Global Friendship

Thursday, 13th August 2026 at 7:50am

GBHS student Thomas Brown (Yr 11) has recently returned from Trento, Italy, where he attended a 23-day summer camp with CISV International - a non-political and non-religious global peace and leadership organisation.

Thomas was part of a delegation of four 15-year-olds from NZ who joined small groups from Brazil, Philippines, Egypt, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Spain, and Italy.

Thomas’s experience included a 3-night stay with a local Italian host family, before attending the camp, where he was involved in planning, leading and evaluating structured peace-education activities based on CISVs four educational pillars: human rights, diversity, sustainability and conflict resolution.

Thomas described the camp as one of the most amazing and fun experiences of his life. He particularly enjoyed understanding and learning about different cultures, discussing practical solutions to current world issues, and making amazing new friends. Watching live FIFA World Cup games with new friends from competing countries was an added bonus!

Feedback from leaders noted Thomas’s strong facilitation abilities, his high levels of compassion and care towards the other attendees and his mature and thoughtful reflections.

The CISV NZ branch is Auckland-based and runs fun and inclusive weekend mini-camps twice a year with the same educational focus. The next mini-camp will be September 11th-13th 2026 at Hunua. Visit cisvnz.org for more information.