Diversity Day 2009: The Roma People from Grădiniţa Răsărit on Vimeo.

Children below six are full of joy and they can easily feel empathy and spontaneous love for all those around them. It is also a very impressionable age in which they are absorbing basic beliefs and attitudes about themselves, others and the world around them. In this formative period, children absorb many prejudices, directly from the verbal and nonverbal messages they receive from their surroundings.

Neo humanist Education makes a special effort to challenge stereotypes and prejudices and awaken empathy in children for minorities, special needs and all types of human diversity.

This year a special program was organized to recognize and appreciate the Roma minority in Romania.

The teachers designed interactive stories with Roma characters – both in roles of heros and in situations of discrimination, to give opportunities for the children to identify and empathize with the characters and discuss. Iulia, our project manager, has a Roma heritage, and came to participate in the circle time as well, sharing pictures from her family and childhood. The children discovered that her favorite color was red, she enjoyed the same games and songs like they did. They also felt sad when they heard how some children had hurt her feelings when they didn’t want to play with her because she was Roma. They acted out a role play of a similar situation in which they defended the Roma child. One of the keys to overcoming prejudices is friendship. When we have a friend we love, it is difficult to continue to generalize and stereotype.

The program culminated with a special festive Roma Day. The children dressed in Roma costumes, played instruments, made crafts, and danced to traditional Roma music. The Elf family prepared a mimed theater based on one of the stories they had discussed about a Roma girl who becomes a ballerina. (see the video section to watch “Ballerina Caterina”) They watched a video about a small Roma boy going to school with a clay cart he made to tell about the history of the Roma people – and the video includes a clay-mation of the emigration of the Roma from India towards the west. Following the video, the children acted out the same voyage (in the video clip above).

more photos are in the photo gallery