Today,Tour for Humanity spent the day at a public school in Brampton. We had a great day filled with wonderful students, interesting discussions and supportive staff members. Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) Educator Daniella presented 6 Simon's Story workshops to half of the Grade 6 classes in the school (the other half will be tomorrow). Both the organizing teacher and the principal met the bus first thing in the morning and both expressed how excited they were to have the bus at the school and what a great opportunity it would be for their students.

Most of the classroom teachers had prepared their students for the workshop by reading books like Hana's Suitcase and The Diary of Anne Frank and discussing the Holocaust in class. In addition, practically every class had one or two very knowledgeable students. The 5th class of the day especially impressed me due to two young boys. They were both very interested in the Holocaust and had done a lot of research outside of school. They were able to explain what life in concentration camps was like and how difficult liberation was. Daniella was very impressed with their knowledge of Hitler's use of propaganda to target the Jewish people. 

Another class was very affected by the cattle car journeys to the camps, wanting to know more about the conditions on the trains. Daniella gave the class the example of approximately half the size of the Tour for Humanity bus holding 200 people, at which point she could see their horrified expressions. Daniella asked the class if they had ever been on a bus or subway when it had been very crowded, some nodded, and then she explained that this was a small example of what it was like with regards to crowdedness. The school principal is already looking at dates to have Tour for Humanity come back next year and do workshops for the Grades 7 and 8 classes.