Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Peace begins....


..........................with you and me!

Many years ago.....back in the dark ages......well 1989.....there was a badge going for a Peace Project...and I am a sucker for a Brownie badge!

In our leaders magazine there was a Children's Peace Treaty, and this gave me an idea.



So I got all of my Brownies to draw a picture of something either related to Brownies or to Ireland, just a pencil outline drawing. They came up with some great pictures. I cut them out and made a collage of them around the treaty on a large sheet of paper A3 size..that's about 11.5in by 16in.








 The following week they all signed the treaty, and yet another week later they were all given several photocopies of the sheet to colour.
These things are always long drawn out when you only meet once a week.





This is my coloured copy to just show you how it comes to life.

So we come to the crunch
What were we going to do with our poster????

My idea was to send off as many copies as possible all over the world, to Brownies Guide/Brownie Girl Scouts. Known also by many other names in the different countries.....but all in the age group of 7 to 11 years.
Remember that in those days.....21 years ago we didn't have personal scanners or the internet at home.

Snail mail ruled.

The pack to be sent out contained our treaty and a blank one which we asked them to decorate, sign and send back to us, as well as information about Brownies in Ireland and about our own pack and local area....and anything else we could think of!!

 




My daughter who is a great illustrator had a big part to play in the finished products. She also had lots of penfriends all over the world, some in Guiding, who were sent a copy...with a request to pass it on to a Brownie pack.

Friends, relatives, Brownies all came up with names. Then there were  places we had visited and Brownie packs and Guide shops that we had worked with and visited,  and when all else failed...I just sent them to the Guide HQ in  the capital city of a country, and the 4 World Guiding Centers and hoped for a response.

Altogether I sent out to 25 countries.....Australia, Brazil, Canada, Republic of China, Denmark, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tanzania, UK, USA, and Zimbabwe.

In 1990 there were 112 member countries, not sure how many there are now.

The red ticks are where I sent to and  the green ticks are ones that sent a poster back...tho' some did write but my poster never did get  a response from a Brownie Pack.
We marked them in on a map...great way to learn some geography!




For me this project goes down in history as one of the best things that I ever did.

21 years later.
  These children are now in their late 20's or early 30's that's a whole generation ago!
And we still don't have peace!

You will not know this but the uniform that our Brownies wear has changed considerably in  21 years.
 In the 1980's I was doing a  doll making badge ....no not a Brownie badge!!





I had to make 3 dolls and one had to be a character doll, made of felt with a moulded face...and it had to be able to stand. So this was my character doll. The uniform is authentic even to the actual material.
She has all her badges and the scratchy wool hat that the brownies used to hate. She stands courtesy of copper rivets in her shoes!!

Now they wear a yellow sweatshirt, navy trackpants, navy neckerchief and navy badge sash and NO hat. Much more child friendly but no where near as smart.
The nearest I can do to show you is my Brownie TatBead from Jane Eb's TatBead family, look under TatBead family and friends in her people section.

OK! well that's the the required tatting element .

So now you are wondering why I said that you might be able to help.
Well I showed my Book Of Peace with all this in it and more, to the latest leaders of the pack and they were so taken by it that they want to repeat it for Thinking Day February 22nd, this year. For those who don't know Thinking day is a special day for all members of the Guide and Scout Associations all over the World.

21 years later now I have so many internet friends, and folks who have email, and so do the other leaders. The Brownies have cousins all over the world...and their mums have email.

 Some of you must have girls of Brownie age, others must be able to find out about a Brownie Guide/Girl Scout/ etc group near you.
Please go out there and find names and addresses that I can send my packs to and lets make the 2010 project a humdinger!!

If you send me your contact info  in a comment, I will not publish it......but you will have to send a second comment that I can publish! Do please leave a comment if you think this is a good idea and may be able to help,
leave a comment PLEASE.

Go, Go, Go!!

Next time I will show you some of the replies that I got.


4 comments:

  1. This is such a GOOD IDEA. The Girls really do need to see something positive & peaceful out in the world today!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Meetings, Thank you so much, I will send a packet off to you as soon as we have finished it.
    Have you read the more recent posts about the countries who replied?

    ReplyDelete
  3. i love the idea, and thanks for planning my meeting for me this week. i have three troops between 7-11 and they would love this project. let me know how to get a packet from you. thanks. you can email me at dahnotes@hotmail.com. and call me crazy leader (that's what the girls call me).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some other comments were.....

    Maureen said...

    I love the doll! Many, many yers ago and in another country, I was a Brownie....in the days when they still had to learn semaphore.....and two daughters were Brownies and Guides, but in a different city from this one.
    My six-year-old grandson may possibly be joining cub scouts this year, if his busy after-school schedule allows the time for it, but I'm afraid I have no contacts for you this time!
    19 January 2010 06:02

    Tatskool said...

    Thanks Maureen, I know that you would help if you could. I would love to have Brisbane on my list. I spent a very happy 2 months helping with a Brownie pack in Sydney.
    I did semaphore in Guides too, those were the days.
    19 January 2010 15:59

    umintsuru said...

    I hope this link will help you contact the Girl Guides in Singapore? I think it is a great idea.

    http://www.girlguides.org.sg/cos/o.x?c=/ggs/pagetree

    http://www.girlguides.org.sg/cos/o.x?c=/ggs/feedback&uid=48&ptid=4692
    20 January 2010 02:20
    Tatskool said...

    Thanks so much UMI, It means a lot to me that you have taken the trouble to find this info. I have written to the person who deals with International matters.
    20 January 2010 16:30

    Carol Lawecki said...

    What a wonderful thing you have done. The poster they made so long ago is precious!! I will try to find the name of a Brownie troup here, I don't know anyone off hand, but I'll ask around. You are AweSome~!!
    20 January 2010 20:06

    Tatskool said...

    That would be great Carol. I often wonder what these girls are doing now 21 years on, a few I hear about from time to time. It's nice to think that we had some good influence on their lives.
    20 January 2010 21:45

    Tatskool said...

    Hi Vicky thanks so much for your comment, unfortunately I cant publish part of a comment, Could you please send the comment again without the address and another one with your email addy...please
    21 January 2010 16:17

    Vicki said...

    I'm a pediatrician (and Brownie long, long ago) in Georgia (US), and see lots of girls of Girl Scout age. I don't know of any troup leaders, but would be glad to involve the girls that come into my clinic if you like! I have a friend a few hours from here who will be passing your info on to some troup leaders in the area.
    23 January 2010 15:43

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments, it keeps me going....but please do not use my real name in your comments or on your blog. Tatskool is my online name and I love it.