CHURCH EMBRACES GLOBAL REALITIES
Woodcliff United festival raising awareness about various issues faced by children in poor nations
Organizing a “sweatshop” for local kids isn’t usually looked upon as an entirely worthy and Christian activity. But a United church in the city’s southwest is doing exactly that next weekend in a bid to raise awareness among local youngsters and their parents regarding similarly-aged children in less affluent parts of the world who face so many more challenges.
Woodcliff United Church, at 5010 Spruce Drive S.W., is staging its two-and-a-half day Global Festival — an event that began in modest fashion a quarter century ago, but has since blossomed into a wide-ranging annual celebration promoting knowledge, understanding and involvement both at home and abroad.
This year’s event, which gets underway on Friday, is focusing specifically on younger Calgarians through a varied series of demonstrations, readings, concerts and hands-on activities that will in turn help support a host of outreach activities across the city and beyond.
Charlene Baker remembers how the festival started 25 years ago, following a regular Sunday service at Woodcliff.
“Some of us were sitting around afterwards and thought: ‘How do we educate our church community about the various needs that are out there?’ ” she recalled.
“Everyone gets inundated with various requests for help, so how does a person filter through that? How do you do your best to respond? Is it better to do a little bit for everyone or should you focus on one thing?”
“So, we decided to do an educational piece after church one Sunday. We set up tables with displays from the different agencies we were involved with in Calgary, such as the drop-in centre and the CUPS program to give people some in-depth information on how to find ways they might impact those agencies,” said Baker.
Even in those early days, Woodcliff also broadened its approach to take in a world well beyond Calgary’s borders.
Within a few years, the church was hosting sales of items from Ten Thousand Villages with any money raised going back to fund the whole idea of fair trade, which supports artisans in poorer countries of the world.
“From there, it expanded, so now we have products shipped direct to us from their head office and we put up a fair trade marketplace in the church basement,” said Baker.
“We are not trying to give charity. Often in the developing world all they need is a little bit of support, just that hand up and not a hand out. It is that type of philosophy where, with your buying dollar, you can make a difference,” added Baker.
Raising money is only part of the church’s plan. Just as important for Woodcliff is raising awareness and this year’s event is structured to do exactly that, especially among youngsters, both from families within the congregation and from those who haven’t set foot inside a church in years, but would like to get involved. Everyone is welcome as there is no pre-registering for any of the programs or activities.
“Our big expansion this year is to focus on our children and provide opportunities for them to learn about the global realities,” added Baker.
Next Friday starting at 6 p.m., there will be a number of short films shown for families in the church’s sanctuary that highlight the lives of children in Ghana. Then on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., there will be an opportunity for kids aged six and up to learn and experience what working in a sweatshop might be like for a child in another country.
“We hope our children will learn why some kids from a young age have to work in order for their families to be able to eat,” said Baker. “Taking part, they will not be able to choose what they work at; the job they get will be drawn from a bag — maybe sorting lentils into different colours, maybe making beads out of rolled up pieces of paper, which is truly a job some children have to do in some parts of the world,” said Baker.
At noon, all children will be invited to learn a song from South Africa in the Zulu language, as they are accompanied on a Djembe drum. Later at 2 p.m., everyone is invited to listen to the history of the galimoto — a common toy in many African countries made from bits of wire and scraps of cloth. One will be made while the story is being told.
Afterwards, kids will learn how to play the counting game mancala made up of beads and stones, before being shown how to make their own mancala board, which they can then take home.
“The kids will have fun, but it is also something to go home and talk about,” said Baker.
Global Festival then wraps up with a Sunday morning service. All the activities throughout the weekend are free and open to everyone regardless of faith or affiliation. “If you are someone who has not been involved in a church, then it is important to understand this is not just a Sunday-only place — there is lots going on and lots beyond the walls of the church,” said Baker.