Art School
By Donna Mulhearn
Music, clapping, singing, dancing and a guest appearance by Mickey and Minnie Mouse!
Hundreds of happy kids, and their just-as-happy parents…
It was the opening of Peace Bird Art School in Al-Doura district of Baghdad and the neighourhood was buzzing with celebration.
The large crowd squeezed onto the roof-top theatre to enjoy a colourful show from one of Iraq’s famous singers to mark the opening of this new centre for children.
The kids laughed and squealed with delight. I watched on with a smile and happy tears in my eyes.
The day had been much anticipated by the local community. Children had started hovering around the front gates of the building weeks before and asked every day: “When will it be open?”
Peace Bird Art School is a project of our organization “Our Home – Iraq” and therefore made possible by the donations of individuals and groups in Australia and around the world as well as organisations such as The Beloved Community.
The school is managed day-to-day by Childhood Voices, an Iraqi organisation which formed after the war to work with disadvantaged children.
The philosophy of Peace Bird Art School is to help Iraqi children heal from trauma and reach their full potential through creative play therapy.
The school has a music room, an art room, ceramics studio, theatre, computer room and outdoor play area. Most of the children in Al-Doura could never have dreamed of having access to such equipment in the past.
Teachers who are professionals in their field coach the children in these areas. Child psychologist are on hand to identify any emotional problems the children might be exhibiting and then begin one-on-one work with them. But the main therapy is play. Allowing the child to be in the present moment with a ball, a colouring pad, a lump of clay, a keyboard.
I walked through the school the day of the opening. It is painted with bright colours, there are stickers and posters on the walls, fluffy toys hanging from the ceiling. I saw many wide-eyed children walking around in a state of bliss.
“It is like they are in heaven now,” said one father of two young boys.
“This is what they need: to laugh and smile, to learn new things which will help them forget about the bombs and the tanks.”
There was a long queue at the registration table as the parents signed up their children to the place where they would learn new things.
Fundraising and organising the opening of this place had kept me busy for a couple of months, but Peace Bird Art School was just as I hoped it would be. As I watched the faces of the children this day I felt that all the work was worth the effort.
I believe that in situations where it seems as if there is no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel, then we can create that hope and make the light.
Before I left Australia last year a journalist asked me why would I would be going to Iraq while there is only bad news coming out of there.
“If there’s no good news coming out of Iraq,” I replied. “Then we will go and make the good news!”
While choppers roared overhead and the smoke from distant bombing hung in the air, I felt like a large rainbow had descended on Al-Doura and settled there. The colours were bright and strong.
The light of the rainbow is fueled by the love and friendship of many hearts around the world who want to embrace the hearts of these little Iraqi children as they heal.
May the hearts continue to love, may the hearts begin to heal and may the rainbow shine brightly for years to come.
April 30, 2004