edition #27
COMPASSION
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a well of compassion
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compassion: eloise wellings
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jessica courtney
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justine flynn
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korean egg bread
rustic no-bake vanilla cheesecake
gifts of compassion
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the good ninja
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Help Your Family Keep an Attitude of Gratitude This Season!
Kids Nation is a free digital magazine, dedicated to empowering kids around the world. It is published by MOS Design Creative (http://mosdesign.com.au). Copyright © Kids Nation magazine. All rights reserved. Reproducing without permission is prohibited. Copyright of articles and photos remain with the individual contributors and may not be reproduced without permission.
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this edition’s contributors:
MIA SETYAWAN AUSTRALIA EDITOR & FOUNDER KIDS NATION MAG kidsnationmag.com Mia is a mother of two boys and owns an award winning graphic design studio in Australia. She is passionate about imparting positive values to the next generation. Mia has been a volunteer at a local children program for over 10 years.
caleb S. australia
Hi I'm Caleb. I like to draw, write stories and play with my family and friends. When I grow up I want to be a spy.
Desi Trisnawati INDONESIA food artist & chef consultant inspirational-chef. com Desi is the winner of Masterchef Indonesia 2012 and the first female Masterchef Indonesia. She is the author of 20 Fun Recipes of Strong Heart and creator of the Indonesia's first culinary board game Cooking with Inspirational Chef Desi.
cayla L. australia
My name is Cayla, I am 7 years old. I like to do arts and crafts.
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this edition’s contributors:
justine flynn | australia co-founder & brand director - thankyou thankyou.co Justine Flynn is co-founder and brand director at Thankyou, a social enterprise that exists to help end global poverty in this lifetime. Combining her passion for marketing, business and people, Justine oversees the Marketing and People & Culture teams at Thankyou, and is a member of the Thankyou Board.
Ryan Hreljac | canada Founder & executive director - Ryan's Well Foundation www.ryanswell.ca Ryan Hreljac is the founder and executive director of Ryan's Well Foundation. Ryan has received many awards for his work in helping to bring clean water and to empowering others to become active global citizens. Ryan is also recognized as UNICEF, Global Youth Leader.
micah C. | iraq Hi I’m Micah and I am 12 years old. I live with my family in Iraq. I like to practice Tae Kwon Do and read. I’m interested in social justice and want to be a lawyer when I grow up.
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this edition’s contributors:
jessica courtney | iraq co-founder - Preemptive Love Coalition preemptivelove.org Jessica founded Preemptive Love Coalition with her husband Jeremy in 2007. Today, Jessica leads our refugee empowerment program. In 2016, she spearheaded the launch of Preemptive Love’s Sisterhood Collective, bringing refugee-made soap, candles, and more to North America — and putting thousands of dollars into the hands of Iraq and Syrian women.
Eloise Wellings | australia athlete & founder - love mercy lovemercyfoundation.org Eloise Wellings is a dual Olympian and humanitarian. She placed 9th and 10th respectively in the 10,000m and 5,000m track events in Rio. She uses her athletics career to bring awareness to the work of Love Mercy Foundation, an organisation working to restore hope in northern Uganda.
Brianne K. DeRosa | united states Content Manager - the family dinner project thefamilydinnerproject.org Brianne is a parent, writer and the Content Manager for The Family Dinner Project. She's also co-author of The Family Dinner Project's new book, "Eat, Laugh, Talk: The Family Dinner Playbook," which offers a week-byweek guide to help families engage in food, fun and conversation about things that matter.
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a well of compassion words: ryan hreljac | artwork: mia SETYAWAN & caleb s.
Sitting in my grade one class, my teacher tried to explain to us That there were other kids in the world that did not have clean water at their schools or homes.
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We were six and seven so we had a tough time understanding what she meant, one of my classmates simply asked ...
"why don't they just use the water fountain?"
My teacher took the time to explain that not everyone had water fountains and sometimes kids our age had to walk sometimes as far as
five
kilometres
to access water.
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We didn't really understand how far that was. again my teacher took some extra time to clarify that it would be about
5000
steps
to access water.
5000 steps
But I counted the steps it took me to get from my classroom to the water fountain in the hallway, I counted ten.
