Drawing themselves and their worlds
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Nov 03/00) - An unusual new multi-media exhibit at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre features the work of children worldwide.
You will see Janet's work. Janet, age 14, a child soldier in Uganda, one of many young girls abducted and married off to soldiers, drew her "ugly soldier husband."
"This is a picture of my husband. Look -- he is so ugly, he has no figure at all," she writes.
You will find a picture by Anoar, a child of the street in Bangladesh.
"This is me," he writes.
"I am crying under a tree. One time they gave me a huge baggage to carry. But I could not carry it for long. I fell down. And it was dropped. They beat me with no mercy, with no stopping."
These are but two of many pieces that paint a telling picture of how adults treat children.
"That's one thing I felt horrible about," says project co-ordinator Linda Dale.
"How often adults are unthinking in how they treat children. They can be quite cruel to children, they can treat children with little regard, in a disposable kind of way."
Mapping the World -- and Children of the Wind, the exhibit that resulted -- are projects initiated by the Ottawa-based Dale after she was involved with a similar collection of children's drawings.
More than war
"That exhibit was also shown at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre (in the 1980s). That one centred on refugee children's drawings from Central America," says Dale.
"I was very, very struck by the power of the children's drawings and descriptions."
Dale explains that after the United Nations adopted the Conventions on the Rights of the Child in 1989, she became interested in "engaging children in a variety of different situations."
"And to talk about a range of children's rights issues, not solely around issues of violence or children in war."
Using the concept of mapping, Dale worked out a workshop for children that she then took to communities in Bangladesh, Colombia, Dominican Republic, India, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Uganda, Zambia and Canada.
Through painting, drawing, writing, video and photography, the children Dale worked with expressed how they saw themselves. Drawing and writing themes include: This is me; When I look at my world, this is what I see; This is how I spend my day; I remember, I remember.
Besides the poignant and often frightening depictions, the children also drew and spoke of the things they liked, and good things that have happened to them, joyful events.
The Canadian experience
The two examples quoted above, of a child soldier and a street child, may seem extreme but, Dale says, even in Canada children can feel very much alone.
"Even though there are kids in other countries who are materially very poorly off, they had a greater sense of how they as an individual connected to their community. And therefore their worth as an individual inside their community.
"Sometimes I found that Canadian kids didn't have that. And because they didn't have that, they felt more isolated. It surprised me."
One similarity that exists across the board is domestic violence.
"That happens to kids almost everywhere, unfortunately. One of the things that I found, when young people talked about it, they still felt almost a compassionate understanding for why their parents would do this.
"In many cases they didn't see that their parents hated them, it was more like their parents were in an untenable situation and so they lashed out."
Though kids from across the world may have very specific situational differences, Dale says they had much in common as well.
"I think the main thing that I would say that they had in common is a persistent determination to enjoy life, regardless of circumstances. Most of the young people I worked with were very, very clear-sighted in terms of, in many cases, the enormous difficulties in their lives and enormous obstacles to have enjoyment in their life," says Dale.
She also notes the loyalty Canadian children felt for their counterparts in other countries.
"The teachers would say to me, 'Well, you have to tell them these children don't have very much money so they can't draw and paint very well.'
"And so I would say that a little more tactfully, and the Canadian youth would always get indignant on their behalf. 'These drawings are perfect, there's nothing wrong with them!' So there was that wonderful sense of solidarity."
Dale was most struck, she says, buy how much children "want to participate in their own life.
"They want to be regarded in their life.
"That's one thing I think I learned from it, how important it is to have respect and regard for other people. Especially these young people that get so little of that."
Children of the Wind will remain at the museum into January 2001.
Meanwhile, this Sunday, for Amazing Family Sundays, from 2 to 4 p.m., Yellowknife children will have the opportunity to make their own drawings and wish stones, and become part of a worldwide community of children.
