Dear Friends of Full-Circle Learning,
Many people feel good about sending a small package during the month of December, but you who have given recently have offered a gift much more significant than material goods or best wishes. You have given the next generation a chance to apply their capacity in service to humanity. Here are just a few recent examples.
Children from a small school in Liberia marched through the streets to a central gathering place last Friday and gave a public presentation on Unity and Peacemaking. Their teachers had helped them prepare songs, signs and speeches, to help the community understand the role of these habits-of-heart in Liberia’s long walk out of civil war. They were the leaders; adults the learners.
Meanwhile, Full-Circle Learning students in India shared their creative talents in a city-wide event and were awarded with awards beyond what they had imagined, competing against large, well-funded schools. Still, this school struggles for the funding to meet government mandates.
In Haiti, children at the tiny April Woods School inspired their parents to dispose of rubbish without incineration (turning trash into art). The adults began community development projects, challenged each other to become positive role models, and rallied a new vision of how to fuse goals for personal and community transformation.
In faraway Los Angeles, a class of Humanitarians wrote letters to President Obama asking him to preserve the coral reefs in his home state of Hawaii. This came after the teacher had infused the habit of Awareness into their science, social studies, writing, and character education activities for a trimester. They had cleaned beaches, studied coral reef degradation, and developed a conviction that protecting ecosystems in one part of the ocean affects the quality of life around the world.
Simultaneously, in Tarzana, California, the generations also came together, with high school students helping young immigrant children paint flower pots, then traveling with them to share the pots with adopted grandparents. The youth helped the elders plant flowers in the pots, and the elders then accepted their plants as gifts. At departure time, neither elementary nor high school students wanted to leave their loving “grandparents.”
These are the deep and enriching experiences that your contribution helps to fund, as children continue to shape communities around the world. We invite you to donate now or to become a monthly or annual pledge donor if you have not yet done so, for yours is a gift not just for the children but for all of humanity. (Click on Donate Now for details.)
Loving appreciation,
The Full-Circle Learning Board
Photo Essay of December 2011
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Liberian kindergarteners shared what they have learned about Peacemaking and Unity at the Deborah Kaye Moore Bee and Dee Model School. School leader Awena Dorbar explained that her teachers worked tirelessly to teach the themes during the academic day before pursing advocacy projects in the community. Mrs. Dorbar thanked regional FCL trainer Davidson Efetobore for his continuing guidance for the school.
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Students marched out, carrying signs about Unity and Peacemaking, and made presentations in the community. Many stopped to read and watch. When the students returned to school, other children in the community followed them. In a country recovering from a decade-long civil war, the bold project drew interest from all ages.
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At Liberia’s Kingdom Foundation School, in Liberia, students constructed future homes as a part of the integrated service learning project.
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Connecting service, science, early learning and the arts was exciting for young students of the new April Woods school, in Haiti. The children collected trash from the hillside where their school sits. Next, they sorted the trash into colors. After it was clean, they used the bits of paper to study geometry and to make colorful mosaics.
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Students at the Annex School, also in Haiti, learned to use poetry not only as a tool for appreciating their environment but for preserving what they value or creating community change. Their group poetry was inspired by older girl poets in Haiti (produced through the Girls United Project).
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We received New Year’s greetings from one of our colleagues in China, Yu Shuigen. As he reflected on the progress of the educational system while writing his annual report, he reached out with gratitude to say, “I’m so glad to see how our kindergartens have adopted the theme of love in their teachings.” The photo depicts one example incorporating conflict resolution, history, a global partner project and the habit-of-heart theme taught by the teacher.
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Lisa Perskie, the director of School of the Nations, in Brasilia, reported at the end of 2011 that Full-Circle Learning program has “grown, evolved and taken on a life of its own…We are very grateful for the input of FCL.” Their annual report demonstrates the diversity of the students who attend this prestigious school.
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