Today I talked with an organizer of the CC, and asked for some advices for my project. From the conversation, I had a further understanding about CC, got some problems from the group, some relative expanded info. CC 1. Unique tribe for the volunteer living in the ultra strong rhythm life. Generally, in order to apply for a volunteer, people have to satisfy some conditions, and the most important is they need plenty of time for this work, which might make people step… More

From BAAT, ‘art therapy is provided in groups or individually, depending on clients’ needs. It is not a recreational activity or an art lesson, although the sessions can be enjoyable’. After the BAAT established, art therapy started to progress toward professionalism. Art therapy is one of the psychotherapy and it combines traditional psychotherapeutic theories and techniques, so art therapists ‘are trained in both therapy and art, and have studied and mastered both psychology and human development, having received a Master’s Degree‘. Thus, I think art therapy doesn’t exist in the CC but with no doubt, the volunteers can… More

After chatted with Nicolas, I started to think about the impact of aesthetic and art for healing or comforting people. What is art therapy? A definition for Wikipedia: Art therapy (also known as arts therapy) is a creative method of expression used as a therapeutic technique. Art therapy originated in the fields of art and psychotherapy and may vary in definition. Art therapy is used to treat wide range of physical, mental or emotional problems, diseases and disorders, help them communicate, overcome stress, and explore different aspects of their own personalities. Some situations in which art therapy might be utilized include: Children with learning disabilities… More

What is neo-tribe? From the definition on the Cambridge Dictionary, a group of people who sharing the same culture, language, and history and living away from urban. Tribus are not “tribes” in tranditional anthropological sense, for they do not have the fixity and longevity of tribes. This sentence is in the book The Time Of The Tribes written by  Michel Maffesoli. Maffesoli also mentioned people are playing distinct roles at different times during a day so compared to the tribe, neo-tribe is more unstable and changeable. It is a group spanning the border of time. And as the result of… More

This afternoon I joined an activity held by CC. They provide two websites Post Pals and Send Kids The World to choose a kid you want to help. And on their writing guide, they have something avoid to say, like get well soon, and hope you win the battle. They mentioned although it’s well-meaning but it’s not a good phrase if your illness is never going to go away, and there are lots of children don’t know they could ‘lose their battle’, which I never consider about. I chatted with them and knew that they thought… More

After meeting them, I got some a question – Does postcard really can help sick kids? Initially, I am just sorry about that and think they are miserable and need people’s love. But after watching this video, I am so touched. I felt so hurt when I saw the scar on Megan’s back. They and their parents totally have different lives and experience what we can imagine. From the article Sick Children in Hospital, it describes how hospital stay affect children at different ages. After two years old, basically, children will feel stressful, fear, lonely and well be lack of… More

Tonight I met with the CC and we draw(traced) some colouring-in sheets for the homeless who face difficult challenges in their daily lives in the Spires shelter. It was a relaxing time that we had drinks and chatted with each other. After talked with the organizer, I knew that they have a regular meetup on every Sunday which is creating postcards for sick kids. Apart from this, they will organize some other events on weekday based on every organizers’ time, and they try to held the event in different parts of London. Then I asked her some questions like what is… More

I choose another tribe named CC(abbreviation). It is a group that invites people to take direct action on causes they care about, through our short, low-cost missions. Meet passionate volunteers like yourself in cafes and public places around the world, to create, knit, plant, learn, and teach together, to make doing good a daily habit. They have small groups in different cities. In London one, I think they mostly focus on the sick kids cuz their regular activities are making postcards for them. But from the history events, they also help homeless, babies in Nepal. It’s really limited information on… More

As there was no one post new guerrilla gardening event on the online community and no one reply me as well, I sent an email to Richard Reynolds, the community creator, to ask for more information and tried to participate in a group. As result, I think it would be quite tricky to find some guerrilla gardeners in London at this moment. And the group I found in meetup was community gardening which is helping the owner to cultivate their garden, therefore, it’s very different from the belief and value of the guerrilla gardening. So I might find a related… More

Guerrilla gardening is a battle for resources, a battle for resources, a battle against scarcity of land, environmental abuse and wasted opportunities.It is also a fight for freedom of expression and for community cohesion. It is a battle in which bullets are replaced with flowers. The word guerrilla means ‘little war’, which is informal combatants make sporadic attacks rather than fighting in great blocks of traditional forces. From the history of Chinese guerrilla, a guerrilla can be assembled by army or farmer, so I think guerrilla gardeners can be some people no matter you have a professional garden skill or not. More