Peace gardens to war drawings
After peace is declared, the victims of war can be forgotten despite a continuance of war conditions and fighting. This is all too often seen in war zones or former war zones where families have little means to rebuild their lives. Aside from economic provisions attention also needs to be paid to rehabilitating children and recognising the psychological traumas they have experienced. What are people and organisations doing around the world to take action for and with children after war has ended?
'The War Through my Eyes'
Many organisations have stated a need for children to express reactions to war in whichever ways are most familiar. In this project initiated by Human Rights Watch, Chechnyan children drew pictures of what they had seen through the war. They were all refugees in the Ingushetia camp. The pictures show the deep effect of war on children.To find out more about ways of measuring the effect of war on children and recommending approaches on using a child-focused and psychosocial approach, see Children of Kabul , on helping children in Kabul, Afghanistan, cope with the impact of conflict.
Butterfly Peace Garden – Sri Lanka
The Butterfly Peace Garden located in Batticalo is
a Peace Garden for children in the Sri Lankan war zone. It is an
internationally recognized project aimed at providing war-traumatized
children with an opportunity to rediscover the imagination and spirit
on which genuine play depends. Many thousands of children use the
garden for diverse activities such as play, gardening, yoga and playing
music. The Garden started in 1992 and more than 600 school children
from 20 communities around here have so far taken part in the centre's
activities. Through play-centered ritual and other activities,
traumatized children find a medium through which to express themselves,
their fears and their hopes.
The Bakery Project, Afghanistan
‘War Child’ is an international relief and
development agency working for children in conflict and post conflict
situations. The ‘Bakery Project’ in Afghanistan produced over 6 million
loaves of bread to feed a refugee camp (internally displaced people) of
25,000. The bread was the only food available to the camp. The bakery
is now located in Heart and provides 12,000 loaves of bread a day: 2000
are delivered free of charge to children in orphanages, hospitals and
nursery schools.
If you would like to raise money through fundraising activities that involve your local community and friends you can get fundraising ideas from warchild. The ideas encourage both a unity within communities as well as an apt way to raise awareness of war issues for all ages of a community.
