Mud Day 2013 Photos

07/18/2013

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
Anne Frank

On June 29, early childhood programs around the world celebrated the World Forum's third annual International Mud Day. International Mud Day is about children and early childhood professionals all over the world celebrating nature, outdoors, and mess by getting really muddy.

Mud Day came about as a result of a meeting of the Nature Action Collaborative for Children (NACC) at the 2009 World Forum for Early Childhood Care and Education in Belfast. In a discussion about the value of playing in the mud, Bishnu Bhatta from Nepal observed that children in Nepal couldn't play in the mud because many of them did not have enough clothes to be able to get them dirty. NACC member Gillian McAuliffe from Western Australia told this story to the children in her Bold Park Community School and the children decided they could send clothes to the children in Nepal so that they could play in the mud. They raised $1,000 in three weeks and sent it to Bishnu to buy clothes for some children there. So in September 2009 Bishnu did this and arranged a special day for the children of the Panchkhal orphanage, which included their first meat meal in five months.

Since then the two groups have celebrated a very special bond and played in the mud together, although in different countries. This year, a group of six families from Bold Park travelled to Nepal to take part in Mud Day celebrations with the children of Nepal. They also raised money to complete a renovation project at the orphanage. And, perhaps, in 2014 some of the children from Panckhal orphanage in Nepal will visit Australia to celebrate Mud Day with Bold Park Community School.

The World Forum Foundation community offers the opportunity for us all to connect in such wonderful and surprising ways, building global understanding and relationships. Check out photos of Mud Day from around the world on the World Forum Foundation website.

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