A brilliant idea led to an ambitious international project this autumn at our Rhydyfelin Community and Family Hub, introducing countries of the world to the village's children in a unique and creative way.
Thursday, November 9th, 2023
Project worker Joe Williams explained:
“For our open access play sessions over the summer, we decided that ‘Wales and the World’ would be one of the week’s themes.
We managed to find a comprehensive list of email addresses for every Embassy, and Mission in the UK, amounting to well over 150.
From this, we emailed every single one, explaining who we were, and about the summer play scheme. We also asked if they would be kind enough to send us one item from their Embassy, whether it be a pen, a brochure, a sticker, or a small flag. We would then use
this in our play-scheme to help teach children about the world.August 2023 came and went and we heard nothing back from any of the countries contacted. Then, just in time for the October half-term, we started to receive parcels.
In total, we received well over 25 parcels – from places such as Mauritious, Germany, Palau, Malaysia, Thailand, Yemen, Liberia, Palestine, and nearly 100 individual items from the European Union!
When the day came, we decided to put everything out on display, with each child being able to choose an item from the selection. Every child also receiving a gift bag with colouring/activity books from the European Union.
This was followed by an international quiz, with each winner being able to choose an item from the mystery box containing goodies such as German tote bags, Thai Elephant plushies, and notebooks/stickers from Trinidad!”
What an incredibly inventive project and a phenomenal response from Embassies and Missions around the world. We would like to send a heartfelt thank you to each individual who took the time to pack up and send us a box of gifts. The children had a blast, experiencing Wales and the World!
