International children’s group celebrates peace in Old Town

OLD TOWN – Though the sign on the back wall reads “Home of the Braves,” the gymnasium at J.A. Leonard Middle School on Oak Street was home to the world Friday afternoon as Children’s International Summer Villages celebrated its Dedication Day.

The group, which brings together about 50 11-year-olds from around the world each year, celebrated the end of the first two weeks of the four-week program that encourages global understanding and peace. This year’s theme was “Hard Hat Village: World Peace Under Construction.”

Camp Director Jeff Parliament said the children are always eager to interact with people from other countries. He said the children may not all speak English, but they learn to interact with one another. This summer’s camp is Parliament’s eighth as camp director. He has been involved in the organization since he was an 11-year-old delegate.

“It’s always interesting to see two kids walking arm-in-arm down the hall and they may not even speak the same language,” said Parliament, a Canadian. “I’ve enjoyed them all.”

Children’s International Summer Villages is an international organization founded by Old Town native Doris Allen Twitchell in 1951 to foster peace among the nations of the world. The nonprofit organization now has more than 125,000 participants and 62 chapters worldwide, according to its Web site. This year marks the sixth time the group has convened in Maine since 1987.

Each year, delegations of four children from 12 countries are chosen to attend a summer village somewhere in the world. Each delegation travels with an adult leader. The trips cost about $800 per camper and, depending on income, the families pay some of the cost.

Advertisements in local media and schools direct children to apply. Parliament said each local chapter has its own distinct ways of choosing which children are selected to go to the camp. In his home chapter of Toronto, children who have applied come together and hold “activity days” where the children vote on who would best represent their country at the summer village. The process varies by chapter.

“The neat thing is to see how they change,” Parliament said of the children. “They learn there are other ways to solve a conflict.”

With flags representing the 14 countries involved in the program hanging above the stage at the front of the gym, children dressed in native garb from Brazil, Canada, Chile, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Sweden and the United States laughed, played and perused pamphlets and other items located at booths the children created to educate visitors about their countries.

Each delegation sang a song or acted out a short skit about their country at Dedication Day. Between the songs and skits, observers were treated to a glimpse of daily life in the summer villages.

As the audience of about 100 parents and host families laughed, clapped and snapped pictures, a hand-made sign close to the left side of the stage summed up the day. “All the nations gathered free/That our children so may grow/In a world we did not know,” the sign said.

The children and their adult leaders will begin the second two-week phase of their stay in Maine by leaving this weekend to stay with host families in the Bar Harbor area.