Following The Day of the Child on the 20th of November 2010, two volunteers from “The Journey” of previous years, Bissan and Muhammad, initiated activities in two schools, to raise the consciousness in relation to Children’s Rights. They used a poster which visually portrayed the basic rights of children according to international consensus. After discussion, the children divided into groups and presented in pantomime a violation of a particular Right to the their friends in the class who had to guess what the story was. Some of the children in the school were surprised to discover about the existence of even the concept of children’s rights. The activities were held in the historic Franciscan Terra Santa School in Ramle where 18 year old Muhammad studies and in the School of Peace in Neve Shalom.

Bissan Salman in the Terra Santa School in Ramle.

Bissan Salman who had just finished high school, has been with Open House since the age of two when she was in the Nursery School of Open House. Since then she has been growing up with us participating in the various activities of Open House.

In the last two years, Bissan together with other participants, represented Open House in Japan, Geneva and Tanzania where world Youth Conferences were organized by the Myochikai Buddhists who are supporting “The Journey” through their foundation, the GNRC {Global Network of Religions for Children}which promotes the spirituality of children world wide. Bissan was a vital volunteer both in “The Journey” of last year and in our summercamp this year.

A small group in discussion of children’s rights.