Raffi and The Centre for Child Honoring

For those of you that grew up listening to Raffi, you may be interested to know that he has formed the Centre for Child Honouring. It is rare that a childhood hero exceeds expectations formed in childhood wonderment, but Raffi does. He is dedicating his life to the compassionate, reverent actions he called for in his songs for children. As I watched videos of his speeches and read through the Centre for Child Honouring's website I felt grateful, centered, and touched. As a child I sang "Baby Beluga" over and over and over again. The gentle lyrics, "Baby Beluga in the deep blue sea, you swim so wild and you swim so free, heaven above and the sea below, and the little white whale on the go," opened my heart to the natural world, and sparked a compassion that would lead me to become a vegetarian at the age of twelve. I had tears in my eyes when I read Raffi's lyrics for his "Beluga Grads," of which I count myself a proud member.

“Now you've grown and you're on your way,
Making waves in the boundless bay,
With your shining light and your dreams alive
For the young you'll have one day.
Grown-up beluga, grown-up beluga,
Sing a song of peace, sing with all your friends,
We need to hear you!”

Raffi on a "Child-Honoring" Society

Raffi: "By the year 2020, it is our daring hope to seed a social revolution that hasn't been tried yet, that has at it's heart the growing child as a universal symbol and reality of human experience."

As a child I listened with rapt attention to Raffi's songs. His gentle, lilting voice sang of the beluga whale, of thanksgiving, and of the the universality of the human experience. Through his songs my compassion and reverence for the natural world and my fellow human beings grew. Now Raffi is dedicating his life to the transformation of our society into a society that honors children.