Museflower Retreat & Spa Chiang Rai invited 20 students from grade 4 – 6 and two teachers from a local village school Ban Chong Lom to join a day of learning through creative activities. The day started with an acting and English learning game in which the students acted out and guessed the identities of animals while learning the English names of the animals.
The day's main activity was to create a group nature mandala, facilitated by the retreat's resident practitioner Ms. Watchararat Srichamroen. To create the mandala, students gathered any natural material they found on the grounds, such as flowers, leaves, branches or stones. Then four groups of students were each responsible of a quarter of a circle to create a full mandala circle. The two teachers also created their own nature mandala.
The groups created flower pictures with the word "LOVE", a flower bouquet, a smiley face, and a smiling doll. The group mandala is meant to embody a reflection of the world that the children would create in the future. The whole group of adults and students then closed the activity by standing around the mandala and sending loving energies to the world.
The group mandala embodied the day's theme of "togetherness", which was related to refugees who had lost their homes and had to flee to another country. Says Tania Ho, Museflower Retreat founder and organizer of this Peace Day event, "Though refugees who lost their home doesn't seem to affect us in Thailand, we wanted the students to understand through the group mandala that all of humanity is connected, and any action they do will have a ripple effect in the world."
After a tour around the retreat's flower gardens, organic farm, duck egg farm, Himalayan crystal salt pool and spa, the group enjoyed a fresh picked, nutritious vegetarian lunch and each student received a bag of gifts from Museflower Retreat & Spa.
Says Tania, "I asked if any students wanted to witness war, suffering, and people who lost their homes. Everyone said no. Because children are the future of this world, they have the power to create and shape the world and how they want to live in the future. To see peace in the world, it has to start from within ourselves. When each person knows how to be at peace within themselves, they will see peace reflected in the world around them. That's the message we aimed to teach the children on Peace Day".