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Children to Children Diaries: Peace notes
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By Hoimoboti Choudhury ** |
15/07/2003
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Hoimoboti Choudhury |
The
Iraq
war started, sending shivers to many all over the planet. People around the
globe protested, but in vain. We also started speaking against the war. It was
in the middle of February 2003 when we thought of doing something against the
possible war in
Iraq
. From February onward we participated in various anti-war activities.
14 February 2003
We
came to know about a peace rally in
New York City
,
USA
, organized by United for Peace and Justice.
15
February 2003
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Day-I; the first painting in the children series. |
We
visited anti-war websites like iacenter.org
and antiwar.com. Thought of publishing one
of our hand-made books in Bengali, “Haat tolo jara juddho chaona” meaning
“Those against war, raise your hands” with subtitles in different languages.
We started translating the book hoping it to be published on August 6 this year.
16
February 2003
We
came to know about another important website, Poets against the War, conceived
by an American poet Sam Hamill. The site invited poems on peace from all over
the world. This was after Laura Bush thought of organizing a poetry reading
session in the White House,
Washington
DC
,
USA
early this year. Sam Hamill, an invitee too, refused to attend the event. This
website grew as a result. Nine thousand poets have submitted poems for peace so
far.
19
February 2003
We
came to know about moveon.org, another
anti-war website.
20
February 2003
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In Ritama’s painting, the soldiers are observing stars instead of fighting. |
At
poetsagainstthewar.org, 12,102
poems have been submitted; 8,177 of those are published in the site. A
group poem, written by elementary school students, found its place in the
site.
23
February 2003
Poems
by our friends Ritama
Gupta and Ranjini Chatterjee were submitted to poetsagainstthewar.org
from Kolkata. The poems were published at the site.
28
February 2003
Poets
against the War organized a global poetry reading session through the Internet.
Our friend Santanil Ganguly, who runs a children’s theatre group registered
and invited poets to his house to read poems for peace.
6
March 2003
12,996
poems are published at poetsagainstthewar.org.
A hard copy of an anthology of the poems is to be delivered to Laura Bush. This
would be the largest anthology of poems ever published on one single
theme—peace.
14
March 2003
We
came to know about a global candlelight vigil for peace from moveon.org.
We started telling people here and abroad about the event.
16
March 2003
We
participated in the Global Candlelight Vigil with friends and families.
Beginning from
New Zealand
, the vigil swept the globe up to
America
. In addition, we painted for peace in the candlelight.
20
March 2003
(Day 1) onward
When
the war started, we decided to paint. From the first day of the war, we started
painting. Painting is a universal language and for us children, an important
outlet through which we could stand for world peace and harmony. From the first
day of the war, we started painting as a protest. We felt that the political
leaders could not be stopped from spreading the terror of war. But the soldiers
who formed the skeleton of this war could be stopped from fighting. So, if we
could motivate the soldiers not to fight, the war could be stopped. Our theme
was to paint the soldiers in uniforms, playing …dancing … singing …doing
anything except fighting with each other. Our idea was to spread this message
globally so that the kids around the world could join us. The first painting in
the series, “Day 1”, was circulated all over the world through the Net with
an appeal to organize children to paint on a global scale sharing a common
theme. The painting shows soldiers enjoying chocolates amidst flowers, showered
from the helicopters above. There were also children paratroopers coming down
with musical instruments in the painting.
Many
of our young friends joined us one by one and they contributed their paintings.
In Ritama’s painting, the soldiers are observing stars. Sonia’s painting had
soldiers enjoying themselves in a beautiful dreamland. She not only painted, but
she organized an anti-war play in her school along with her friends.
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Gaurab painted soldiers playing the game of cricket. |
Two
Kolkata-based theater groups working with children, Jhalapala 1 and Chetla
Krishti Samsad 2 also joined us. Children from Santiniketan, the abode of
Rabindranath Tagore, also sent paintings. All the children expressed their ideas
differently, for a common cause through their paintings.
In
the meantime, we came to know about a 13-year-old girl Charlotte
Aldebron 3 and her anti-war speech given in a peace rally in
Maine
,
USA
. We contacted Charlotte and her mom Jillian. They were moved by our activities
and
Charlotte
was interested in contributing her
paintings.
We got a transcript of her speech through the Internet and circulated copies to
different schools and children in and around Kolkata. A translation of her
speech into Bengali was made to get a wider readership. We also got the writing
of a 12-year-old girl Sylvia Law from
Edinburgh
,
Scotland
.
Through
the Internet, we also got copies of letters from Iraqi school children addressed
to the American children. They requested not to kill them and asked them to do
something to stop the war.
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Sonia’s painting had soldiers enjoying themselves in a beautiful dreamland |
By
this time, a local TV news channel came to me to interview about our activities.
I explained our theme and also mentioned
Charlotte
’s speech. Communicating through the medium of television was an easy way to
get in touch with lots of people and to motivate them to act against the war.
Our
friend Kabir Suman 4 sang and spoke for peace in a full house. He quoted
Charlotte
from her speech and made everyone aware of the sufferings faced by the Iraqi
children because of the war. The lyrics of “God Don’t Bless”, a song
composed by Kabir Suman, were circulated, too.
In
the meantime the war was declared over, but we continued our war against war. We
had a new plan now. We thought of sending our paintings to the children
suffering in
Iraq
, those injured, orphaned or traumatized. Our new theme was to paint anything
that would make an Iraqi child feel a little bit better. We thought of sending
the paintings to the hospitals in
Iraq
and elsewhere. We started visiting different schools in Kolkata and tried to
motivate the students to paint for peace and universal understanding.
