The following was sent to this site by Amy Argenal regarding some activities and poetry celebrating this special day. Hope you enjoy. Jim.

International Day of Non-Violence
October 2, 2008

It was a wonderful treat to be able to celebrate the International Day of Non-Violence at Hindu Vidyapeeth-Nepal this year. I was able to work with Class 9 on a project to discuss the role of Gandhi and non-violence in Nepal. We started with an activity on what good leadership looked like. The students came up with great ideas and a very exhaustive list of adjectives that all the leaders of the world could use to hear. Then we moved on to discuss how leadership and non-violence were connected. Many of the students said as they were to be the next leaders, they needed to understand how to solve problems without violence. The came up with a list of causes of violence and what needs to be there for non-violent change to occur. The class discussion was very interactive and the students gave great suggestions for making change without using violence. Then the project was finished with poetry and drawings done by the students. They displayed their work for the rest of the school and Dr. C.M. Yogi was able to use their work as a starting point for other discussions with Class 7.
After school, I was able to attend a small celebration at the Shanti Sewa Ashram. It was the last afternoon before the holidays so all the kids were so excited. Dr. C. M. Yogi gave a very inspiring talk about Gandhi and his work and then the students sang the famous chant. His talk focused on speaking no evil. I was then able to take a group of the older students upstairs for a small activity. To refocus on Dr. Yogi's speech, we discussed what they could do to not only, not speak evil but how to speak positively to others. Many children came up with some wonderful things that they could do every day over the Dashian festival. We ended the talk, with an activity where each youth had to find three people to say something nice to. We discussed how they felt after and many said that they felt special, not only to hear something nice to but share something nice with someone else. They felt that this was a way, they themselves could spread peace.
After the celebration, Dr. Yogi ended the day with an interview on a major Nepali radio station to discuss the importance of Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence. It was a very full day but I think it was very rewarding as well. To end, I would like to share some of the poems written by Class 9 students.

Poems by Student in Class 9:

Non-Violence

Nationalistic is necessary
Obedience is personality
Negotiation is important
Violence brings death and sorrow
Ignorance leads darkness
Obligation brings prosperity
Love spreads friendship and equality
Ego spreads evil and the devil
Necessity of peace is the greatest need
Co-operation and conversation prevails harmony
Existence of peace and love among the people to help to remove violence from this world.
By: Samin Maharjan and Sanjay Shakya

Non-Violence
Need
of
Nepal

Virtue brings non-violence
Identity must be not absence
Opportunity makes us perfect
Love keeps people alive
Equality helps in development
Nationality gives identity to nation
Co-operation removes violence
Education shows us light
By: Neelam Subedi
Migma Napit
Binu Parajuli

Violence

Violence harms in development of nation
It also creates tension
We have to avoid violence
Because its everyone's intention

Violence creates lackness
So better not to fight with each other
for a small cause
Then we will achieve happiness

So, stop fighting
And serve the mankind
Know why you are in this earth
Doing good things utilize your mind.
By: Melina and Nisha
Non-Violence

The every heart that is in search of
The every eyes that’s looking for
The every life that wants to feel
The every mouth that wants to speak
The one and only word everyone desires for
Is known other than non-violence
The voice inside everyone's heart
The voice of non-violence
By: Ritu Sapkota

My! Boys and Girls! Do you prefer
Violence or Non-Violence?

Coming down heard the noise of non-violence
Which was very inspiring?
Non-violence reflects humanity
which helps for the majority.

Arrogant humans create violence
But integrated humans preserve non-violence
we want peace and do work for gaining peace
Real peace reflects the theme of non-violence

Gandhi Ji is taken as the source of non-violence
who has great respect all over the world
He walked around his country
and brought the feeling of harmony.
By: Mikesh Nemkul

Report by:
Amy Argenal
Working Volunteer at Hindu-Vidyapeeth- Nepal
amyargenal [at] hotmail [dot] com