I consider myself incredibly lucky to have such a varied day to day, and during the last month I was invited to be part of a Primary school in the Manchester area on two separate occasions, with our "Global Peace Prayer".
The first day was on 24 May when the school was having a week of celebrating different Faiths,
and particularly to share insights during the week before Ramadan. Razwan Ul-Haq, the Islamic
Artist was sharing a day with the young people and educating them through calligraphy and
meditation. It was a wonderful experience to be part of a classroom of over 30 young people who
were so focused and happy in their work. You could almost see their Soul's growth as they used
hand made ink and bamboo pens, and you could certainly hear a pin drop.
The second day was 21 June, our Summer Solstice. It was an extremely special day for the school
as they had achieved "Peace Mala Gold Award" status (see www.peacemala.org.uk for more
information). Peace Mala is a bracelet of 2 sets of Rainbow beads and each colour represents one
of our world's religions or belief systems. There is a clear bead in the centre which represents the
individual, and the bracelet is held together with another clear bead. The Gold Award can only be
achieved after a 7 year period and this school was the first school to achieve this status, which was
to be awarded that morning.
As a group we were joined by many faith representatives to celebrate the event, and also the Mayor
of Trafford who had only been in the post for a month, and had been extremely busy with many
moving experiences due to local events. There were around 300 children in the assembly hall.
They had been designated a no uniform day, and asked to wear a colour of the rainbow depending
on their year group, the eldest wearing red, going through orange, yellow, green and blue. The
nursery children were wearing indigo and violet and were to join us in the playground for the whole
school to unite after assembly.
I found this assembly one of the most moving experiences of my life so far! The Head Teacher was
more like a compere and the young people made their voices heard in planned performance. THE
most moving part for me was the whole school singing a song titled: "I am the Earth" (see
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkn1B7cJYQo).
I started singing along as you do... until the children's voices literally
raised the roof as they completely engaged with their music teacher in numerous
part harmonies and followed his hand movements to use volume, timing and
expression... Well, I literally was so very moved I had tears of joy in my eyes and Heart at
the holographic sense of achievement for the whole school. Experiencing the intention of these
young people to create a peaceful environment and world was a complete DELIGHT.
At the end of assembly we all moved into the playground on a beautiful sunny morning and all the
young people created a rainbow of colours. The Mayor was obviously very touched by the whole
atmosphere and ethos of the school and was really complimentary as he gave the award. To close
the occasion everyone sang "Over the Rainbow", which had been sung by Ariana Grande to close
the recent "Love Manchester" concert.
Wherever you look at the moment young people are speaking up and having their voices heard to
help seed a peaceful world for our future. There are role models such as Ariana
Grande at the tender age of 23, and another young lady at the same age of 23 at
the tower block fire in London promoting love. The report I read described her
as the most articulate person they have ever seen in this situation. She said,
"We are calling for people to be calm. There are loads of peace ceremonies being
conducted.... we want to be peacemakers because there is enough of grief ... And
also, we don't want that to be confused so that the kindness is taken for
weakness."
Both of these young ladies are perhaps older than their years, and yet they are putting their thoughts
into action and sharing very powerful and profound insights, and inspiring this next generation.
Our role is simply to hold their hands as they cross the bridge into the future, seeding an abundance
of love and support, to enable this to be passed on and magnify in our world.
The Head Teacher of the school lives by the words of the Whitney Houston song:
"I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way".
All her staff are incredible and the word TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves Miracles) is certainly
working magically. All we can do is leave a positive legacy of LOVE and support to all in our
everyday and anchor peace in our minds and Hearts, and spread this LOVE to all. Work your
MAGIC and BE LOVE.
Vandaeh Works