Here you can find the new cards in English. (For translations, scroll all the way down).

What follows below is a summary of our time together at the training and pictures. You’re also invited to have a look at the Facebook page or Instagram.

On a rainy Saturday evening a group of 21 people came together in a village called Ommen, in The Netherlands. They came from Spain, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia. This last group full of stories about the student protests going on in their country for weeks. They gathered there with a common aim: to foster a Culture of Peace in society, particularly within the youth groups and organisations each is working with.

They had heard about the Peace Please game, developed between 2021-22, which was originally developed for adult educators. This group of youth workers was taking on the challenge to adapt the game to youth work.

After they explored violence and the Culture of Peace, we went back outside. There they were: about to become Peaceful Warriors. The trainers, Nina and Kitti, led them through a field, where a portal appeared between two tall trees. The Peaceful Warriors, who carried no weapons, but were ready to learn new skills, passed one by one. Not because they were certain of victory, but because they did not want to abandon the future. In a world full of violence, towards the Earth, animals and our own kind, these courageous people were ready to follow their dream that something different is possible!

They learned how to use sociocracy to make decisions. The first challenge that needed to be decided on was cleaning the showers and toilets. Then they also learned to apply it to agree on the most fitting action cards to overcome the challenge cards of the Peace Please game. That was a lot more fun…!

An older Dutch lady (Atie van Gennip) shared her wisdom about Nonviolent Communication with the group. She revealed that the best gift you can give your loved ones is to take responsibility for your own needs. This was then our starting point to explore self care, setting boundaries and learning about seven types of rest. They learned to apply nonviolent communication skills in role plays to resolve conflict and got to be so-called “spectactors” in four different theater scetches.

On the fourth day, they went to the city Zwolle. They made a visit to the Earth Ship, the first one in all of Europe, and shared the Peace Please game with a local peace group. They got three games for different groups and will thus share it within their circles too.

Then they returned to the village. There was still a day to explore privilege, get to know The Change Game, of one of the partner organisations (Nexes Intercultural from Spain) and exchange best practices with each other.
Six days turned out the go by quick! They organised themselves to add more challenge cards and more panic cards to the game, think about introducing it to youth, and sharing other important tools from the training course. Just as everyone had gotten very comfortable with each other and decicion-making had become a little bit easier, it was already time to look back at what was learned, and look forward to consider how to share that learning, once each ogroup member would return home. After giving feedback everyone was invited to share their messages artistically, of which you can see the result below.

What they didn’t realize, one group member noted, was that they themselves were the biggest piece of art! Look at this video where you can adore them all.

After this artful reflection they went outside again, where the sun had come out from behind the clouds and shone its warm light on us. In silence they walked through the field. The portal appeared once more. By passing, everyone was ready to go their seperate ways. Paths had crossed for a week, co-creating a beautiful learning experience together. Now they were about to separate. Maybe crossing paths again, maybe not. But nevertheless, connected, in our hearts for our shared mission.

Translations of the cards to Dutch, Spanish, and Croatian have been made, in a table. See the PDF below. If you want to print those, please get in touch, as it will need a graphic design job.