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10 steps
Having just come out of kindergarten, one thing that was always stressed to us was the idea of sharing and compassion. That if things weren't fair it was the right thing to do something small to make things more fair.
So I raised my hand and volunteered to help lead my class fundraiser for a well.
I may not have had a plan for fundraising the money at the time, nor did I know how big the world's clean water problem was, but I certainly was thinking compassionately.
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Since raising my hand 22 years ago, we've now been able to do
1400+ water projects around the world, helping almost
1 million people have access to clean water It's amazing how far a simple act of compassion can go sometimes.
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photo: love mercy foundation
inspire
compassion compiled by: mia setyawan
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Eloise Wellings | australia athlete & founder of love mercy lovemercyfoundation.org
T
hrough my years of running as an athlete and as a founder of Love Mercy, I’ve learnt a few things about compassion. It’s important to note that compassion isn’t just understanding other people’s feelings, it’s also wanting to help them and make them feel better.
I’ve learnt how important it is to have compassion for everyone you meet, not just people you know and love. In fact, Love Mercy was very much built from the feeling of compassion. We saw women and communities in Northern Uganda suffering and we hurt for them but also decided to act and support them. Throughout my running career, I suffered several stress fractures that meant I couldn’t compete in the 3 Olympic Games that I qualified for. I was devastated, and it was through this time that I was shown compassion by those around me. My team and my family supported me through recovery, and then through working hard to qualify for the next Olympic games. Compassion is an incredibly powerful thing, and to be a compassionate person is (in my opinion) one of the most amazing and world changing things a person can be.
"compassion isn’t just understanding other people’s feelings, it’s also wanting to help them and make them feel better." Eloise Wellings
Eloise at the Common wealth Games in 2018 15
jessica courtney | iraq co-founder of Preemptive Love Coalition preemptivelove.org
C
ompassion is often thought of as having caring thoughts about people we encounter who are suffering. We might see someone on the street in old clothes asking for money, or see an article about a child in a far-away country who lost their home to a tsunami or war. When we see these things, our heart hurts and we feel sad for people. This is the most common type of compassion: we, the onlookers, feel bad but often don’t feel like we have the power to help. The deepest form of compassion is an actual “suffering with” someone else. It is a choice to move from the feelings of compassion into an active compassion where we choose to give up something and enter into the suffering of someone else.
This might mean giving up eating a meal at a restaurant to have more money to share with the person begging on the street, or it might mean sitting with someone who has just lost their home. It could even be as simple as including someone into one of your spaces, inviting someone you normally wouldn’t spend time with to spend time with you with your friends. I believe that compassion is so important because that initial feeling we get when we hear of someone else’s suffering is a prompt from deep within us that we can choose to follow to help ease that suffering in one way or another.
"I've learned that simply starting a conversation with someone who is in pain and listening to what they need is often the best first step." jessica courtney 16
Sometimes, if we don't believe we can help, we feel stuck. When we feel stuck we are left with a terrible feeling some call compassion fatigue. I've learned that simply starting a conversation with someone who is in pain and listening to what they need is often the best first step. If you can’t sit with someone, there are many ways to listen to the needs of others, through organizations that represent them, and be a part of helping. The next time you feel compassion, I encourage you to take a step toward the person who is suffering. It will change you and change this new friend you care for. 17
photo: preemptive love coalition
Jessica and her husband Jeremy founded Preemptive Love Coalition after moving to Iraq in 2007 in the middle of the war. Today, Jessica leads the refugee empowerment program. They live in Iraq with their two children.
photo: thankyou
"CROSS THE ROOM, SHOW YOU CARE..." justine flynn
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justine flynn | australia co-founder & brand director of thankyou thankyou.co
I
was sitting on the carpet in grade 6 as teacher, Miss Morrison, shared stories of her trips to developing countries. I was completely hanging off her every word, as she told us how much she enjoyed the experiences of other cultures, such as trekking through the jungle of Borneo and bathing in the river. It was then I knew: I needed to travel to visit some of these communities and see how other people lived for myself. A few years later, I asked my mum if I could go and visit Miss Morrison in Indonesia, where she was working in a children’s home at the time. My mum said I could, as long as I raised every cent to fund the trip myself.
