"We Have a Pope"

Can children respect different religions, when the beliefs of other faiths are very foreign to them? They can if they understand a bit about the backgrounds of the world's religions. Now that the Cardinals of the Catholic religion have elected a new Pope, it is a good time to consider what led to his selection and to learn what the new Pope is saying and doing. From May 1 through October 31, 2015, the Vatican's pavillon at the World Expo (expo2015.org) in Milan, Italy, will feature the theme, "Not by Bread Alone." On his first foreign trip to Brazil, before joining students at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, July 23-28, 2013, he said protection of nature was one of his major goals. In November, 2013 he began polling the layity about the subjects of gay marriage, single-parent families, surrogate mothers, and divorce. What will he say, when he visits Cuba and the USA in September, 2015?

     Ever since Jesus told St. Peter, "...you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church...." (Matthew 16:18), there has been a continuous succession of Popes. Beginning in 533, they have adopted names such as Alexander, Celestine, John, Paul, and Benedict. The new Pope is the first one to take the name Francis. He also is the first Latin American Pope and the first Jesuit to become Pope. Known as the bishop of the Church of Rome and successor to St. Peter, the Pope has power over the whole Catholic Church. Ever since the Lateran Treaty of 1929, the Vatican State of his residence in Italy has enjoyed sovereign, independent status.

     Cardinals appointed by the Pope hold the highest religious rank under the Pope. Papal authority is exercised collectively with the College of Cardinals at ecumenical councils, such as Vatican II that was announced by Pope John XXIII on January 25, 1959, which issue documents concerning important Church doctrine. In 1869-1870, Vatican I, for example, defined papal primacy and infallibility in matters of faith and morals.

     Since the divine mission of all members of the Catholic Church is salvation, i.e. happiness in heaven, the Church hierarchy looks to Scripture and Tradition to determine and teach what is required to live a holy life. That path involves a wide range of matters, including the rituals of worship, prayer, forgiveness of sins against the Ten Commandments, care for the poor, respect for life. The Pope canonizes as saints known to be in heaven, men and women who have been true to Church teaching, such as the early Christians who died rather than renounce their faith.

     By reading about the lives of saints, children who are trying to be good will learn that Popes have recognized that there are many ways to live a holy life. St. Francis of Assisi, born into a wealthy family, sold what he had to help the poor and sick and to repair churches in poor neighborhoods. He was known for his love of animals and all creation and for his ability to win over bullies with his good sense of humor. St. Isidore of Seville didn't do his homework until he saw how a thin rope had worn away the stone on a well. Once he realized a little effort applied constantly could produce results, he became a learned scholar who presided over the Church's Council of Toledo that determined in 633 that Jewish people should have freedom of religion and not be forced to convert to Christianity. St. Monica, like many mothers, faced the problem of raising a teenage son who was living a wild, undisciplined life. Her prayer and determination not to give up on him paid off in his conversion. He became St. Augustine, one of the Catholic Church's most influential thinkers.

     Beginning in 1431, Colleges of Cardinals have selected the new Popes. Before a new Pope is elected, the ring of the former Pope is smashed to symbolize the end of his authority, and the doors to his papal residence are sealed. Although, in the eighth century, a layman became Pope Constantine, modern Popes have been elected by a two-thirds vote of members of the College of Cardinals who are younger than 80. This year it took at least 77 of the 115 assembled Cardinals to elect a Pope. In the 13th century, it once took 33 months to elect a Pope, but after 12 to 13 days now, a Pope can be chosen by a simple majority. Ballots are burned after each vote. When the smoke from these burnt ballots was white on March 13, 2013, the world learned that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (76) of Buenos Aires, Argentina, had become the Catholic Church's new Pope.

     Information about some of the other world religions is included in an earlier blog post, "This We Believe."

See the World at the Movies

Not every film that provides a glimpse of a foreign country or culture is a child friendly "Sound of Music." But it is worth screening new movies and animated features to find a "Brave" that introduces children to different countries.

     In fact, an amazing number of countries have been featured in Oscar-winning films: "ARGO" (Iran), "The King's Speech" (United Kingdom), "The Hurt Locker" (Iraq), "Slumdog Millionaire" (India), "Braveheart" (Scotland), "Schindler's List" (Poland), "The Last Emperor" (China), "Gandhi" (India).

