Kids Return - Leave Souvenir Behind !

New Delhi, Nov 20 (UNI) Prizes, mementos and certificates were given away as a weeklong National Children's Assembly and Integration Camp concluded at Bal Bhavan in New Delhi today.

During the seven days starting November 14, the Children's Day, kids put together a Wall of Peace and thrashed out issues, besides having a good time before dispersing.

Bal Bhavan was founded by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956 as an out of school creativity resource centre for 5-to-16-year-olds.

As many as 500 children from India and five other countries-- Russia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Kyrghyztan and Vietnam-- took part in the 2008 camp.

The event aimed at Promoting Gandhian Values of Bonding for Truth, Peace and Non-violence, which the authorities acknowledge have suffered erosion.

Participants debated issues at a conference and painted feelings on canvases about human rights, in such basic areas as sanitation and health.

The Camp is an annual Bhavan event drawing children from India and abroad to promote national and international integration, amity, brotherhood and goodwill.

A souvenir kids left behind was a Wall of Peace-- bearing their thoughts about love, bonding, joy, peace, harmony, patriotism and brotherhood and amity in a world that aroused their concern.

''The children feel concerned about the state of the world today which is being torn apart by separatist forces in the name of religion and nation,'' a government statement yesterday said.

Asked what the authorities will do with the wall, an official said it would be on display in a Bhavan museum. ''They wanted to spread the message to whole world.'' Kids being kids, sponsors threw in puppet and magic shows and fun games as well as workshops on dance, drama, music, mime, science, toy making and creative writing.

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