It had a squat toilet and no bath; I had to boil water over a fire and scoop the water over myself from a bucket to bathe. I stayed in a room with three other young girls; none of us spoke the same language, but we had so much fun together. We laughed and giggled into the night. It’s amazing how well human beings can communicate even with language barriers. While I was there, I taught English, cleaned dormitories, cooked for 200 kids (it was a lot of beans to cut up!) and did a bit of face painting. Often I would venture out into the villages to see the realities the children’s parents face day-to-day.
I started (with my mum’s help) by making lamingtons in our kitchen and selling them around the school and to friends — even walking the local neighbourhood and selling door to door.
Even at such a young age, I could clearly see the differences between a community who had clean water and a community who didn’t. People were healthier, life was a bit easier, more kids were staying in school when they had water.
I organised car washes, held sausage sizzles outside Bunnings, ran a clothes swapping party … it took a LOT of hard work and perseverance to raise all the money I needed but finally, the day arrived.
I saw then how important water is — and how much I took for granted how lucky I was to be able to just turn on a tap back home to get it.
On 19 September 2001, I headed off to volunteer at the children’s home. I was 14 years’ old. Even though I was offered the opportunity to live in a house like mine in Australia, I choose to live in a traditional Indonesian house.
I went on this trip to help, but when I came home, I felt like the people I met taught me so much more. They taught me you don’t need ‘stuff’ to make you happy.
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photo: thankyou
“There isn't a person you wouldn't love if you could hear their story.”
These children and their families had hardly any material possessions; yet they were always so happy because they had things that are even more precious: their family and friends. When I came home, I looked around my room at all the stuff I had, and I didn’t want it anymore. I didn’t want to grow up and get a job that made lots of money just to get more stuff; I wanted a job that would make a difference in the world. One of the best things Miss Morrison always encouraged me to do was think about the world outside the one I’m used to. To open my eyes to see that not everyone lives like I do. That people do things differently; sometimes for the better, and then there are those who are living day after day in hardships I cannot even imagine. I believe that compassion is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and showing them you care about them and are genuinely interested in learning from their perspective. By choosing the path that wasn’t the most comfortable to me — by choosing a house with no running water or toilets, and living with people who didn’t speak English — I made the choice to learn how other people live, putting myself in their shoes. You don’t have to head across the world to learn this truth like I did. Seeing and noticing people in need could be as simple as just crossing the classroom to the student in your class who often goes unnoticed. Showing compassion can be as simple as listening to them, trying to understand their perspective and then showing them that they matter. I once heard a saying that said, “There isn't a person you wouldn't love if you could hear their story”. To me, that means it’s important to take time to hear people’s stories, to try to understand the world they live in, even if they are on the same street as you or right next door! You never know the journey they’re on or the struggles they’re going through. You don’t have to solve all their problems or try to be their hero — often the things people go through are much bigger than one person could tackle alone — but compassion is just simply listening, showing love, standing alongside and doing the little we can to make someone’s life a little brighter.
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words: micah C. photo: Shon Ejai
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Compassion to me means to be friends with others regardless of what others think. I have made some of my best friends by putting myself in their shoes and getting to know them. It also means caring about others when no one else does, being there for them when no one else will, and to be caring despite what that person did or has done to you, and to most importantly Love Anyway.
Micah C.
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photo: desi trisnawati
cook
rustic no-bake vanilla cheesecake by: desi trisnawati 24
BASE:
METHOD:
200g packet plain sweet biscuits
1. In a food processor, process biscuits until fine crumbs. Add butter. Pulse until combined. Press the mixture firmly into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
80g butter, melted
CHEESECAKE: 3/4 cup caster sugar 500g cream cheese, softened 2 vanilla beans, split lengthwise and seeds scraped 200ml thickened cream, whipped 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin, mixed with 4 cups boiling water, whisked until gelatin has dissolved.
2. Use electric mixer to beat sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Add in vanilla beans seeds, whipped cream and gelatin mixture, mixing until combined. 3. Pour 2/3 plain cheesecake mixture over the biscuit base in the prepared pan. 4. Add few drops of black food colouring into remaining cheesecake mixture. Stir to combine, adjusting colour as desired. Spoon over the plain mixture. Use a fork or chopstick to create swirls. 5. Chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or until set. Serve.
