LOVE CONNECTS US
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Children
SESSION 7: ONE PERSON MAKES A DIFFERENCE
BY MICHELLE RICHARDS AND LYNN UNGAR
© Copyright 2010 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 11/7/2014 8:00:04 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
SESSION OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Children cannot eat rhetoric, and they cannot be sheltered by commissions. I don't want to see another commission that studies the needs of kids. We need to help them. — Marion Wright Edelman in Brian Lanker, I Dream A World
Each of us, at any age, can serve as well as inspire others to act in service. This session prepares children to find their own point of entry into service and leadership. They hear the story of Craig Keilburger, who began working to make a difference at age 12. To help child laborers in Pakistan he founded Free the Children, a service organization which now involves thousands of child and youth activists around the world.
The children explore the nature of leadership in a game related to Follow the Leader. They incorporate the "tied together" theme of the program by making canvas rugs with fringed edges in the style of rugs child laborers knot in Pakistan and other countries.
GOALS
This session will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
SESSION-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 10 |
Activity 1: Story — Craig Keilburger and Free the Children | 10 |
Activity 2: Find the Leader Game | 10 |
Activity 3: Make Fringed Fabric Rugs | 25 |
Faith in Action: Hold Benefit for Free the Children | |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: "I Made a Difference" Mural | 20 |
Alternate Activity 2: Sharing Joys and Concerns | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Find a place where you can be quiet with your thoughts. Close your eyes and breathe deeply for about five minutes, perhaps repeating a word or phrase to separate yourself from the activities of the day. When you feel settled and relaxed, consider:
SESSION PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
As participants arrive, invite them to trace the shape of their hand on card stock, cut out the shape, punch a hole in the top, and pass a piece of yarn through the hole to create a hand-shaped ornament. Tell the children that later they will hang the ornaments on the group wall hanging.
Including All Participants
If any participants have difficulty with small motor control, encourage them to choose a sheet of card stock and hold their hand in place while another person traces the shape. Then cut out the hand shape, punch the hole, and string the yarn for them.
OPENING (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Love is the spirit of this church,
and service its law.
This is our great covenant:
To dwell together in peace,
To seek the truth in love,
And to help one another. — James Vila Blake
Description of Activity
Invite a participant to light the chalice. Lead the group to read aloud the Blake covenant. Suggest participants begin thinking about what is meant by "spirit of love." Continue by saying something like:
The covenant we said together speaks about service. What kinds of service do you think kids can do, to help the world around them, or even the world far from where we live? Can you think of ways that you do, or could, serve the larger world? We will write ways on our hand ornaments.
Ask a volunteer to start. Invite them to select a hand ornament, share verbally an example of how someone might be of service, and briefly write the words or a symbol for the words on the hand ornament. Or, model this by selecting a hand ornament yourself. Allow anyone who would like to write on a hand ornament to do so, whether they choose to share verbally or not. Remind participants that anyone who does not wish to participate may pass.
Ask participants to attach their finished hand ornaments to the group wall hanging. Show them how to tie the yarn which is looped through the ornament onto the wall hanging.
After everyone who wants to write on an ornament and attach it to the wall hanging has had a chance to do so, if your chalice contains an actual candle flame, gather around the chalice and blow it out together.
Including All Participants
Invite participants who may be unable to write on an ornament to share verbally while you or another participant serves as "scribe." If you know some participants may feel uncomfortable sharing in a group, let them know as they enter the room that later they will be invited to share about ways we show love to another person. This may help them prepare an idea before the sharing time; they can also pass if they choose.
ACTIVITY 1: STORY — CRAIG KEILBURGER AND FREE THE CHILDREN (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Read or tell the story to the group.
Invite the group to be silent for a moment to think about the story.
Begin a discussion by asking the children to recap the story in their own words. What they recall indicates what they found most meaningful or memorable.
Lead a discussion with these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: FIND THE LEADER GAME (10 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Craig Keilburger is just one example of a wide variety of people who have inspired others through their leadership. This game is a fun way for participants to try leading and following, and to see how easy or difficult it is to identify leaders.
Invite the group to sit in a circle to play a seated version of Follow the Leader. Explain that one person will be the leader, and that the rest of the group will imitate them repeating the actions of the leader. Another person will be the guesser; they will leave the room (or close their eyes), while the leader is chosen. The leader begins actions for the others in the circle to follow, and the guesser returns (or opens their eyes) and tries to determine who in the group is the leader.
Tell the group:
In order to hide the leader from the guesser, the leader will need to change their actions while they think the guesser is looking at someone else, and the group will need to be as prompt as possible in following the leader.
Once the guesser has correctly identified the leader, choose a new guesser and repeat the game until everyone has had a turn at the various roles. In choosing leaders, consider that this game can provide a safe way for some children to try a leadership role who do not ordinarily seek one.
Play a few rounds of the game. Leave time to ask children to reflect on their experience:
If the mood of the group seems suitable, you might invite participants to take a moment to silently consider these questions:
Including All Participants
If a child in your group cannot see well enough to follow the actions of a leader or observe clues as to who the leader might be, ask all leaders to use actions that make noise, such as clapping their hands, stomping their feet, clicking their tongue. This might be a fun way for any group to play the game if identifying the leader turns out to be too easy.
