Issue 7 - Open Day – Sunday 6 August
Rollercoaster of Emotions
Elle Dodd
Global Village has been a rollercoaster of emotions, experiences and the elements. To condense it all into this column would do an injustice to the fabulous efforts of everyone involved to create such a diverse event, but just for you, I’m going to try anyway ... here are just some of the daily highlights!
The educational programme kicked off on Sunday, with villages getting to grips with their village activity packs in the morning and exploring the site visiting the various themes and centres in the afternoon. The brilliantly decorated cafés were open selling fair-trade teas, coffees, snacks, pancakes and pizza.
On Monday all of the themes and centres were fully open and delivering a wide variety of activities. The youth parliament opened to begin to discuss what the key issues of the camp are and how we can carry our message forward. After the workshops were done everyone relaxed to films, comedy and music from Attila the Stockbroker.
Emmanuel Jal from Music for Change arrived on Tuesday; he told his gripping life story of being a child soldier in Sudan through the medium of rap and hip hop. In the evening the Big Hands acoustic set got the party started while Seize the Day ended it with a bang!
On Wednesday the education theme ran the first of its Peer 2 Peer workshops, devised by young people who had received peer education training earlier in the week; workshops have included drumming, sign language and circus skills. Eric Maddern entertained the evening fairytrade crowds with exciting tales, while Waiting for Volkaertz sung their hearts out in the Cornwallis.
Thursday brought the fantastic Cocoa summit to the Youth Parliament, cocoa production, fair trade and chocolate bars made this a very popular activity. The Cooperation Centre’s outdoor cooperative fair was undeterred by hideous weather and continued to show villagers the benefit of cooperation over competition. Indigo Moon and wRants wowed the crowds before everyone went to bed for a well deserved early night. On Friday, the Peace and Conflict Centre performed 'Captain Swing', a fabulous play about the revolutionary history of Kent. Sustainability continued at great pace with many practical workshops and woodland biodiversity walks. MEST UP hosted a party in the evening in the girls, boys and rainbow tents.
Saturday was renamed 'YourDay' where the participants ran the programme, a Model United Nations, music making workshops, a big rally about the conflict in the middle east, food tasting, wide games in the woods, and dance classes were just some of the fabulous activities put on by the villagers.
And that brings us up to today. We are really excited that so many guests and visitors are here, and we hope you enjoy exploring the various centres, the market and the main stage show! There's lots more to come before the camp is over, which will be particularly focussed on looking forward to how the IFM can take all the enthusiasm, knowledge and resources created at this event and use it to build new projects and strengthen current work.