{"id":1802,"date":"2015-11-20T14:29:32","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T13:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mirrorswindowsdoors.org\/wp\/?p=1802"},"modified":"2016-12-05T10:59:08","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:59:08","slug":"escaping-conflict-seeking-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mirrorswindowsdoors.org\/wp\/escaping-conflict-seeking-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Escaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: Picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance"},"content":{"rendered":"
This article\u00a0was\u00a0a presentation given at the 2012 IBBY Congress <\/a>in London, first posted here<\/a> and developed from a PaperTigers.org Personal View, “Caught up in Conflict: Refugee stories about and for young people<\/a>“.<\/h6>\n
A bibliography with links to relevant websites is listed by title can be found in the right-hand sidebar. Click on the thumbnail images to enlarge.<\/h5>\n

\"\" <\/a>
\nIn August 2012, The United Nations High Commission for Refugees provided the following information on its website<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Of the 33.9 million people of concern to UNHCR, almost half are children. They include children who are refugees, asylum seekers and stateless as well as returnee and internally displaced children assisted and protected by UNHCR.1<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That means nearly 17 million children around the world. How do we get our heads round that kind of figure? 17 million is more than twice the population of London; and many of the more than 17 million adults that make up the rest of that number are the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins of those children.<\/p>\n

It is hard for any of us to envisage what these figures actually represent in real terms — and when they represent people caught up in a disaster somewhere far away on the other side of the globe, the sheer size of what we are hearing can be insidiously numbing. How, then, to make sense of them? And how do we help children to take on board their human significance, without inflicting on them their trauma-inducing enormity? One of the answers is books. And how do we help those children who have been through such trauma themselves to find empathy and security in their new, sometimes permanent, sometimes temporary, homes, where they are faced with a bewildering plethora of change: new neighbours, new culture, new language, new food, new climate\u2026 Again, books provide an answer, a bridge into the newness, and towards empathy and understanding and welcome.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there is an increasing availability of quality writing for children and young adults, which draws out individual stories of young people caught up in disasters not of their making. These books provide a well-researched background, giving readers insight into events that can either be pinpointed in history or are a realistic representation of what it means to be a refugee. They promote empathy, a thirst to know more and an urge to do something.<\/p>\n

We are now going to take a journey of discovery through some stories that explore different aspects of what it means to be a refugee, focusing on picture books, and focusing particularly on stories where the disaster that caused the characters portrayed to become refugees is man-made \u2013 in other words, war and conflict, not natural disasters.<\/p>\n

Picture books provide visual impact: illustrations often provide a link with the cultures represented, through the style or artistic techniques adopted and in some cases take the place of words. Picture books provide access to difficult stories, not only for young children but also for older children and teenagers: in recent years, there has been a noticeable growth in picture books aimed at teenagers, with high quality artwork that challenges and demands a reaction. I will end this presentation with a look at some of these, but we will begin with a selection of stories for younger readers.<\/p>\n

The refugee experience can be divided into three main areas: the flight, living in a refugee camp or in a detention centre, and adapting to a new home. Stories for children can focus on one, two or all three of these issues: but they all have one thing in common \u2013 they provide a stepping stone towards empathy and expanding global awareness and vision in their readers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vehicle for the first three stories I want to highlight here is a Hmong story cloth, a recent form of folk-art that relates their\u00a0creators’ flight from Laos to a refugee camp in Thailand and often from there to a new home in America.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>In The Whispering Cloth <\/em><\/strong>a little girl Mai finds healing and hope in embroidering her dream for a future an airplane flight away in a ‘village where homes were as big as mahogany trees… And at night, Mai snuggled with Grandmother in a yellow bed with a silky roof’<\/span>.2<\/a><\/sup>
\nThe book is illustrated with an effective combination of warm watercolors and genuine embroidery, as you can see here.<\/p>\n


\"\"<\/a>Grandfather\u2019s Story Cloth<\/strong><\/em> is an inter-generational story, in which a young American boy Chersheng refinds his grandfather who has Alzheimer\u2019s through the story cloth that depicts his grandfather\u2019s flight from Laos. \u00a0The focus is on Chersheng\u2019s understanding of his family\u2019s past.\u00a0 And incidentally, this book is bilingual, English and Hmong.<\/p>\n


