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English description for the WIU - Project:
What does WIU mean? WIU is the name of our symbol or logo. WIU stands also for WORLD IN UNION N.G.O. and is the name of an association which has been active in an urban context to support the WIU-project since the early nineties. Who is a member of WIU? Everyone.! Because it is about the idea of the unity, to which every person on this earth belongs. So everyone belongs to this group: children and adults, women and men, the rich and the poor, thinkers and dreamers, people of all colours, nationalities, races, religions and cultures. What is behind the WIU-school project? Perhaps we can best describe it by explaining some typical performances which have taken place so far. It all started on the first day of term for a Düsseldorfcertain fifth grade class. The teacher, 29 pupils, 10 parents and two assistants from WIU went to a bridge in Düsseldorf not far from the school, and helped to unpack various utensils: a big roll of paper, pencils, scissors, water colours, paint brushes, buckets, and small accessories. Performing artist Claus Pulm gathered the children around him explaining the idea with the title: "We are going to paint ourselves and the earth". This is not difficult. Who doesn’t often imagine how they would like to look, or how they perceive the earth to be? One after the other everyone lay down on the rolled out paper and another person traced the outline of their body. This was then cut out and coloured in. "Look how long my arms are!” "Look, I've got a cool T-shirt on" "Do you play soccer too?"… and very soon the children realized they were not as shy as they were an hour ago. The adults also drew a picture of themselves and soon there were numerous coloured life-size paper cut-outs. Some of them had already begun to paint the picture of an eight meter wide earth (also made out of cardboard and a wooden frame). The work was completed in joyful cooperation with mutual sensitivity, care and tolerance. Later, deep blue oceans, continents with animals, mountains, houses and TVs were added. Everybody felt proud to have completed this together. The paper cut-outs, which had dried in the meantime, were placed all around the earth. All concerned, both adults and children, stood around them holding hands and were aware: We created this together. There is our earth, there is each individual, this is who we are! Together, this is our world and together we have responsibility for it. This profound experience will be present from now on, even when unspoken. It is indeed a project which - without words - speaks every language. Many other accompanying lessons and exercises offer the possibility of experiencing the various aspects of the basic idea: "To experience one earth - one humanity - unity in diversity". Only those who are given the possibility to perceive themselves clearly will later have the ability to perceive others clearly, and to live with empathy and solidarity. In art lessons the children are taken into the world of flowers through meditation, and are then given the task to express their imagination onto drawing paper with the title "If I were a flower.." The result is a multitude of soft, fine, noble, colourful, energetic flowers which are each in themselves beautiful. Together they are an enormous bouquet in which no flower should be absent. In other words, unity in diversity. Politics classes offer many possibilities for discussions about the class community. And even here the possibility of visual representation can be instigated with the following question: "Our class community is like a tree. What are its roots like? And which fruits can it yield?" This brings us closer to an important aspect of the WIU-concept. Only people who feel strongly, who know their roots and can lean back on them, are strong and powerful and through compassion can contribute significantly to the community. All meetings which concern the community take place in a circle and remind people of the first day at school, of the first experience together in which all were there together for the earth. Together with these meetings, a number of creative activities are offered as perception exercises for the four elements: school outings, workshops and weekly projects. The earth is made tangible through clay modelling. "We are gifts for this earth" is the motto. When children are asked what they like to do with presents, they of course answer “unwrap them”. When we unwrap, we can also unfold, and through our unfolding we also develop. Through this exercise, the students are able to realize: “We have to develop ourselves if we want to appreciate ourselves, if we want to be seen in our full beauty.” That we are all woven together can be seen through the water element. With simple methods (wire, paper maché, colours, hoses and a small garden pump) –the students are able, in a space of a few square meters, to build landscapes in which they can observe the water cycle. They realize that we are all part of this cycle and that our present behaviour will have consequences on the earth at a global level, something which was hardly recognized previously. The air element involves our voice. With the help of air, we can raise our voices to resonate and express ourselves. Various songs and voice exercises enable a multitude of ways of accessing the earth. A view into the songs and music of other cultures offers much excitement. And the fire that we experience is the inner warmth, which, in the mutual search for identity and community, for freedom and security, we feel for one another when we recognize that we need not be perfect, that there is always the chance to try again. In this way we can bring light into the darkness of our emotions. Then we will be able to differentiate between what things really are (reality) and what we think things are (our opinions) and then we will be ready to live our visions. Thus, we will have a perspective. WIU one move
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