In the summer of 2017, 48 children from 12 different countries arrived at a CISV Village in Brazil for a whole month. We were lucky enough to join them and document the magic that happens when different cultures meet and get to know each other – as people. This led to the Dear mom and dad film, in which we put focus on tolerance and open-mindedness among children.
Why have you decided to start a project that focuses on trust and tolerance among children?
Children are our future, but studies show that younger generations are losing trust towards other people. To help the next generation be more open-minded, we support CISV International, a global non-profit organization dedicated to educating and inspiring action for peace.
As part of our support, we funded a CISV Village in Brazil where children from all around the world get together, learn about their cultural differences and make friendships that reach across borders.
Based on this, we decided to launch the Dear mom and dad campaign to spread the message that when children get to meet other nationalities, cultures and religions it can help create a more tolerant and open world.
How was the film made?
Together with a small film crew, we went to Brazil to meet the children at the Village. We hoped to experience first-hand how children react when they travel out into the world, learn about our differences and make friendships with children from other cultures.
We asked the children to write a postcard to their parents about how they felt when they left home and what they thought about living with children from other nationalities for a month. Two weeks later, we asked the children to write another postcard to their parents about what they had learned so far.
We wanted to tell a story based on the children’s own experiences, so to capture their thoughts, we recorded some of the children reading from their postcards.
What’s the overall purpose of the film?
We wanted to show the great work of CISV and the positive effects of meeting other people and cultures by traveling; that we, by meeting other people and cultures, are able to see that there are more things uniting us than dividing us. By bringing this to light, we hope to inspire more people of all ages to explore the world, other nationalities and cultures with an open mind.
How is Dear mom and dad related to Let’s Open Our World?
The Dear mom and dad campaign is one initiative among many that is grounded in our purpose, Let’s Open Our World. The core of Let’s Open Our World is to encourage each one of us to stay curious and be open-minded.
Dear mom and dad supports this by showing how meeting other people and nationalities can break down the boundaries that separate us. Starting with children, we want to give hope to all generations that the world can become a better place if we are open to other people and all of our differences.
Will you launch other initiatives to encourage people to be more tolerant?
Together with CISV, we have developed school kits that can help children understand the importance of mutual respect and openness. The school kits are in English and can be downloaded for free by teachers all over the world.
The classroom activities are supported by two short films that can help shed light on the importance of open-mindedness. In the films, children from the 2017 CISV Village in Brazil tell how they experienced working with the activities and what they learned from them.
As a purpose driven brand we are continuously looking at activities that can help support our vision of an open world, and at Let’s Open Our World you can see some of the many initiatives we are working on.