Simultaneously, children from Kolkata and its surroundings started to contribute
paintings individually. Paintings were also received from places like
Bhubaneswar
and Mumbai.
27
April 2003
We
went to Apanghar, a residential center and night shelter for street children and
child workers run by OFFER 5, a Kolkata-based non-governmental organization.
These children painted for the children in
Iraq
and wanted to bring them to
India
and show them around. Kallol Ghosh, the secretary, and other members supported
the whole event wholeheartedly.
7
May 2003
We
received paintings and posters from Auxilium Convent School 6, Kolkata. We had
been there before and had approached Sister Stella, the principal to ask her
students to paint.
8
May 2003
We
went to Patha Bhavan School 7, Kolkata and organized a painting workshop. All the
students (from
5
to 9 years old) attended the workshop. The children were very excited as they
got a whole day to paint. They also appreciated and supported our idea. The
teachers also helped us a lot. Pradipta Kanungo, the headmistress, took special
effort to make the event a success. We had around 600 paintings at the end of
the day.
13
May 2003
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A painting workshop in Patha Bhavan School, Kolkata . |
We
went to
Diocesan
School
, Kolkata, and organized another painting workshop. Rosita Chrestien, the
principal, extended her support.
We
also got a number of paintings from Bihan, an art school for children in
Naihati, a town near Kolkata. The workshop was conducted by the art teacher,
Arup Bhattacharya.
6
June 2003
Till
date, we have collected more than 1000 paintings, contributed by the children
around us. We organized to send 200 paintings to a hospital in
Kuwait
and another in
Liverpool
, where the child victims of the
Iraq
war have been airlifted and are receiving treatment. OFFER, the NGO working for
the under-privileged children, supported us and helped us to send the paintings.
More…
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The Children organized to send 200 paintings to a hospital in Kuwait and another in Liverpool, where the child victims of the Iraq war have been airlifted and are receiving treatment |
Poet
Deep Mukherjee came up with an proposal. He said he would love to write rhymes
accompanying a selection of the paintings in our collection and would like to
publish a book. We went to his place and showed him the paintings in our
collection.
We
have yet another plan. We would motivate everyone to wear a “Peace” badge
and take a pledge to wear it lifelong. Many of us have started wearing it or
putting it on our bags.
Children
are still painting. We have around 800 paintings with us right now, waiting to
reach out. We have also thought of an extension of our plan…to send paintings
to other countries, too,…to schools and hospitals…with the message of
universal peace, wisdom and understanding.
10 June 2003
We
came to know that 100 of our paintings addressed to Ismaeel
Ali Abbas and his friends have reached Ibn Sina Hospital in
Kuwait
. Another 100, addressed to Mariam Ailan and her friends have reached Alder Hey
Children’s Hospital in
Liverpool
,
UK
. We all felt happy when we came to know that little Mariam, now cured, is back
home with her parents in
Basra
,
Iraq
.
The
remaining paintings (many more are expected to come) are waiting to be
transported and distributed among the children in
Iraq
with the help and support of our friends round the globe.
PEACE!
**Hoimoboti
Choudhury is a 16-year-old girl studying in Class XI with Humanities in
Patha
Bhavan
School
,
Calcutta
. Hoimoboti was motivated to protest against the war while working with Subrata
Ghosh, the trainer and coordinator of the group. Searching news on how the
world was protesting, taking part in the candle light vigil, submitting poems to
anti-war websites, and painting against the war were the ways she worked on
peace, along with lots of other children.
1-
Jhalapala, a children’s theater group established in 1996. To date, they have
11 productions to their credit. Twenty members, aged 6 to 18, come from lower-
and middle-income group families. The director of the group, Santanil Ganguly,
38, motivated his children to paint for the Iraqi children. The group also
participated in the Global Candlelight Vigil, and Santanil himself organized
poetry reading sessions on peace. The group also sorted and catalogued the
paintings.
2-
Chetla Krishti Samsad, another theater group for children. Established in 1986,
they have 18 productions to their credit. Thirty-five young members, aged 5 to
14, come from the adjoining slum and from the neighborhood middle-class homes.
They also have a toy library that lends toys to the children who do not
otherwise have the capacity to buy one. They work under the able direction and
guidance of Pinaki Guha, 44, who supported us and motivated his children to
paint for the cause.
3-
Charlotte
Aldebron , 13, attends
Cunningham
Middle School
in
Presque Isle
,
Maine
,
USA
. Her writings supported and inspired the children in
Calcutta
,
India
very much.
4-
Kabir Suman, 54, poet, songwriter, composer and journalist. His songs in Bengali
are extremely popular in
West Bengal
and in other parts of
India
,
Bangladesh
and the rest of the world, particularly amongst Bengali-speaking people. He has
also written and composed English songs. His constant encouragement and support
motivated the group a lot.
5-
OFFER (Organization for Friends, Energies and Resources), a non-governmental
organization trying to establish rights of urban, semi-urban, and rural children
in difficult circumstances (including mentally challenged children and children
who are HIV- positive), has been operating for 17 years. Right now they have 110
residential children and approximately 1,750 non-residential children under
their care. Kallol Ghosh, 37, the secretary of the organization, extended
constant support. Himadri Saha printed the stickers to label the paintings. The
children of OFFER contributed their paintings.
6- In
Auxilium
Convent
School
, Dum Dum,
Calcutta
. Sister Stella, the principal, extended her support. The children contributed
paintings and posters. They also staged an anti-war play.
7-
In
Patha
Bhavan
School
, Montessori and Primary,
Calcutta
. Pradipta Kanungo, the headmistress, was very enthusiastic about the painting
workshop. It was a success. Around 600 children, aged between 5 and 8,
contributed their paintings.
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