Peace In Our Times

CISV is an acronym that stands for Children's International Summer Villages. It is a non-profit organization, approved by the UN, that works with children all over the world, aiming for peace. It works on the premise that if all the children in the world have friends the world over, they will not want to go to war on them, as one doesn't fight wars on one's friends.

CISV was started after WWII, by a woman called Doris Allen(1901-2002). The story goes that her son asked Mrs Allen if he, when he grew up, would have to go to war. Mrs Allen thought not, and decided to do something to make sure.

In 1951, the first Village was held, in Glendale, Ohio. There were eight delegations, with 32 children, teachers, aides and others assembled there, for a month in summer. The delegations came from Norway, UK, France, Germany, USA and other countries, mostly ones that had been badly affected by the war. That first village was a success, the children making friends easily, and some of those friendships have lasted to this day. They reunite regularly and have had great fun in their lives, being involved with CISV.

The way CISV works has been modified over the years, but the CISV spirit remains the same- love, peace and friendship.

The Organisation

Today, CISV is very international, with local Chapters, Junior Branches, and 3-4 different villages and projects. In every Village, there are 12 delegations of 5, and usually 5 staff members. The delegations come from all over the world, four 11-year-old children and an adult leader, with one delegation coming from the host country. They all live and work and play and eat together for a month, making friends and memories that will never be forgotten.

A Chapter is the local CISV for each area - countries are usually divided into chapters. Larger countries can thus have many chapters and smaller ones can be one chapter for the whole country. This is rarer, though.

Junior Branches are for everybody under age 25 to participate in and thus keep active in CISV.

Villages and Projects are many. Villages are the most common ones, and also the largest.

Other projects are Youth Meets, Seminar Camps, and Youth Exchange.

You do not have to be 11 to be able to participate in CISV, but you must not be any younger.

Children who are suited for CISV are often independent, kind, and willing to try new things. Unfortunately, due to budget restraints, there is usually not leeway for handicapped children, or children with behavioural problems, unless the leader in charge of that child feels up to it¹.

The cost of participating in CISV is this:

-flight for the child,

-pocket money,

-1/4 of the Leaders fare.

For Leaders the cost is personal expenses, for other volunteers it can be flight and personal expenses, although local chapters try and pay for your time.

Volunteer opportunities for adults in CISV are for instance: Delegation Leader, Junior Councillor in Village (JC), Staff in a Village, Home stay Families² and many other tasks.

The local chapters each receive invites for delegations to attend a Village, some chapters sending one delegation, other sending a dozen. In return, that local chapter hosts a Village, one every three years. Children apply to become delegates, and volunteer leaders are found. CISV has strict rules about participating volunteers to ensure the safety of the children involved. A delegation is then formed, months in advance for the Village, so the children and their Leader will get to know one another and do all the planning and preparing that is necessary for CISV.

The Life

In most summer camps, children are free to play whenever they want to, have no chores, and are not required to mingle with everyone. CISV is different from that; everybody has chores³, everybody has to respect everybody else and their cultures, and the agenda is to learn as much from this experience as you can, while having the most fun possible.

Villages are run according to tight schedules so everything will get done. A daily schedule will include some 10 Activities, which span the day. They will be, for instance, Delegation of the Day, Mealtimes, Flag Times, Delegation Time, Free Time, Activities 1, 2, and 3, Lullabies, National Night and many more.

• Delegation of the day is in charge of waking everyone up in the morning, setting tables for meals, and help to clean up after them.

• At mealtimes the children will never sit together with their delegation and there will be an adult at every table, unless there is something special going on.

• Flag Times are twice a day. Everybody gathers together (outside if possible) where the representing flags have been put up in a circle or an arch, holds hands, says good morning/night in all the languages, and then sings the CISV song.

• Delegation time is once a day. Then the children and their leader will get together, plan for their National Night, discuss the days events and anything that needs to be dealt with, gets dealt with. Letters from home are delivered.

• Activities involve games, arts and crafts, and learning about people. Most games have an ulterior motive, such as getting to know people, teamwork, to energise sleepy people⁴, and most of them try to promote the idea that peace can be brought to this world.

• After a long and active day, everybody gathers together for Lullabies, sits down, sings, and relaxes. It is common for some children to fall asleep, and thus need to be carried to their beds. Homesickness is usually not an issue in CISV, since every care is taken to choose a well rounded delegation and that delegation then spends a lot of time together beforehand, getting to know one another and the leader; if there are any cases of homesickness, Lullabies is usually when it strikes.

• National Night is a presentation by each delegation, with a little show and tell, some native snacks, and some fun and games. All delegations must do this, and they often plan it months in advance. The children are the stars of the night, with the whole of the Village cheering and clapping like crazy.

Since 1951, there have been some 4,136 activities all over the world, with 155,881 participants⁵.

The Experience

In 2001, there was a very special Village held in Cincinnati, Ohio, close to Glendale, the site of the first village. It was the 50th anniversary Village, and also Doris's 100th birthday, which she celebrated in Washington DC. That Village was named Where the Dream Began, and it revisited the start, the CISV spirit and where to head for the future. Present for some of the activities was one of the children from that first village, now all grown up.

In this Researchers experience going to a Village was very exciting, fun, sad⁶, and enriching to be able to participate in CISV. If you are ever afforded the opportunity to do so, I would suggest you think carefully about it, and then go right ahead.