Alastair & Clarisse announce the WoW! summer of peace with Jane Goodall. And we have a challenge for you …
Transcript podcast – July 10, 2020
A – Hello and welcome to WoW!, the positive podcast! Showing kids that there’s a lot more to the world news than bad news.
I’m Alastair. As a journalist, I’ve often written about things going wrong. But people also need to know too about what’s going right, to know that we can change the world for the better.
This week, I’ll be talking to Clarisse about our summer challenge, which is all about peace and peacemaking. Do you know someone who you think is a brilliant peacemaker? Then keep listening!
I hope the podcast gives you some ideas – and maybe a bit of a boost. If you like it, do share it with a friend!
MUSIC
A – Hello Clarisse! You’re still there? Not on holidays yet?
C – Hi Alastair! No, I’m still here! We’ve got some WoW! special reports to prepare for the school holidays!
A – Yes, of course! We’re going to talk about our special project today. But first I wanted to tell you about something I saw on YouTube the other day. It’s related to our summer theme of peace. And I think it really illustrates how when we talk about peace, we don’t just mean it in the sense of what happens after a war, or big stuff like that. Peace is something we can all help create in our own daily lives.
C – Hm, OK, Alastair. I know we’re going to talk about our peace project. But what is this film you saw.
A – Well, Clarisse, listeners can find the link on our website in the story about peace heroes. It’s a two-minute video by a young Parisian film-maker called Maylis de Poncins. It’s a very simple story that shows how we can all change the world for the better simply by not being angry and sour with other people for no good reason.
C – OK… Sure… That seems like something I’ve heard many times. Why is this film so great?
A – I like the way it doesn’t lecture but shows what happens in real life. It showshow we treat other people has an impact on them – and in the end on us too. Let me explain the film. We see a young woman walking quickly down the street. She’s in hurry and she bumps into a man. She yells at him. As she stomps away, the man feels his tummy and suddenly a black ball appears in his hand. Now in the film this black ball is a way of showing that sense of feeling sad and angry that we get after someone’s been nasty to us. And what we see is that the man snaps at another woman in a shop who asks him for a favour. Then this woman gets the black ball in her hand. And so it goes on. Different people pass the black ball of sadness and anger on to other people. And at the end, well someone ends up giving it back to the woman we saw at the beginning. She started the whole thing by being grumpy with the man she bumped into. Now we see her going home with the black ball. And when she’s home, we see her flat is full of black balls. She looks sad. That’s what being angry all the time is doing to her. But then we see she takes a decision. She starts painting a black ball bright yellow. She goes out again, walking down the street. Same corner, same guy, she runs into him again. He grumbles but this time, instead of snapping at him, the young woman smiles a big broad smile and hands him a yellow ball. As she walks off, we see him look down at the ball. And it has a big smiley face on it. And the man smiles back. It’s going to be a much better day. For everyone!
C – Hm. I’m going to have a look for that. What’s it called?
A – It’s called, in French, Je suis donc tu es – that means “I am, and so you are”. It’s basically saying that however we approach the world and other people, that’s how the world and other people treat us. If we’re angry, then we make other people angry. If we are thoughtful, people are much more likely to be kind to us in return.
C – Hm. I think I can agree with that!
A – I think Clarisse that you’re a very good example of that in fact.
C – Really, how?
A – Because you’re someone who always seems to me to want to smile at the world and to encourage other people to be positive.
C – Well, I think it’s a good idea to be positive. That’s why I love what we do here with WoW! But explain what this has to do with our summer peace project?
A – Well, Clarisse, I wanted to talk about the film because, like I say, it shows how peace is an idea that’s really important in our everyday lives. We are all different from each other, and often we want different things. That’s OK. We should say what we want. But being a person who wants peace means thinking about other people too and trying to find ways that we can all be OK. We have to make peace. Every day.
C – Ah, I see the connection. Because when we think about peace, we often think about the Nobel Peace Prize and famous people like Nelson Mandela. And what we’re saying this week is that we can all make peace in our own lives.
A – Exactly. And you’ve been busy preparing our summer project…
C – Yes, Alastair! Can I announce it?
A – Absolutely! Go ahead, Clarisse.
C – Yes! So, WoW! is partnering with the Jane Goodall Institute in France in their challenge for International Peace Day in September.
A – Right. And you want our fantastic WoW! tribe to have a look around at all the people they know, in their family, or at school or in their community and spot someone who they think as a great peacemaker – a Hero for Peace?
C – That’s right, Alastair. We’re looking for our own Heroes for Peace!
A – And so these are people you know who maybe are particularly good at listening to others, to understanding what people want. Maybe it’s a big sister who’s great at stopping fights, or a teacher who’s brilliant at explaining how we can take better care of the environment. Looking after nature and the environment is important, especially to Jane Goodall. She’s the scientist who helped us understand how much we have in common with other animals – we spoke about her in WoW! back in April.
C – Yes, we need to make peace with other people, but also with other animals and will all of the rest of Nature. That’s where we can find our Heroes for Peace.
A – OK. And Jane Goodall’s organisation for young people, Roots & Shoots, they’re running this challenge around giant photographs, right?
C – Yes, Alastair. The Jane Goodall Institute France is asking people to nominate their Hero for Peace, explaining why. And then, for the International Day of Peace on September 21, there will be a giant display in Paris of photographs of these Heroes for Peace.
A – That sounds fun. It’ll be great to see who gets nominated. You need to go to the Jane Goodall website in France, that’s janegoodall dot FR. Jane Goodall is all one word. And we’d love to hear too at WoW!, so we’re asking people to let us know who they’ve nominated. You can contact us through our website at www dot wow dash news dot EU. Eh, what else do we need to say, Clarisse?
C – I think that’s it, Alastair. Just one really important point – you have to act fast! The challenge closes on July 15, that’s next Wednesday!
A – July 15. OK noted, Clarisse. Now I should say that the organisers are in France and the challenge is in French. So maybe not everyone will be able to take part. But what everyone can join in is our WoW! summer theme of peace.
C – Yes! Now, I need to go and get working on that!
A – You do that, Clarisse! We’ll see you next time to talk about our own Heroes for Peace. Bye!
C – Goodbye Alastair!
A – So, thank you for listening today. I hope you found the idea of making peace in our daily lives interesting. Are you going to try being a Peace Hero? Well, it’s not always easy. And we hope you’re going to get some rest and have some fun over the school holidays.
To keep you company, we thought that instead of our usual news podcasts, we’d bring you some summer specials to listen to. What about? Well we’re going to introduce you to some really big Heroes for Peace, people who have led really interesting lives and who you might like to know more about. And when schools starts back in September – yes it will! – we’ll have more in the news about International Peace Day and the Jane Goodall Roots & Shoots peace challenge.
So Clarisse and I will be back in a couple of weeks. Till then, we hope you can take a break, enjoy the summer – and stay positive!
Alastair
Clarisse