     The Academy Awards also honor the best foreign language films. The 2011 winner, "A Separation" from Iran, provided positive recognition to a country sanctioned for its nuclear program and scorned in ARGO for holding U.S. citizens hostage. The director of the 2012 best foreign language winner, "Amour," is from Austria.

     Like foreign language films, animated and live action short subjects don't have wide-spread distribution, but, if they are shown locally, they can give youngsters insight into the lives of children in other countries. In "Asad," one of the 2012 live action nominees, we saw Somali children dealing with their dysfunctional world, and in another 2012 nominee, "Buzkashi Boys" opened our eyes to the limited opportunities for young boys in Afghanistan.

     Perhaps the best impact a film can have on a child is the realization that, not only can foreign be fun, but humor also can expose the foolishness of a situation by looking at it differently, the way a live action short about Rwanda's bloody Hutu-Tutsi struggle did a couple of years ago.

Games Children Play

Children in different countries might speak and dress differently, but they play with similar balls, cars, tops, and other toys. In A World of Children's Games, Friendship Press (friendshippress.org) has collected the rules children aged 5 to 12 need in order to play games from 60 countries. By checking the origin of their games, youngsters will find that they are putting together Ravensburger puzzles and Playmobils from Germany, building with LEGOs from Denmark, playing Nintendo games and folding origami cats (origami-instructions.com) or flowers and leaves described in "Origami Bonsai" (signals.com)  from Japan, and building virtual worlds using the Minecraft video game created in Sweden.

     International scavenger hunts help children understand other countries. In the simplest form, kids can use an atlas, almanac (including The World Almanac for Kids), or computer to find the locations of monuments, mountains, rivers, animals, and the like. In other versions, students may be asked to find the countries where people: drive on the left hand side of the road, eat with chopsticks, and bow instead of shake hands.

     Schools with a large concentration of foreign students have an opportunity to plan an advanced form of an international scavenger hunt. Parents can dress in their native clothes and set up classrooms with musical instruments, maps, dolls, crafts, foods, and other items associated with their countries. Once the classrooms are prepared students can go room to room trying to win prizes by finding the answers to a sheet of questions (possibly called a passport) based on the country displays.

     An African scavenger hunt I've played with elementary school classes involves giving each child a bag filled with African products and helping them locate on a large wall map the countries where these items are produced.
                                                     African Products

Cloves, Cocoa (chocolate candy), Coffee (coffee beans), Copper (a penny), Cotton (cotton ball), Diamonds (clear plastic bead), Gold (gold button), Peanut, Rice, Rubber (rubber band), Sisal (piece of rope), Sugar (sugar cube), Tea (tea bag), Wood (toothpick).
    
                                           Sources of African Products

Cloves: Comoros, Madagascar
Cocoa: Benin, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria,
            Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Togo
Coffee: Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic
             of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia,
            Madagascar, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo,Uganda
Copper: Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia ,Uganda, Zambia
Cotton: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Mali,
             Mozambique, Niger, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Diamonds: Angola, Botswana, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
                  Guinea, Liberia, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Gold: Ghana Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa
Peanuts: Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan
Rice: Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Sierra Leone
Rubber: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia
Sisal: Angola, Tanzania
Sugar: Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique,
           Republic of the Congo, Swaziland, Uganda
Tea: Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda
Wood: Cameroon, Central African republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabor, Ghana,
            Republic of the Congo, Swaziland, Zimbabwe

If any students are allergic to nuts, remember to leave peanuts out of the bags, because students do enjoy eating some of  these products, when the lesson is complete.

     One game that needs no setup time encourages children to learn the names of foreign cities and countries. From A to Z, players alternate using a letter to identify a place in the world and something a traveler could bring back from that location. For example, someone might say, "Going to Kuwait for kites." The next player could say, "Going to La Paz for llamas." Since almost any item can be found in any country these days, there is no need to think about the accuracy of associations. This game is equally fun and challenging en route to grandma's by car or to Australia by airplane.

     Adults can benefit by watching children play with blocks, dolls, toys, games, playground equipment, dirt, and sticks.  According to Juliet Kinchin, curator of Architecture and Design at New York's MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), seeing kids at play enables designers (and I would add, politicians and foreign policy experts) to look past the limitations of social norms, geography, politics, and culture and to make new connections that can lead to a different, ideal future. What did Walt Disney do when he created Disneyland, a composite of his boyhood's Main Street, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland or Epcot?
    