\"\"<\/a>Dia\u2019s Story Cloth<\/strong><\/em> on the other hand, is aimed at slightly older readers: while it is the author Dia Cha\u2019s own story told in the first person, it also fills in much more of the historical context in the course of the narrative.\u00a0 The story cloth that gave rise to this book was sent to Dia Cha from a camp in Thailand by her aunt and uncle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another true story from Laos is presented for very young readers in Mali Under the Night Sky: A Lao Story of Home<\/em><\/strong>:\"Mali\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>We learn in back matter that the real Mali, Malichansouk Kouanchao, is now an artist and anti-war advocate living in the US. When she was five years old, her happy life in Laos was interrupted by war and she and her family fled on foot to Thailand. The emphasis of the story is on hope in the face of a frightening, uncertain future, and it is Mali telling everyone her happy memories of home that reminds everyone that ‘their hearts were safe’<\/span>.3<\/a><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>There is also a short afterword by Laotian-American documentary filmmaker and author Thavisouk Phrasavath, who had himself been a refugee from Laos. One of the things he says is this:<\/p>\n

when we share about where we have come from, we all find that our homes are safe in our hearts<\/span>.4<\/a><\/sup><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I would add that when we share about where we have come from, we are all reminded of our common humanity and our shared hopes and aspirations \u2013 and human rights. These picture books are important for instilling this awareness in children as a foundation for their humanity as adults.<\/p>\n

Frances Lincoln\u2019s outstanding Refugee Diary series exemplifies this.\u00a0To date there are four titles, each one the story of a child who has arrived in the UK as a refugee. Each of these children experienced living with constant fear before the pivotal decision to flee; and then the terrors of clandestine transport and the uncertainty of their reception when they arrived in the UK.\u00a0These stories then make it very clear that the journey doesn\u2019t necessarily end at that point, and each child has a different story to tell of getting through the asylum process.<\/p>\n

\"Refugee<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>The launch of Gervelie’s Journey<\/strong><\/em> in 2008 was reported online and one of Gervelie’s school-friends called Indra left a comment afterwards:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“I go 2 school with Gervelie, she is very nice and I never knew about her past until now.”<\/span>5<\/a><\/span><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Indra’s words exemplify the importance of these stories as printed books. Gervelie’s Journey<\/strong><\/em> gives Gervelie a voice and it validates her story.<\/p>\n

It is understandable that Gervelie never sat down with her friends and told them her life story; but once her friends knew about her past, thanks to the book, perhaps they will have been prompted to think more deeply about the events that brought Gervelie among them, and about others who have gone through similar experiences. Certainly these stories challenge children to look out across the world beyond the sphere of their own experience.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/a>
\nBooks can also challenge children to think more carefully about their own actions. Kate Beckwith wrote Playing War<\/strong><\/em> in response to seeing children in her neighbourhood dressing up as soldiers and playing war games. Her story is about kids who are friendly and invite a new boy to join in their soldier games. They don’t understand why Sameer doesn’t want to join in until he explains: ‘I wasn’t a soldier. Nobody in my family was. But we got in the war anyway, when they blew up our house.’<\/span>6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nIn writing the book, Beckwith didn\u2019t want to preach; she wanted children to think through the issues for themselves. As she said in an article<\/a> for PaperTigers.org, she wanted the book to:<\/p>\n

spark curiosity about Sameer, his family, and his situation. I wanted children who read it to wonder if it matters how they play. I wanted adults who share Playing War<\/em> with children to encourage questions and consider the curiosity and empathy modeled by the book’s characters.7<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The book provides much food for thought \u2013 and allows children to read, consider and formulate their own ideas, rather than having a didactic message rammed down their throats. Good, well-written books respect the reader as well as the integrity of any message at the heart of a story, so there is no need to preach.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>An online discussion in 2011 among a class of school-children in Australia in response to Liz Lofthouse and Robert Ingpen\u2019s picture book Ziba Came on a Boat<\/strong><\/em> shows how effective reading a picture book together can be for raising social awareness. The children were invited by their teacher to:<\/p>\n

Chat about the refugee debate: How might they feel? How might we help them? Should we help them? Connect your thinking to Ziba\u2019s story and also to the The Age<\/em> newspaper article October 16 2009.<\/span>8<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two months later, when an issue arose about asylum seekers in Australia, these children were then able to engage more deeply in debate. They grappled with the ideas, and their teacher provided comments that kept their thinking rooted in both the ethics and the concrete of government action. They were compassionate and sought to empathise with the plight of refugees arriving in their country, as you can see from the slightly rambling but deeply sincere example shown in the image here. Would these children have been able to engage in these wider issues if they hadn’t assimilated the story? I doubt it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, in the same way that all these refugee stories facilitate discussion, they in turn often benefit from being shared: young children will turn to the adults in their lives \u2013 teachers, parents \u2013 to help them grapple with answers to the almost overwhelming, unanswerable “Why?”<\/p>\n

