Group celebrates 50 years of building peace

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Kristy Wallace

EMC community - When Tony Michel was a teenager, he remembers traveling around the world as part of the Children's International Summer Villages program.

It touched his life so much, that he now volunteers his time with the program as chairman of the Ottawa chapter.

Michel is only one story out of thousands who have taken part in the program, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

"The mission is really timeless," said Michel. "The goals haven't changed. It's about promoting peace, building friendship, and helping (young people) become citizens of the world. And at the same time, it's timely."

While the program has expanded over the last 50 years, its focus is to give children the opportunity to visit another country and take part in a wide range of unique educational and group activities. The activities help participants develop a cross-cultural understanding.

The idea started in the wake of the Second World War when psychologist Doris Twitchell Allen sough to promote world peace by proposing children live in different countries in camp-like villages for a month.

This would allow participants to learn early on in life that everyone belongs to the same human family, thereby helping to create peace in the world.

"Adults already have their ways set, but the long-term solution is to get kids to understand what it means to be global citizens," said Michel.

Pointing to the popular uprisings in Egypt or the terror attacks in Norway last year, Michel said people who have visited those countries before see these events in a different way. Participants in the summer villages program have the chance to experience these perspectives and will gain friends in such places whom they can contact.

"It shows them the world is not this big, scary abstract place," he said. "The motto CISV has is building global friendship. It sounds pretty straightforward, but it's actually quite powerful."

While it's hard to know if the summer villages program has made the world a more peaceful place in the last 50 years, Michel said he strongly believes it has changed the lives of participants.

"It's always hard to imagine what the world would be like with or without something, but I know that it has personally had a strong impact," he said. "You can see on thousands of testimonials from participants saying it changed their life."

He's heard some participants say that the program has changed their life, including helping teenagers hang out with the right crowd in high school.

"This is a positive peer group to get involved in," Michel said. "When you think of the ripple effects, it's had an enormous impact."

He hopes the next 50 years bring more positive changes and expansion of the program.

He jokes that maybe in 50 years there will be an "interplanetary" program.

"Every year, there are more chapters in Canada, and every year there are more countries that can participate," said Michel. "It'll be a stronger organization as years go on."

For more information on the program, visit the international website at www.cisv.org or the Ottawa chapter's site at cisvottawa.ca.