BUDDHA: Children experience 'Global Village'

Subject: BUDDHA: Children experience 'Global Village'
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 1995 18:45:47 +1000

Thanks to Erik van Keulen <E.VanKeulen@mailbox.uq.oz.au> for this one. He
thought it was quite terrifying and I can't help but agree....


http://www-cgi.cnn.com/US/9510/global_village/index.html


                              [CNN U.S. News]

Children experience other worlds in the 'Global Village'

October 27, 1995
Web posted at: 7:15 a.m. EDT

>From Reporter Rick Perera
                                                           [Global Village]
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- People in other parts of the
world lead very different lives, and sometimes difficult ones. Some school
children in Colorado are getting a chance to visit human habitats from
around the world, without even leaving their hometown.

Colorado children get to see an African hut made of bamboo and leaves,
covered with animal dung. There is a house built of floating reeds, from
Peru's Lake Titicaca. And then there's a refugee camp, where victims of war
or disaster take shelter. Where can you go to see all of these dwellings,
gathered in one place?

Well, here's a hint: You do have to go to the airport. A huge hangar at
Denver's former Stapleton Airport has been turned into "Global Village," a
reconstruction that recreates the homes of disadvantaged people from all
over the world.

The traveling project, sponsored by the Adventist Development and Relief
Agency, has already visited Italy and the Netherlands this year.
Agency, has already visited Italy and the Netherlands this year.
[Pleitez]
          Organizers say that it's making a big impression on the children
who get a chance to pack relief boxes for people in need around the globe.
"We've seen children in Rome, in Amsterdam, and in Riverside, California,
literally take off their clothes and pack them in these care packages that
are sent to children in other parts of the world," says Tamara Pleitez of
the Adventist Development and Relief Agency.

Denver children are arriving by the busloads to see for themselves what life
is like on a refugee boat, crammed with people trying to escape persecution
or poverty.

The children can sit down in a "favela," a Brazilian slum shack with no
electricity or running water. Or they can see the animals that some people
keep to help make a living under tough conditions.
keep to help make a living under tough conditions.
                                                                  [Passport]
At each stop in the "Global Village," students get their
"passport" stamped. It's like taking a real trip around the world.

What makes the village a great learning experience is that volunteers
actually live in the dwellings and explain to visitors what it's like. One
of the village dwellers encourages the kids to think about how they would
adjust their lives if they lived in a refugee camp.

Some of the 10 environments are closer to home. There are alleys and old
cars where many U.S. homeless people spend the night. And there are the
run-down tenements in big north American cities, where people live in
constant fear of crime.

The habitats were built by Hollywood set designers to help visitors
experience the sights, sounds and smells, of how other human beings live.
"We really want to affect people's gut feelings. When they walk in that
tenement, I want them to understand what it's like to live like that. It's
dirty, and it's wet, and it's uncomfortable," says production designer Wayne
Beswick.

The high school kids who are working as guides at the "Global Village" say
that they'll never be the same after the experience. "We should really be
thankful for what we have, it's much better than what other people have
around the world," says student Elizabeth Lombardo.

Denver is the last stop planned for the "Global Village" until next Autumn,
when it is expected to be set up in Kettering, Ohio. By the time the current
exhibit packs up October 27, more than 20,000 kids will have seen it.

Organizers hope that they will have built new bridges of understanding
between different worlds.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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