Another question may well be, “What can I do?” and there are also some fine picture books available that, like Playing War<\/em><\/strong>, remind children about the importance of being welcoming towards newcomers, who may be feeling very isolated because, apart from any trauma in their past, the rug of all that is familiar has been pulled from beneath their feet; they may be grieving lost family and they are having to learn a new way of life, a new language\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2026Stories such as My Name is Sangoel<\/strong><\/em>; The Colour of Home<\/strong><\/em>; One Green Apple<\/strong><\/em>; and The Silence Seeker <\/strong><\/em>are all good books that engender empathy and highlight what a difference a compassionalte welcome makes.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d just like to focus for a moment on The Silence Seeker <\/strong><\/em>written\u00a0by Ben Morley and illustrated by Carl Pearce.\u00a0 It is an unusual, gentle story that gets right to the heart of how young children can make a difference through kindness, even without understanding the broader social context. So here, when young Joe assimilates his mother’s identity of the boy who has moved in next door as a ‘silence seeker’ instead of ‘asylum seeker’, he takes him to some unusual places in the neighborhood in a search for peace and quiet: all the time being a friend to him, despite the amusing fruitlessness of his quest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

All these stories are special for bringing refugees into the familiar day-to-day sphere of young readers, who, unless they have been refugees themselves, have no direct experience of war.\u00a0 The intermediary figure of picture books such as these to promote empathy and global awareness is key.\u00a0 Azzi In Between <\/strong><\/em>by Sarah Garland\u00a0is a recent and very welcome addition to the canon of refugee stories.\u00a0 Its graphic format and length mean that it is able to encompass a broad narrative, with appealing as well as heart-rending aspects: and readers are required to engage with all the issues it raises through the images as much as the text — note, for example, the smoke of the war encroaching on this image of a happy Azzi at the beginning of the story; and later on, the shadows under Azzi\u2019s mother’s eyes that point to the stress she is under.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Picture books can transport young readers around the world way beyond their own experience, while at the same time offering a safe forum for young people to question and empathise. Books like The Roses in my Carpets\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>and Four Feet, Two Sandals\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>are set in refugee camps, while Brothers in Hope<\/strong>, My Freedom Trip<\/strong><\/em> and A Song for Cambodia<\/strong><\/em> are all examples of true stories narrated for children; and in the case of My Freedom Trip<\/strong><\/em>, the story is also authored by the protagonist’s granddaughters.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>To focus on one of these, A Song for Cambodia<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by Michelle Lord and illustrated by Shino Arihara is the story of Arn Chorn-Pond, who was rescued from a Thai refugee camp by an American aid worker and later founded the Cambodian Living Arts<\/a> organisation. The sophistication of the illustrations and the level of writing, as well as the impact of the story itself, make this a book that is suited to older readers.<\/p>\n


<\/a>\"\"<\/a>It is important that refugees be given the opportunity and space to tell their stories \u2013 and as Arn Chorn Pond intimated in an interview<\/a> in 2012, it is equally important for those who are safe and live in freedom and free from fear listen to these stories:<\/p>\n

American kids \u2013 when I open my mouth and share my story \u2013 they really care about it. I would like to encourage other survivors to share if they want to. If I don’t share, they’re not going to share their stories either. Someone has to take the first step.9<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So now let’s take a look at three more picture books for older readers that each narrate the refugee experience from very different perspectives\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>In his presentation at the opening session of the 2012 IBBY Congress, Michael Morpurgo<\/a> quite rightly decried the discouragement of older children to read picture books. Indeed, there are some superb picture books that demand a response from a more mature audience. Three prominent examples are The Arrival <\/strong><\/em>by Shaun Tan; The Island<\/strong><\/em> by Armin Greder; and Home and Away<\/strong><\/em>by John Marsden and Matt Ottley: each representing a very different relationship between written text and the visual.<\/p>\n


\"\"<\/a> In The Arrival<\/strong><\/em> there is, in fact, no recognisable text. The book is a masterpiece in its depiction of the migration process \u2013and as well as the protagonist’s story, the book encompasses the back-stories of people he meets, each revealing some form of violence in their homelands that caused them to leave. The wordless ‘text’ invites the reader to empathise with the protagonist in his bewilderment at the immigration process,<\/p>\n


\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u2026and in his attempts to communicate.
\n<\/a>
\"\"<\/a>In The Island<\/strong><\/em> (incidentally the only work I refer to here that was not originally written in English10<\/a><\/sup>) the story, a fable for our times, is told sparingly. It is an unusual picture book, ending on an uncompromising note of hopelessness. The hope that springs from all these picture books is here only possible by transferring it to the young readers themselves in their revolted rejection of the islanders’ final course of action. Older readers will certainly take away much to ponder.<\/p>\n