How the World Shapes Up

Michigan looks like a mitten to people who live there. What other shapes can children find when they look at maps and atlases of the world?

     Whether it's in their first books, on "Sesame Street," or connecting puzzle pieces, children learn about shapes. Apply this concept to the world, and they will see Italy looks like a boot. The Red Sea is a string bean, and Paraguay and The Gambia are shaped like peanuts. In Africa, some call Zambia the butterfly country because of its shape. My granddaughter thinks Chad looks like a face, and it has a man's name besides. Doesn't India look like a triangle? Lake Victoria is a circle, and there are so many ovals: Madagascar, Taiwan, Mongolia.

     Multicultural Kids (multiculturalkids.com) sells a China puzzle to give children hands-on experience with shapes in that country, while "World GeoPuzzle" from Museumtour.com does the same for the world. And, if you have an expendable world map, kids can point out shapes they would like to cut out and label.

Music of the Sphere

Music, as I write about it here, is not the "music of the spheres" used in the Medieval sense that the Sun, Moon, and planets emitted a harmony of inaudible hums,  but it is the music of our earthly sphere that transcends national boundaries.

     The Gangnam Style of South Korea's PSY and the earlier popularity of the Spanish Macarena testify to music's universal appeal. How often we see Mexico's Mariachi bands in movies and music videos! TIME magazine (January 28, 2013) noted that U.S. musician, Sixto Rodriguez, recently learned that his recordings were as popular in South Africa as those of Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Canadians, Justin Bieber and Carly Rae Jepsen, have no doubt they are popular in the United States.

     Listening to Mozart may or may not help children mature or develop a higher IQ, but music definitely can transport young listeners to different cultures. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art store (store.metmuseum.org) sells a "Global Glowball" that enables children six months and older to light up and play a regional song when they touch one of 39 areas on the globe. Babies also can shake their rattles to the Latin rhythms of the samba, cha cha, rumba, salsa, and bossa nova, and they can fall asleep listening to a lullaby passed down from immigrant ancestors. Later, they can learn to play an instrument according to the method developed by Japanese musician, Shinichi Suzuki, polka around the house, and play musical chairs to Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite" or the South African township rhythms on Paul Simon's "Graceland."

     Just as we did, children can learn to identify orchestra instruments by listening to a recording or live performance of "Peter and the Wolf" by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. Kids also can listen to 10 classic children's songs on their own wind-up Fisher-Price Record Player, recommended for children 18 months and older and available at YoungExplorers.com. Nowadays, they even might to learn to play instruments from other countries. For a Jamtown bag of fair trade world music instruments the whole family can play, go to multiculturalkids.com. Or check out the list of pan flutes sold by boliviamall.com, the global music gift basket of a hand drum, flute, tambourine and ju-ju seed shaker from SERRV (serrv.org/1-800.422.5915) or the rainsticks, maracas, and didgeridoos at musiciansfriend.com.

     Children also can play music on homemade instruments, like those spoons that can bang out rhythms on pots and pans and combs that serve as harmonicas when covered with tissue paper. In the news 9/20/2013 was the variety of bottles someone in Copenhagen uses to play Mozart. TIME magazine (May 27, 2013) mentioned that astronaut Don Pettit had made a didgeridoo out of an International Space Station vacuum cleaner hose. TIME also reminded us that globalization may be only the first stop in the universe, since Chris Hadfield, from the International Space Station, serenaded Earth with David Bowie's "Space Oddity."

    Music can bring people together around the world. After years when the Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, concert goers in Washington, D.C. and New York City recently had an opportunity to hear boys and girls playing traditional and other instruments together in the 48-member Afghan Youth Orchestra. When traveling around the world, be on the lookout for museums that are devoted to musical instruments. I was surprised to read that there is A World of Accordions Museum in Superior, Wisconsin, that not only features accordions from Europe, Japan, and Africa but also houses the piano, organ, guitar, and accordion method books by Willard "Bill" Palmer that have been translated into 17 languages. You can read more about this interesting museum at museum.accordionworld.org.

     When my daughter was young, I remember reading that a good ear for music indicates a child may find it easy to pick up languages. In case there is something to that, you might want to go to the blog post, "How Do You Say?" to pick up some ideas for introducing youngsters to foreign languages.

