"Peace is possible if we continue practicing acts of compassion daily." - Javeed, India
Play for Peace joined forces with Compassion Games International to participate in the 2015 Giving Games held from December 1 to December 11, 2015. It was a fun and creative 11 days intended to ignite compassionate action in communities around the world. Compassion Games hosts events like this all year to inspire new ways to care for ourselves, each other, and the Earth. To make compassion contagious, teams and individuals gained points for completing compassionate acts in their neighborhoods. What a perfect fit for the Play for Peace Community! Even though we had limited time to prepare for our inaugural participation in these games, many in our community joined and became inspired by the event.
Members of the Play for Peace Community hosted a variety of activities such as caring for Nature Day, writing kind messages to friends, becoming a human tree and giving free hugs, leading Practice Peace Sessions, food donations for those in need, peace art making, youth retreats, and a peace picnic. In total, the Play for Peace Community formed 42 sub-teams and mobilized over 3650 people for #CompassionInAction activities in Mexico, India, the USA, Guatemala, Pakistan, and Canada. Colegio Interamericano in Guatemala City even raised $6000 to make the Christmas season for children in need a little brighter!
Highlights of Compassion Games impacts on our participants:
"Through Compassion Games, we make people aware of the importance of peace in their daily lives." - Francisco (Mexico)
"I learn more about peace and compassion by working with children." - Shabana (India)
"The tree we built helps me take a moment and smile every time I pass by! My nieces are just 4 years old, but it started conversations about things that make them happy and doing nice things for others." - Amanda (Canada)
"The activity brought us together and made us look for solutions. We had fun and reflected on our wish to make our community a better place." Juan (Guatemala)
"I felt happy when I water the plant and helped others. What I learned is, if we give a thought before reacting to a situation, it will allow us to act with kindness." - Imroz (USA)
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our global learning community members who participated in this wonderful event and inspired others with their activities and involvement, especially Amanda Cook, our Play for Peace Intern who coordinated our participation! We are happy to learn that our community found the Compassion Games worthwhile and motivating. Also, we would like to extend our gratitude to The Compassion Games Team who helped us immensely for our first games, particularly Sommer, Jon and Joey. Thank you!
