing a question or a hope for the day on a leaf that they place on the ‘tree’ in our classroom.  At the end of each day, they will replace their leaf with a blossom representing the development of their learning. We spent time at the end of the day reflecting on our questions and the answers we came to over the lessons.  We will do this every day so that by the end of camp our tree will be in full bloom with our learning.

We also began another camp routine this morning by learning about our ‘secret friends’.  Each student had their portrait drawn yesterday on envelopes that were hung around the room to serve as a mailbox during the camp so that their ‘secret friends’ can leave them notes and compliments and we will reveal our friends on the last day of camp.

We then began our serious work of exploring democracy.  We started with an introduction to the tenets of democracy such as the rule of law, protected rights, and individual representation, which led us into a matching game with countries and their flags, where we separated them into countries that have a true democracy according to our newfound rules.  

Following that, we had a rousing game of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire!  The questions were all about the four countries represented at our camp.  We learned about geography, populations, national anthems and much more.

To build on the wealth of language knowledge present in our group, students then taught each other how to say typical phrases in each language.  They learned phrases such as good morning, thank you and good luck! Then they designed a symbol to represent our group and our time at camp.

We had a visitor from the American Embassy ASSIST program, Živilė Lazauskienė, who talked with us about her experience as a study abroad student and her current role in the program.  She shared about her time with a host family in Toledo, Ohio and her travels in the USA.  She also taught the students about the opportunities offered by ASSIST and the benefits of study abroad as well as the ways that getting to know a new culture can have an impact on the world.  Živilė used her time abroad to go on to study at university in the UK and now works on NASDAQ in Lithuania.  It was a great talk and we are grateful to Živilė for sharing her time with us.

 

 

We continued with an activity that allowed the students to experience traditional stories from each culture.  After matching the parts of each story, they then chose one to act out and staged entertaining skits. The winning skit was about the creation of the Polish Crest.

We finished our evening with a dance where each group taught the others a traditional dance from their country.  The students had a great time learning new dance steps and hearing new songs. We practiced dances like Oira, Ceceliuke, and Grandskveran from Lithuania; Cotton-eyed Joe from the USA; Chasapiko and Enteka from Greece; and Belgijka, and Polonaise from Poland.  It was a busy, thought-provoking, and enjoyable day!