Working with a non-profit company, one local group of students used their artistic abilities to connect with refugee children halfway around the world.
Nearly 50 million children across the globe have been forced to flee their homes due to horrible fighting and intense poverty according, to Unicef. With few personal items to help capture their life story, few know there are those who care about them.
Fifteen C.D. Hylton High School students set out to change this.
Hylton Art teacher Alison Willis introduced her students to a non-profit known as the Memory Project. They watched a video about Malaysian culture and their everyday life to learn more about the society in which these children grow up in.
At their school in Woodbridge, they then used colored pencils and paint to create portraits of Malaysian children while looking at photos of the refugees. These portraits will be soon be mailed to the children in Malaysia to enjoy.
“The students absolutely loved this project. In fact, they wanted to work with another country again this year and make more portraits. We even talked about doing this for children in hospitals or the elderly,” said Willis.
According to the Memory Project’s website, the organization was founded in 2004 to promote intercultural awareness, friendship, and kindness between children around the world through the universal language of art.
Every child who receives a portrait has a different story but all children in the program are either facing or overcoming difficult challenges, and they inspire humanity with their courage and resilience. The Memory Project has helped over 250,000 children & teens around the world touch each other’s lives through art.
For any art student or art teacher who would like to get involved with this project, please go to memoryproject.org for guidelines and more information.
