This week’s work is an incredibly touching series of individual experiences, responses, statements, stories, and reflections. Deeply personal and often hopeful, these messages offer an interesting link for those connected to tsunami, both locally and from a distance.

One of the most powerful components of this work for me was the use of single words as titles: Relief, Pajamas, Overwhelmed, OK. Each of these titles actually convey a message in themselves.

When I relate this to the question of the work I hope to do with the children in Japan and Afghanistan, I feel that my word is “voice”, but to concisely convey this to the children will be difficult. Given the language and translation challenges, and my hope to connect children visually rather than through language, I wonder how this same power can be conveyed through images. A single word comes with a host of connotations and impacts, but a picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words. Can the same coherence be offered through children’s images that are often filled with much more content and imagination than they seem to at first glance?

Children in disasters around the world are understood to be one of the most vulnerable segments of the population. Many of us are vaguely, if not deeply, aware of the current situation in Afghanistan, and approximately half of Afghanistan’s population is made up of children, and they are considered to be some of the most at-risk children in the world. Continued war and violence has led to increased exposure to the elements, and limited access to social services, leaving the children of Afghanistan vulnerable to innumerable hazards. Most recently, this has left children living in camps exposed to the harsh winter. Coupled with malnutrition, the impact of the cold has been exacerbated, and the death toll of this protracted war has risen once again.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/world/asia/cold-weather-kills-children-in-afghan-refugee-camps.html

Young children in particular are vulnerable to the legacy that the war has left – Afghanistan has one of the highest mortality rates in the world for children under five years old. Of the over 450,000 internally displaced people, more than 54 per cent are children. Landmines continue to be a problem; only 27 percent of areas with landmines have been cleared. Particularly tragic, many mines were embedded in toys in order to target children specifically who would be drawn to the toy. In this environment, it is heartbreaking, but unsurprising to learn that on average, two children per day die in Afghanistan as a result of the ongoing conflict.

These statistics and the documentary only give half the story: while there are incredible challenges that these children face, there is something more there; something that can be learned from these children. Like children around the world, those in Afghanistan are aware of their surroundings and understand the challenges that they face. However, my experience with these children as refugees in Canada, Pakistan and in their home communities in Afghanistan over the last thirteen years has taught me a great deal about their strength in the face of conflict and disaster. It lies in their ability to hope. Whether it is turning a muddy hill into a slide or putting on a painted mask, in the midst of the challenge of being born during a time of war, the children of Afghanistan have been able to find joy and comfort.

Children at Art School in Kabul

Children attend World Circus Day in Afghanistan

Children Playing at World Circus Day

This ability is not unique to children in Afghanistan. Indeed, in Japan in the wake of the 3/11 disaster, it seems the same is true. The potential for hope is everywhere.