Going Beyond Differences of Language and Culture
The European Olympiads of Old and Forgotten Games in Kielce
On the 27 and 28 June, more than 150 children participated in the second European Olympiads of Old and Forgotten Games held in Kielce, Poland. The title of this year’s event was, “For a Peaceful Europe, Making Links Through Games”.
Determined that the event should be an opportunity for children of different nationalities and cultures to meet and mix with each other, the Director of the Museum of Toys and Games invited children of the Tapori network to participate. So it was that a Tapori delegation, made up of children from France, Ireland, Poland and Switzerland, took part alongside other delegations of children from Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Ukraine.
The twenty-four children of the Tapori delegation had prepared games that would help children get to know each other and make friends in spite of their differences of language and culture. To this end, art workshops were proposed throughout the two days, giving the children the chance to play, paint and sing together. They also created a large Dazibao or collective banner together.
At the end of the weekend, each child left with a Polish edition of the book My Heart is in this Stone, written by Noldi Christen and Christine Lesueur. Inspired by the 5,000 little stones sent by children from around the world to the Tapori Special Stones campaign and the messages behind each one, the book was first published jointly in English, French, German and Spanish in 1999.
In an echo of the book, each child was invited to bring a stone that was significant to them and then encouraged to add his or her stone to a sculpture that was created in the courtyard of the museum. At the end of the event, the sculpture remained as a testament to all that the children had contributed to the event and the friendship they had tried to build despite their differences.