ACTIVITY 3: MAKE FRINGED FABRIC RUGS (25 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants make fringed rugs in the style of the knotted rugs made by the child laborers who inspired Craig Keilburger to work for children's rights.
Using the sample you have made, explain and demonstrate how children will make the rugs. Invite them to get started.
Encourage children to complete their pattern using marker dots. Tell them each dot represents a knot a child laborer might tie in an actual carpet. They may tire of making dots and choose to draw lines or blocks of color. This is fine, but point out that people making the actual rugs do not have this option.
As they work, suggest the children imagine creating their rug pattern with thousands of tiny knots, rather than simply drawing. Engage discussion with these questions:
Watch the time. Give children a heads up when you think they ought to be switching to the fringe-making part of this activity in order to complete the rug in the time allotted.
Note: This activity intentionally offers children a taste of the work some children are compelled to do in parts of the world. A bit of frustration can enhance a child's learning experience, but do not allow any particular child to become personally discouraged. If an aspect of this project appears difficult for a child, quickly offer help.
Children may indeed need and want more time to finish their rugs. When it is time to stop this activity, let the group know where they may leave uncompleted rugs and when they will have the opportunity to finish them.
Optional: You may wish to invite a volunteer to attach their rug to the group's Rainbow Wall hanging, now or during the Closing.
Directions for Patterned, Fringed Rugs
Including All Participants
Be ready to help children with manual dexterity limitations, especially with tying the knots of the fringe.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Explain that the session is almost over and the group will now work together as a community to clean the meeting space. Ask everyone to first clean up their own area and the materials they were using, and then clean another area or help someone else. Make sure participants know where to put unfinished rugs and project materials. If you wish, invite a volunteer to hang their rug on the Rainbow Wall Hanging. They might attach the rug to the hanging with a few strands of its fringe or with an extra length of yarn.
When the entire meeting space is clean, bring the group back to the circle. Ask them to cross their arms in front of their body before taking the hands of the people next to them. Say "We are tied together in the spirit of service when we... " and ask anyone who wishes to fill in a word or phrase.
When everyone who wishes to share has done so, open the circle by having everyone, while still holding hands, turn to their right, so that everyone is facing out and no longer has their arms crossed in front of their body. (Be mindful of participants' physical mobility; use this closing activity only if you are sure all children can comfortably participate. As an alternative, simply invite the entire group to hold hands.)
Distribute copies of Taking It Home you have prepared. Thank and dismiss participants.
FAITH IN ACTION: HOLD BENEFIT FOR FREE THE CHILDREN
Description of Activity
Fundraising with a talent show or benefit concert can give children a fun and empowering way to join the tens of thousands of children and adults worldwide supporting Free the Children. You may wish to make and sell baked goods, a soup lunch, or other snacks as part of your fundraiser. Invite children of other ages from your religious education program, and even adults, to share a special talent: singing, instrumental music, gymnastics, martial arts, dance, sleight of hand, or whatever others gifts people have to share. Or, borrow a karaoke machine and have a karaoke competition—UU Idol. As part of your show, make sure children explain what Free the Children (at www.freethechildren.com/) is and does, and why they are asking for help in supporting it.
Including All Participants
Children who do not wish to be on stage can help make posters for publicity, make and photocopy an event program, prepare and/or sell snacks, or collect money.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Reflect on and discuss with your co-leader(s):
Approach your religious educator for guidance, as needed.
TAKING IT HOME
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of [humanity]. — Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet and (1913) Nobel Prize winner
Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
IN TODAY'S SESSION... we explored the power of one person to make a difference, both with their own service and by inspiring others to join them in working for a better world. We heard about Craig Keilburger, who at the age of 12 became an advocate for child laborers. He founded the organization Free the Children, which helps young people around the world organize on behalf of education for children. We played a game where one person tried to guess who was leading as the others all performed the same actions. The children made created fringed rugs in the style of rugs made by the child laborers Craig Keilburger chose to help.
EXPLORE THE TOPIC TOGETHER. How do you make a difference in the world? Discuss with your family what things each of you choose to do to act in service to the larger world. In what ways are you leaders? Invite family members to share stories of times when other people have followed their lead in doing service.
A Family Adventure. Visit a local rug or carpet shop. Observe not only the patterns and colors, but also how the rugs are constructed. Look closely at the individual knots on handmade rugs. What would it be like to tie all those knots? Ask the proprietor of the store whether the Rugmark Foundation has certified that the rugs they sell were made without child labor. You can read a story about RUGMARK (at clf.uua.org/uume/1204/feelings.html) in the online archives of the Unitarian Universalist magazine for children, uu&me! (at clf.uua.org/uume/0309/index.html)
A Family Game. The children played a game in which one person left the room or hid their eyes while another person in the circle was chosen as leader. The others in the circle tried to follow the actions of the leader as closely as possible, while the designated guesser tried to determine who in the circle was the leader. If you have enough people at home, try this game. You can always invite friends to play, or simply play Follow the Leader without the added challenge of guessing. How often do children in your family feel like they are the leaders? After you play the game, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being a leader.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: "I MADE A DIFFERENCE" MURAL (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The "I Made a Difference" mural invites children and adults of the wider congregation to share about the ways they act in service, empowering the whole community to think of themselves as agents for positive change and encouraging multigenerational connections.