The World of Fashion

The World of Fashion

When designer Marc Jacobs, creative director of Louis Vuitton, was asked what fashion is, he said it was part of the art of living, just like books and good food. It is more. Contrary to those who consider fashion the trivial interest of people like the Kardashians, children who spend their free time making doll clothes might need to understand advanced technology. After all, New York's 2013 Toy Fair introduced Barbie wearing a "Digital Dress" that had a lighted touchscreen to let youngsters change designs. (This Barbie is now available for holiday giving in 2013.) In any case, sewing doll clothes can prepare children to make a number of significant contributions to their countries and the world. Anna Wintour, editor of U.S. Vogue, even was mentioned as a possible next U.S. ambassador to the U.K. or France.

     In England during World War II, the availability of new clothing was considered essential to maintaining civilian morale. While incendiary bombs and V-1 rockets were destroying the House of Commons, homes, and water mains, the Board of Trade authorized the use of scarce material for easy-to-mass-produce stylish clothing. Next summer, as part of the celebration commemorating the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation, British fashion designers who dress the Royal Family have been invited to present a style show in the garden at Buckingham Palace.

    Museums note the importance of fashion by mounting exhibits devoted to textiles and clothing. The current "Interwoven Globe" exhibit that runs through January 5, 2014 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City features fabrics and garments that influenced cultures around the world when they were traded from 1500 to 1800. A catalogue for this exhibition is available from store.metmuseum.org. During the U.S. African American History Month in February, 2013, exhibits devoted to the meaning and designs of the kente cloth woven by the Asante and Ewe peoples of Ghana, Africa, were on display in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of African Art and at its Arts & Industries Building.

     In her book, All We Know, Lisa Cohen, through the eyes of Madge Garland, former editor of British Vogue, tells how English designers were urged to raise funds for the war effort and to pay off debt after World War II by creating couture collections for export to North and South America. Familiarity with the names Dior and Chanel and Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Gucci, Pucci, Prada, Versace, and Missoni indicate France and Italy also recognize the importance of fashion exports. Not satisfied to export its fashions to foreign outlets, Japanese-based Uniqlo (unique clothing) opened its own stores to sell its private label brand thoughout Asia and in the U.S. and France. In 2015, Uniqlo also partnered with Muslim fashion blogger, Hana Tajima, to market a "modest wear collection" of headscarves and dresses.

     The U.S. promotes its couture for domestic and international consumption at New York Fashion Weeks, such as the one from Feb. 6 to Feb. 14, 2013 this year. According to trendwatching.com, new countries are entering the global haute couture market as well. These include China's Zhang Zhifeng's NE-TIGER brand, Masaba Gupta's animal print saris from India, and the Brazilian-California fusion styles of the Osklen fashion house. Trendwatching.com also reports Brazil exports its Amazonas Sandals, made from 80% recycled material and raw material from native rubber trees, to China.

     Brazil's sandals are just one indication that fashion has developed a social conscience. Although some designers still work with real fur, once People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) raised awareness of how animals are raised and the way their pelts are collected, other designers stopped using fur or switched to faux fur. The problem is few people are aware that coats that include less than $150 worth of real animal fur can be labeled faux fir. That means a so-called faux fur garment may include the skins of 30 rabbits, 3 raccoons, 3 red foxes, 3 dogs, or a bear. German sculptor, Iris Schieferstein, draws attention to the way people use and abuse animals by incorporating animal parts from animals that have died of natural causes into her shoe, hat, and umbrella designs. You might see Lady Gaga wearing Schieferstein's hoof shoes made from hoofs reclaimed from a butcher shop.

     Designers in the small island of Sri Lanka, who exhibited at the International Fashion Showcase during London's Fashion Week (February, 2013), are determined to make their country a regional center of sustainable fashion. They foster the use of fabric waste, green manufacturing processes, and the incorporation of handmade traditional crafts in their designs.

     Kids for Kids (kidsforkidsfashion.com) sells T-shirts printed with artwork created by orphans and underprivileged children in lesser developed countries and then donates 10% of sale revenue to the organizations that support these little artists. Brazil's Vitoria soccer club changed its usual black and red striped uniforms to black and white to support a blood drive. The website, trendwatching.com, reported the shirts will gradually return to all red and black during the 2012/2013 soccer season, when red replaces white to show blood donation targets are being met.

