"Many of the students at this school have lost friends, so they live in fear. These students need a way to move beyond fear. That's what Play for Peace does." - Richard Rutschman, Play for Peace Chicago
Those of us who support Play for Peace are familiar with the fact that children are living in fear all around the world. Children experience bullying, discrimination, hatred, and violence in the schools they attend and in the communities where they live, and all too often, these things become the realities of their daily lives. We know that Play for Peace brings children, youth, and often adults together across the divides they experience in their neighborhoods. Today, we begin a series of stories that relate to the Play for Peace theme for 2016: Freedom from Fear for Every Child.
We invite our trainers and mentors to share stories that illustrate the power of Play for Peace to free children and youth from fear. Here is a powerful story from Chicago, where violent deaths have become so commonplace that these stories don’t make the evening news. Particularly in neighborhoods where there is a lot of gang activity, conflict, and violence are a regular occurrence.
Recently, Play for Peace trainer Richard Rutschman told a story about how he and a team of graduate students used cooperative games to help a group of students from Harper High School process their difficult emotions after their friend had been killed in a fight. After the boy was killed, the school administration feared that his friends would retaliate for the boy’s death. Rich and the grad students used a combination of Play for Peace games and a technique called motivational interviewing to help the students free their minds from fear. After the games, each student met with one of the graduate students, and the youth shared the fact that they felt better. As a result, there was no retaliation. The violence had ended there. Reflecting on the tragic situation, Rich said, "Many of the students at this school have lost friends, so they live in fear. These students need a way to move beyond fear. That's what Play for Peace does."
