Forty teenagers from across the world are coming together at a camp in Wolfville.
The international group Children’s International Summer Villages (CISV) is hosting the 14-year-olds from nine countries.
Halifax Chair Scott Pettigrew says it’s usually their first time meeting children from other places across the world.
“We try to get to kids before they have biases and other things built in from exposure to news and other things, so they get to make their own decisions that the world isn’t such a big, scary place,” says Pettigrew.
The organization is an internationally recognized charity, know for its work to educate young people and create a peaceful world.
Children are selected to go through an application and screening process, which picks kids with the right skills and interests to join.
Students have come from:
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada (Montreal)
- France
- Italy
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- USA
Through activities they learn and bond to better understand the world around them, he says. The organization focuses on their four pillars of peace education, diversity, conflict and resolution, sustainable development, and human rights.
On Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Landmark East School members of the public can visit the camp to talk to the teens about what they’ve learned.
The teens have been in Wolfville for about two weeks, and their last day is July 26th.
Pettigrew says it makes you proud to see them make friends and learn.
“It’s a proud moment for the Halifax chapter to see all the effort we put into hosting this event. Really it’s rewarding to see the smiles and the excitement of the kids from the experience as they get ready to head home,” said Pettigrew.
“Usually on that final day, it’s nothing but tears as the these kids start to head back to their home countries.”
Scott Pettigrew is an employee of Acadia Broadcasting.