One of the most chilling indications of a lack of hope for the future after the wall has been built is found in an early vignette. The islanders have escorted the refugee to a conveniently out of the way spot to try and wash their hands of him, then ostensibly carry on with their lives (and he’s never called a refugee in the story, by the way; and he never has a name or a voice). But something has changed: the children have absorbed the behaviour of the adults and are emulating their actions in their play and\/or treatment of each other.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> The third book, Home and Away<\/strong><\/em>, is told in the voice of a fifteen-year-old Australian boy. It is a tour de force in its capacity to confront those people who belong to countries that are usually considered a haven for asylum seekers to really get under the skin of what it actually means to flee your country as a refugee \u2013 enduring the perils of a journey, physical hardship, the loss of loved ones and scant welcome, but also the breakdown of mental well-being and the destruction of previous assumptions and aspirations.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Voice
\nThe concepts of conflict and a desire for peace are never far apart and so I would like to conclude by drawing attention to Voice from Afar: Poems of Peace<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0by Tony Johnston, with stunning illustrations by Susan Guevara<\/a>; and Let There Be Peace: Prayers from Around the World<\/strong><\/em>, collected by Jeremy Brooks and again with gorgeous illustrations, by Jude Daly: two beautiful books that contain allusions to conflict, yes, but whose overriding message is a striving for peace.<\/p>\n

Refugee stories are not told in isolation. They are the opposite of Greder’s wall in The Island<\/strong><\/em>, shutting out the world and creating barriers. As well as seeking to promote healing and empathy through their depictions of conflict and its consequences, all these stories encourage readers young and old to take a concerted step towards peace.<\/p>\n

Stories help people step outside their own spheres and see the world through others’ eyes, even the world on their doorstep. A book can sow the seed for social justice even in very young children, on whom the future of our world depends. All the books I have highlighted here evoke sympathy and empathy in the reader; and they have the potential to heal and to foster a striving for unity and peace.<\/p>\n

<\/a>And so I leave the last word with the teenage narrator of the seemingly hopeless Home and Away<\/strong><\/em>, who surprises himself, despite all the horrors that he has lived through, by feeling hope:<\/p>\n

Oh, hope, to know there is still hope. Hope is the most wonderful thing on earth. I never knew that before.<\/span>11<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Spread
\n<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1<\/sup> http:\/\/www.unhcr.org\/pages\/49c3646c1e8.html<\/a> (accessed August 2012; cited text updated and no longer available). [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n 2<\/sup> Pegi Deitz Shea, The Whispering Cloth<\/em>. [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n3<\/sup> Youme, Mali Under the Night Sky<\/em>. [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n4<\/sup> Thavisouk Phrasavath in the Afterword to Mali Under the Night Sky<\/em> by Youme. [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n5<\/sup> http:\/\/www.writeaway.org.uk\/content\/view\/502\/2 (accessed August 2010; post no longer available). [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n6<\/sup> Kate Beckwith, Playing War.<\/em> [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n7<\/sup> Kate Beckwith, ‘Helping Kids See that War is Not a Game’ http:\/\/www.papertigers.org\/personalViews\/archiveViews\/KBeckwith.html<\/a> (accessed November 2015) [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n8<\/sup> http:\/\/blogs.scopus.vic.edu.au\/4a11\/2011\/07\/21\/refugees-ziba-came-on-a-boat-liz
\n-lofthouse\/ (accessed August 2012; archived blog, no longer available). [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n9<\/sup> Arn Chorn Pond in ‘Never Fall Down’: Surviving The Killing Fields’ a joint interview with Patricia McCormick for NPR Books, May 2012 – http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2012\/05\/19\/153010795\/never-fall-down-surviving-the-killing-fields<\/a> (accessed November 2015) [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n10 <\/sup>Originally published as Die Insel <\/em>(Sauerl\u00e4nder, Germany, 2002). [return to article]<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/a>
\n11<\/sup> John Marsden, Home and Away. <\/em>[return to article]<\/span><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article\u00a0was\u00a0a presentation given at the 2012 IBBY Congress <\/a>in London, first posted here<\/a> and developed from a PaperTigers.org Personal View, “Caught up in Conflict: Refugee stories about and for young people<\/a>“.<\/h6>\n
A bibliography with links to relevant websites is listed by title can be \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading …<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,600,413,279,117,467],"tags":[1239,1222,1245,1179,1178,265,258,1236,1242,1214,1237,1230,1205,1106,1212,1220,694,841,1228,1218,1217,1167,1169,1183,1165,106,1227,1221,1170,1187,1198,1213,1203,1200,1219,1204,1120,1166,262,1232,1168,1233,475,1202,1171,1248,1201,1223,261,1215,1199,1225,1240,1176,531,1226,1229,1181,1244,1231,1216,1249,1208,1207,259,1172,271,1174,1241,1173,1211,1238,1182,272,260,266,1206,1235,1243,1234,1210,1250,1209,1246,1224,1247],"yoast_head":"\nEscaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: Picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance ~<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mirrorswindowsdoors.org\/wp\/escaping-conflict-seeking-peace\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Escaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: Picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance ~\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article\u00a0was\u00a0a presentation given at the 2012 IBBY Congress in London, first posted here and developed from a PaperTigers.org Personal View, “Caught up in Conflict: Refugee stories about and for young people“. 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