Explain that you will make a mural to display in the congregation, and the mural will offer a place for everyone to share the ways they act in service. Invite the children to sketch the words "I Made a Difference" in large, penciled letters across the top of the mural, and then, in somewhat smaller letters: "Please tell us how... ". Invite them to color the letters with markers and decorate the mural with pictures of people making a positive difference. Make sure they leave plenty of space for congregants to share their responses.
Display the mural in the place you have chosen. Tape a few pencils and markers to long pieces of string and tape the strings to the wall next to the mural so people can write their responses.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
In addition to building community through sharing information about important events in participants' lives, this version of sharing joys and concerns uses a ritual activity based on the metaphor of knots, allowing children to experience being literally "tied together."
Gather participants in a seated circle. Say:
We are all tied together by the bonds of community. What affects any one of us affects us all. We take time now to share our greatest joys and deepest concerns, events that have happened since last time we met which we hold in our hearts.
Invite a volunteer to go first and give them the ball of yarn. Ask them to share their joy or concern and then, holding the end of the yarn, throw the ball of yarn to another child in the circle. This child may either share a joy or concern or choose to pass, but in either case they keep hold of the strand of yarn as they throw the ball of yarn to another participant. Continue until everyone has had a chance to share or pass, and the whole group is connected by a web of yarn.
At the end of the sharing, you may invite participants to take turns winding the yarn back onto the ball. Or, pass around scissors and invite the children to cut a short piece of the yarn and tie it around their wrist as a sign of the covenant of caring which the group shares.
LOVE CONNECTS US: SESSION 7:
STORY: CRAIG KEILBURGER AND FREE THE CHILDREN
Adapted by Lynn Ungar from a story by Jerrilyn Jacobs on the My Hero project website and information on the Free the Children website.
You could say it all started with a little thing. Craig Keilburger watched his older brother Marc get excited about a science project when Marc was 12 years old. Marc's project was more than science; it was also service. Craig was impressed when his brother collected signatures for a petition to ban products harmful to the environment. Craig says: "I remember watching him and thinking how amazing it was [that] he's changing the world...and I wanted to follow in his footsteps."
This little bit of inspiration went a long way. When Craig himself was 12, he read an article about another 12-year-old boy—this one in Pakistan. Iqbal Masih was murdered for calling the world's attention to the terrible conditions endured by children working in the carpet-making industry. "I saw him as a hero for speaking out about child labor," says Kielburger. "I suddenly understood that a young person can make a difference."
Craig decided to educate himself about human rights. He became so passionate about it that his parents—reluctantly—allowed him to leave his home in Canada to travel through South Asia with a human rights worker. There Craig saw, first-hand, the personal horrors behind child labor issues. He came home to Canada determined to find a way to help the children he had met.
Craig managed to get six of his friends excited about how kids could help other kids across the world, and the seven of them founded a group called Kids Can Free the Children. Craig and his friends worked to make it possible for children to get education instead of jobs. Free the Children created Friendship Schools, a program that connected schools in North America, Europe, and other wealthier, industrialized countries with schools in developing countries. More and more kids joined in on the effort, raising money with bake sales and car washes and learning about human rights and the needs of other kids around the world.
Craig Keilburger founded Free the Children in 1995. Since then, the organization has accomplished a lot:
One boy who wanted to help the world turned into two brothers who believed they could make a difference. One brother who wanted to make life better for child laborers on the other side of the world got six friends involved. Now the organization they started has tens of thousands of kids and adults making change around the world.
"Of all the well-known people I've met, the person who inspired me the most would be Mother Teresa," says Craig Kielburger. "She had this incredible power about her...because she had such a big heart. I asked her how she kept her hope in the face of so much poverty and she said 'We must always realize that we can do no great things, only small things with great love.'
"You have the spirit of Mother Teresa or Nelson Mandela inside you. No matter what your gifts, no matter what your talents, kids can help change the world." Craig Keilburger's life is proof that his words are true.
FIND OUT MORE
Learn about Free the Children (at www.freethechildren.com/) and how you can get involved. Read more about Craig Keilburger (at www.peaceheroes.com/CraigKielburger/craigkielburgerbio.htm) on the Peace Heroes website.
The online Awesome Library of the Evaluation and Development Institute gives links to a wide variety of stories (at www.awesomelibrary.org/Classroom/Social_Studies/World_Peace/Heroes_and_Heroism/Child_Heroes.html) about child activists and information about encouraging heroism in children.
Learn more about the Rugmark Foundation (at www.rugmark.org/home.php) and its GoodWeave certification of rugs made without child labor.