     Organizations, such as the International Labour Organization and Conservation International,  are now working to guarantee "economically marginalized" artisans a fair price, to eliminate child labor, and to protect the environment. WFTOMarket.com, a website of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), lists items available to wholesalers from worldwide sources that pay fair prices and operate under safe and healthy working conditions. In North America, the Fair Trade Federation is an association of members that subscribe to WFTO objectives. Before they buy scarves and jewelry, for example, young and older shoppers can look for the WFTO and Fair Trade Federation symbols on catalogs from organizations, such as SERRV International (serrv.org).

     The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is just beginning to get clothing companies, such as Gap, Adidas, Nike, Target, North Face, and Timberland, interested in: reducing the billions of pounds of apparel that end up in landfills, finding substitutes for the pesticides that run off into and contaminate water supplies, eliminating the use of  harmful chemicals (coffee grounds can be used as dyes), cutting water consumed in production (cotton is a water intensive crop;1,600 gallons of water can be used to produce a single pair of jeans), and decreasing the energy used to manufacture and transport clothing. Eventually, SAC's Higg Index, higher for the most eco-friendly goods, could appear on clothing hang tags and be approved by the U.S. government.

     Livia Firth, the wife of actor Colin Firth, issued a "Green Carpet Challenge" to the top fashion designers who dress celebrity clients. Working under humane conditions, she asked what haute couture styles they could produce from things like upcycled plastic, discarded ostrich feathers, and fabric remnants. Firth herself has been seen wearing a rubber cuff bracelet made from an old tire and a patchwork jacket made from recycled tweed. Rising to Firth's "Green Carpet Challenge" at the Academy Awards on February 24, 2013, Vivienne Westwood and Michael Badger, the Ghanaian student she mentors, dressed "Skyfall" actress, Naomi Harris, is a gown that incorporated chocolate candy wrappers and reclaimed beads and zippers in its design. Dye from non-chemical goldenrod and chamomile gave the gown its mustard yellow color.

    As Barbie's "Digital Dress" suggests, technology students are finding applications for their skills in the fashion industry. Some work with nanoparticles no bigger than a billionth of a meter to give fabrics stain proof properties. Others have come up with quick-drying textiles, thin insulation for coats and gloves, cool material that stretches vertically and diagonally, and fabrics that shun perspiration. On another front, in the future we are likely to see more garments designed and made of materials created by the 3D printing process.

     One way to keep up with the latest developments in the fashion world is to check into fashionobserved.braveblog.com from time to time. More up-to-date information on sustainable/ethical clothes is available at ecouterre.com. Lately, ecouterre is reporting that marine litter, such as used fishing nets, is being recycled as socks and swimwear. After the collapse of the Bangladesh clothing factory that killed up to 900 workers, ecouterre reminded consumers to continue to patronize the country's ethical fashion companies, such as People Tree, Tulsi Crafts, Bachhara, Bhalo, and KAARU.

     Like a corset in the jazz age, clothes can be out of fashion, if they fail to reflect not only current tastes, but also economic and political conditions. Every since Pope Francis was elected, news coverage about him has noted how he expresses humility and concern for the poor by wearing an iron cross instead of a gold one and how he has dispensed with ermine-trimmed capelets and caps. Similarily, foreign policy experts might gain some useful clues by observing countries where women stop wearing head scarves and military leaders switch to business suits.

What's in a Name?

"What is your doll's name?" "What is your pet's name?"

New plush animals, dolls, and pets that children received as holiday gifts offer naming opportunities to provide creative, globe-spanning answers to the questions adults often use to interact with youngsters.

A plush tiger named "Gandhi" reflects one of the big cat's last remaining habitats in India, and "Mandela" the lion pays homage to South Africa's great leader. "Churchill," England's World War II leader, is the perfect name for a new bulldog.

Girls may choose to name their dolls Marie Curie for the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry or Amelia Earhart for the first woman to make a solo transoceanic flight. They might choose the name "Golda" to honor Israel's late prime minister or "Malala" to honor the girl who won a Nobel Peace Prize at age 17 after she survived a bullet meant to silence her efforts to help girls receive an education in Pakistan.

History and the news are rich resources of names that help children connect with those who have made or now make a major impact on their world. At foreign films, pay attention to the credits which are filled with different names used in other countries. Instead of Bob, encourage a child to name an action figure, Lars.