Summer adventures vol.5: CISV in Denmark

In March I didn't know what to do in the summer. I knew that I wouldn't have a job, hence: no money. What to do? Well, leave the country and have someone else pay the expenses!:) I heard about the CISV programme through a friend of mine. She announced on Facebook that she was going to the Philippines - and I found myself wondering: how, why and what?!

I searched the Internet, asked my friend some questions and as I saw that the local chapter in Naantali near Turku was looking for a Village leader to Denmark, so then I finally applied for the programme. I was accepted and there the story began.

Why did I join this programme? Because the ideology behind the programme represents everything I personally believe in. Peace education, tolerance, friendship and cultural understanding are all very essential, and the ingredients to an active and educated global citizen.

I got a bit nostalgic, because I immediately thought about my own childhood in Sweden, where I had friends from so many countries that I can't even remember (things are (and got to be) very different in Finland)! Although I  can't remember their names, this is what I do remember: my Norwegian friend had her own record player (so cool!:), the Turkish families had awesome food and made henna tattoos on my hands (when my mom couldn't find me, that's probably where I was), the Portuguese boy Helder gave me my first kiss (that I can actually remember;) and with his little brother, Nunu, we used to climb trees.

Being a village leader means that you are responsible for four kids, and you take them with you to the country where the camp, ”the village”, is. (Different local chapters get invitations to different countries, f.e. one group from Naantali is planning a trip to Australia as we speak.) I met with ”my children” a couple of times on local camps, we spent time together, I briefed and interviewed the kids’ parents, I filled out forms and planned stuff for the trip.

The kids were excited about the trip: would they be scared on the plane, would their baggage get lost, would they know enough English to cope, would they make friends, would the food be eatable, would they be home-sick… I had some worries of my own, maybe the biggest one being that someone might get reeeeally home-sick or break a leg – then what do I do? The actual one month(!) trip to Vaerlose/Hareskov in Denmark was in July. And once there, we met with leaders and kids from twelve other countries!

But as it turned out, all of our fears were unnecessary, we had a great time! No home-sickness, no nothing. I had the easiest kids ever J Although my Finnish kids were a bit stressed about the pressure of learning English, I’m really glad for that they were learning a lot: not just words and understanding English (getting better week by week), but cultural differences, tolerance and friendship. The best part was that they could make friends even though they didn’t speak the same language.

The daily schedule was pretty much the same: wake-up, breakfast, cleaning, free time, play, lunch, siesta, play, shower, BUY CANDY, play, dinner, play, lullabies, sleep. The exceptions were when the kids got to go to visit local families on a couple of weekends, the trip to Denmark’s amusement park Tivoli and shopping day.

The ideology of CISV is admirable: friendship, understanding and peace education. And also, keep in mind that “play-time” in the CISV programme is not just running around silly: there actually are individual goals and the leaders pay close attention to their children; there are some very good ways of gently pushing the children to deeply learn and understand the essence of friendship, trust, respect, peace and equality. The educational aspect (and noticeable results) are something that one must appreciate. 

I can recommend this to anybody, who has an interest to send their child(ren) to an international camp, where there never is a dull moment, where you can make friends from all over the world, where you can have the time of your life.