North East Youth Leaders Adopt
Art to Promote Peace
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) Office for Social Communications, New Delhi under its banner, ART-i, held a ten-day training Workshop in Art for Youth Leaders with a view to promote peace and communal harmony in the region, at Siloam, Shillong, April 20 – 30, 2015. Seventy youth from the various dioceses of the region attended the event. The program was carried out with financial support from Signis India.
The workshop included sessions on peace, creative artistic skills, music, group games and activity and integration programmes. These were aimed to train youth to become agents of building peace, reconciliation, communal harmony, and other values in the region.
It may be noted that Northeast India faces many incidents of conflict and communal strife in several states and among communities. Peace is the single most desire of people affected by conflict and violence. Hundreds of lives are lost in ethnic and communal clashes and people, including innocent children who suffer as a result of violence that displace them. The Art-i had organised a week-long workshop for children in Lower Assam’s Bongaigoan and Kokrajhar districts last year after ethnic clashes broke out in the region. Some 650 children had taken part in the programme as an effort to build peace and remove the scars of violence. Artists from Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi worked along with some local artists to engage children in creative art and therapy. The artists had a one-day orientation in Guwahati before moving out into the camps where children were sheltered.
Says Fr George Plathottam sdb, founder Director of Art-i and Secretary of the CBCI Office for Social Communications, New Delhi: “The results of the children’s camp in Bongaigoan and Kokrajhar convinced me of the need to train youth leaders who can use art and skills in order to promote peace and create awareness among the people in other states.
This Art workshop is unique as it is the first time that such a program is being held in India. The participants are expected to carry forward the project through training and art activities towards peace promotion in their respective states, towns and institutions, said Fr Plathottam. The workshop included a variety of hands-on creative skills, input sessions, practical applications, moments of prayer and sharing, team and personality development activities. The participants worked under the leadership of professional artists, counsellors and other resource persons.
The workshop emphasised the role of youth in building peace, harmony, respect for God, creation and nature, people. Besides drawing and painting, they were taught how to create peace banners, slogans, songs, skits, games, creative skills and practical applications. Sessions included art therapy, healing, counselling through art, and creative skills in conflict resolution, strengthening community bonds and values of respect.
On April 27 the participants undertook a public campaign through art and creativity in Shillong, the state capital of Meghalaya, a well known educational and tourist center. The participants executed paintings on the walls of six institutions in prominent locations in the city of Shillong highlighting issues like peace, communal harmony, service, health and healing, education etc. The youth expressed the theme of peace and harmony through songs and messages to the public and urged them to be agents of peace and harmony.
Rev. Dr George Palamattam sdb, clinical psychologist and Director of Siloam, a centre for transformational leadership, and host of the programme, Fr.Sahaya Belix, Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, Rintu Khargharia, Guwahati,. Shegufta Rahman, New Delhi, Dr. Barnes Mawrie, a team of resource persons from Initiatives of Change, Panchgani, Maharastra were some of the resource persons of the workshop. Bishop Stephen Rotluganga of Aizawl, a trained artist, and Archbishop Thomas Menamparapil, a leading peace negotiator in Northeast, also shared their expertise with the participants of the workshop. While Bishop Stephen taught creative drawing and painting, Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil told the youth that peace is possible only when you are able to rid yourselves of anger and hatred and become symbols of peace. We need to promote a desire for peace in every heart and recognise the force of moral power. We have been blessed with prophets of peace who have taught us to listen sympathetically to others, to stand on the side of the victims and to uphold the power of moral force.
Salesian Provincial of Silchar, Fr George Maliekal gave away certificates to the participants. He urged the youth to carry forward the message of peace and become change makers in their regions. He lit a peace candle and shared it with others urging them to be agents of peace in their places.
The participants discussed in groups specific action plans to work towards promotion of peace in their villages, towns and institutions. Nine students of Ferrando School for speech impaired also participated in the workshop. The participants painted a theme painting on canvass with the finger prints of all participants as a souvenir of the ten-day workshop.
Prakash Toppo from Dibrugarh, one of the participants, said, “The art workshop has made a big change in my life.” Lawlangniki Shylla from Jowai summed up the impact of the workshop on her in these words: “I have learnt a lot from this workshop. I will work for peace and lead a good life, and teach others in my community about these values.” Ashis Saha, a student of St Anthony’s College, Shillong, remarked: The workshop taught me leadership skill, values of peace and harmony, and I plan to do something to promote peace along with my friends.” Abhishek Kumar Lakra, a participant from Assam, remarked: “This workshop has made me see art from a different perspective. I like to impart to other youth in my place what I have learnt.” The art workshop has influenced my life and at the way I look at things in life and nature. I want to contribute my share to change the world.”
Summing up his impressions of the workshop and Siloam, the place overlooking Umiam Lake, Michael Nonghbah of Jowai, a participant, said: I love this place; it is like an earthly paradise to me. I can feel God’s presence in me; it is so peaceful, calm, quiet and pleasant. I can feel the blow of the wind on my face. Before I came to the program, I did not have a peaceful mind, but now I have been able to change myself. I know the value of my life, of being myself, of the nature that surrounds me. By drawing and painting I learnt to express and share my hidden feelings. By painting my heart becomes happy, and I forget all worldly pleasures, my bad habits. I have learnt to spent time meaningfully. On my return I hope to promote and share the good things i have learnt in the workshop.”
Art-i, a movement for promoting art and artists for social causes and to nurture the divine in art, was founded by Fr George Plathottam, a Salesian priest and educator, who has lived and worked in Northeast India for four decades. For the last seven years he has been serving as the national secretary of the office of social communication in Delhi, which covers all the 170 Catholic dioceses in India.
Art, according to him, has a great potential to effect change in society and in individuals. Art therapy and programs have been effectively used to end conflict between Palestine and Israel, during the Tsunami and other occasions of disasters and wars. Many international agencies like the United Nations and educational institutions abroad use art and art training to bring about social change. Art therapy is a vast, unexplored area in India and it is our hope that we can build a more inclusive society through using art to foster peace and harmony.
Rev. Dr. George Plathottam sdb
Secretary, CBCI Office for Social Communications
