Unique summer camp creates courage

AUSTIN (KXAN) - At the Austin City Hall, 16 kids from the economically challenged Dove Springs neighborhood in the southeast part of town took a tour of the building Friday.

Along the way, they were ushered onto a porch on the north side for a look at the densely packed downtown. Below them, outside the new W Hotel, the kids saw a group of demonstrators chanting, shouting and waving signs.

"What are they doing?" asked a reporter.

"Demonstrating," came the unanimous reply.

"What do you think about that?" the reporter asked.

"It's courageous leadership!" said 11-year-old Carlos Briceno."

It was a sign that the kids' training was taking hold. You see, they did some specialized learning during the school year and now they're taking the lessons even further. Their teacher is Natalie Goodnow, who works with a local non-profit called, " Theatre Action Project ." She uses play acting and role playing to help the children tap into the courage that lies in their hearts.

"It's a process drama so my co-teacher and I work in roles as undercover agents in the 'CIA,' which stands for "Courage in Action," said Goodnow. "So all of the students are now 'agents,' because they've gone through our rigorous training at their school when we visited there.

"And then this summer camp is actually 'special operatives' training for further advanced, highly advanced special operative training."

Putting teaching to the test

Of course, it's one thing to "teach" courage. It's another thing entirely to put it to the test.

So in the summer camp, the kids are asked what kind of cause they would like to advocate for. These campers said they wanted to do something to stand up for other kids. Eventually the conversation arrived at the United Nations " Convention on the Rights of the Child ."

That's a UN treaty that outlines some 54 articles guaranteeing everything from the right to a name to the right to be free of sexual abuse. All of the articles are posted on the Internet in a UN document that incorporates "child friendly" language.

But when the children learned that all of the UN member nations had ratified the convention, except the United States and Somalia, they were astonished.

"They just were in an uproar!" said Goodnow. "They were just like, 'Well, that's not fair!' So then we moved to the next step of deciding what we wanted to do about it."

What they did about it was shoot a video pleading for ratification of the convention. They started a letter-writing campaign. They launched a petition drive. And they dreamed about heading to city hall and asking the mayor to get behind their cause.

Meeting with the mayor

On Friday, that dream came true.

Following their city hall tour, they headed for council chambers and a meeting with Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

Originally, it was not supposed to be that way. When the mayor's office got the call requesting the tour, staff members asked what cause the kids would be pushing for.

They reasoned they could provide some city staff to meet with the kids: Someone from the sanitation department to talk about garbage collection issues, for example. But that decision hadn't been made yet.

When the staff finally learned the kids would be rallying around the convention, they were amazed.

"They were so excited about it," said Mary Alice Carnes, Theatre Action Project community relations manager. "They were like, 'Oh, my gosh, this is not a typical summer camp. Maybe we can do more.'

"When they found out that it was about the UN Convention for the Rights of the Child, they said, 'Well, we're going to bring the mayor in now!' So that was really tremendous."

As joyful as Carnes was about the meeting, she was not particularly surprised that the kids had pulled it off.

"They learn to become courageous leaders," she said. "They're critical thinkers. They learn to rally support amongst their classmates, the teachers and they go up and up and up until we're talking to the mayor."

In council chambers, a shy and slightly nervous camper, Elizabeth Nuncio, reached for a microphone and told Leffingwell, 'We request that the City of Austin pass a resolution in support of the Convention on the Rights of the Child."

She also presented the mayor with a petition.

"You want me to sign it?" asked Leffingwell.

"Yeah," Elizabeth answered.

"Okay, I'll sign it," he replied, reaching for his pen.

The mayor had just finished watching the kids' YouTube video and he said he didn't see anything too controversial in that. But political and religious conservatives are fighting U.S. ratification. They argue that the treaty, which is enforceable by UN authorities, could interfere with parental rights in this country and with U.S. sovereignty.

Recalling the 'Youth Debate'

The issue even came up in a presidential campaign " Youth Debate ," sponsored by Walden University. During the debate, Republican candidate John McCain supported the notion of children's rights and said he would look for ways to protect them, but he noted that there is opposition