Black food colouring
For more recipes, follow Desi on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
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ESSENTIAL BABY BUNDLE $35
love anyway sweatshirt $45
thankyou
preemptive love
mir peace doll large $35 preemptive love
Cents for Seeds Gift Card $30 love mercy
THE BODY ESSENTIALS GIFT SET $32 thankyou 26
photo: Public Domain pictures
holiday
Help Your Family Keep an Attitude of Gratitude This Season! by: Bri DeRosa
click to download family interview printable (free)
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photo: George Dolgikh
The Food: It’s almost time for the holidays, and you know what that means. Lots of family gatherings, gift-giving, and meals together. It’s all fun and exciting, but it can also feel like a little too much. How can you help everyone keep an attitude of gratitude so the holidays stay fun and not too stressful? First of all: What does an “attitude of gratitude” mean? I think it means that you look for the good things around you, and make sure to point them out to others. You try not to point out others’ mistakes, or the things you feel less excited about. You remember to say “thank you” and to look for ways to help. And you try to do something kind as often as you can. That sort of kindness and positive attitude can really spread! At The Family Dinner Project, we believe that when you sit down to eat with your family, it’s a perfect chance to share things that matter. So use your holiday meals to help your family share that attitude of gratitude! Here are some food, fun and conversation ideas you can use:
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1. Ask to help. Even if you don’t know how to cook, you can wash vegetables, set the table or carry groceries. Adults who are trying to make a big holiday meal can use your help, so be sure to offer! 2. Learn a family recipe.
Is there a special food your family enjoys every year? Before the big holiday, ask if someone will help you learn to make it. Or you can watch them make it, and ask them to tell you where it came from and why it’s special. When you show an interest in your family traditions, it reminds everyone to be grateful.
3. Try a thank-you bite. Some families have a “no thank you bite” rule, where you have to try a bite of a new food before you can say “no thank you, I don’t like that.” This holiday season, how about trying a “thank-you” bite? Pick a food on your plate, take a bite, and say “Thank you for making this food for us!” Then tell why you’re grateful for that food. See if you can get others to share a “thank-you” bite, too!
The Fun:
The Conversation:
1. Make a music playlist.
1. Use a “thankful” candle.
Pick songs that make you feel cheerful and thankful. Ask other members of the family for their favorite songs, too. Then make a playlist to turn on during the cooking and cleanup, or while you’re all eating together.
Pass a candle or a special object around the table. Whoever is holding it gets to say one thing they feel thankful for. For a different way to be thankful, you could each say something that makes you grateful for the person next to you!
2. Play a family guessing game.
2. Learn more about each other.
Teach everyone to play “20 Questions About a Family Memory.” One person thinks of a favorite family memory. Everyone else can ask them “yes” or “no” questions: “Were we outside?” “Was it snowing?” until someone guesses the right memory!
3. Make family dinner artwork.
Use your family meal time to talk about ideas for doing good deeds. Can you collect food to donate to hungry people? Is there a volunteer job your family can do together? How about sending kind notes or handmade presents to people in your neighborhood?
Ask the grownups if you can cover the table with a big sheet of paper so everyone can draw and write things they are thankful for. Or you could make paper placemats for people to use!
Put a list of “family interview” questions under each plate. Then you can take turns asking each other the questions and learning more about your family.
3. Talk about giving to others.
I hope this list of ideas helps you share an attitude of gratitude with your whole family, at the holidays and all year long!
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the good ninja (based on the story of the good samaritan) words: caleb S. | artwork: caleb S. & mia setyawan
a ninja was walking on a deserted road.
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he was attacked by three ninja thieves.
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5
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the ninja was no match for the thieves. 32
The coolest nin
ja
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The greatest sensei
A young ninja
the coolest ninja and the greatest sensei saw the wounded ninja, but they passed by on the other side. then, a young ninja came and felt sorry for him. 33
8 he helped him ...
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... and took him to an inn.
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he got better in no time. thanks to the young, good ninja.
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