Arriving in Kakuma by Bus (mixed media, paper, straw, and card) by group of young teenagers in Kakuma Refugee Camp originally from DRC, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Burundi, South Sudan, and Somalia; published on the Stone Soup Refugee Project portal. A note from Laura Moran Dear Stone Soup community, I am thrilled to share that we, through the Stone Soup Refugee Project, are now able to extend the opportunity to participate in our writing workshops to young people living in refugee camps in many parts of the world. This week marks the first of a four-part series of creative writing workshops offered to young refugees living in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Nakivale is one of the world’s largest refugee settlements and currently hosts approximately 120,000 refugees, mainly from Northeastern and Central Africa. In our first session, thirteen young people gathered around a laptop in a church hall at Nakivale, from 5:00 to 7:00 in the evening. I ran the session over Zoom with the help of our co-facilitator and founder of Humanitarian Service Team, our partner organization based in Nakivale. Though we had to be creative to overcome various technological challenges (using the video function on Zoom, the audio function on WhatsApp, and the chat function on both!), the session was productive and, according to student feedback, invigorating for all. This workshop is based on the Anthropology of the Everyday summer course Stone Soup offered over the summer in collaboration with Society of Young Inklings. We will eventually facilitate creative writing exchange opportunities for those who participated through our summer programs and participating refugee youth. The material produced in the workshop will also feature on our Refugee Project web portal. Our deepest thanks to all of those who have contributed to make this and other Stone Soup Refugee Project initiatives possible. I humbly ask for your continued support. If you are able to donate, please click here. In addition to Stone Soup operating costs, a portion of your funds will go directly to Nakivale Refugee Settlement in order to help with the data costs to run the workshop via Zoom and to provide tea and snacks to participants. In gratitude, Visit the Refugee Project Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498.
refugee
Full Pink Sun Half a Yellow Sun, original artist
Yellow Brick Road Rough Terrain, collaborative piece
The piece I chose to work on in the Half Baked Art Collaboration is named Yellow Brick Road in Rough Terrain. When I first saw it I was reminded of The Wizard of Oz. I learned that many refugees in those camps arrived as young adults and ended up as grandparents without ever leaving the confinements. The yellow brick road in the artwork seemed to me as a pathway to get out of the prison they were trapped in. The higher part of the road is a bright place where people aren’t trapped in camps. The road descends into darkness, which represents the camp and dwindling freedom. I decided to add some word bubbles to show cries of help from the refugee camp while the people who have freedom ignore them. I wanted to show the stark contrast between the two places and highlight the yellow brick road that leads from one end to the other. Caroline Gao United States