TakingITGlobal



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|[|[|[pic] |[| Today's date: Thursday, 22 June 2006 |[|[|[|

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| | | | |A child amid the painted suitcases that were produced in an art therapy project for refugee children in South Africa. | | | |

| | |[pic] | |The cases are pictured in a new book in which the children tell of their lives in words and pictures. © UNHCR/J.Redden | | | |

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| | |[pic] | |New book captures the voices and art of African child refugees | | | |

| | |Top of Form | |JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 15 (UNHCR) – As the young refugee "Jenny" read out the traumatic experiences she had | | | |

| | |[pic] | |faced in her journey from tribal massacres in Burundi to a new life in South Africa, her voice grew increasingly | | | |

| | | | |strained, faltered and then halted. | | | |

| | |[pic] | |For the audience assembled at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, there could not have been a better | | | |

| | |[pic] | |demonstration of the emotional power conveyed by the personal stories appearing in a new book, The Suitcase Stories: | | | |

| | | | |refugee children reclaim their identities. The book, a by-product of an innovative programme providing art therapy to | | | |

| | |[pic] | |refugee children, contains both their stories and the drawings they made of their experiences. | | | |

| | | | |"Then my parents died. They just burned the house of my family," reads the transcript of the story told by Jenny, who | | | |

| | |[pic] | |like all the participants chose the name used in the book. "All my family was living in that house – my mother, my | | | |

| | | | |daddy, my other aunty, my mother's sister, my brother, my sister. I don't know why, still now, why they burned the | | | |

| | |[pic] | |house. I wish to find out." | | | |

| | | | |Just three years old at the time, she survived only because she was with another aunt during the attack. In the | | | |

| | |[pic] | |following years she faced life in exile in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. One day when she was| | | |

| | |[pic] | |11, she had the sudden realisation that she would never see her mother again. | | | |

| | | | |"I asked God: 'Why did you take my mum away from me?' And it was like, what can I do next? Let me do some action here | | | |

| | |[pic][pic] | |that I will never forget in my life," Jenny related. Taking her younger sister, she made her way south to a country | | | |

| | | | |about which she had only the vaguest knowledge. | | | |

| | |Bottom of Form | |Eventually arriving in South Africa – where they did not speak the language – the two girls lived on the streets of | | | |

| | |  | |Johannesburg for weeks before they were taken in and given shelter. Now 20, she sells clothes in an informal market. | | | |

| | | | |Jenny was just one of a group of children who Glynis Clacherty, a South African child researcher, saw needed | | | |

| | | | |psychological help. The aim – when she first thought of the project in 2001 – was not a book, but to let the children | | | |

| | | | |come to terms with their experiences by speaking about and drawing them. | | | |

| | | | |Children were given old suitcases and told they could decorate the outsides with paintings about their lives. At the | | | |

| | | | |same time, Clacherty recorded long conversations with the children in which she let them tell of their experiences. | | | |

| | | | |Both the artwork and their words are in the book, which was unveiled six days before ceremonies for World Refugee Day | | | |

| | | | |are held globally on June 20. | | | |

| | | | |"When I first met this group of young people, one of the young women said to me: 'I want you to help us with a book so | | | |

| | | | |people will know why we came here,'" Clacherty said. "And that is what we did. Each one of these children has a | | | |

| | | | |remarkable story to tell." | | | |

| | | | |Proceeds from sales of the book will go to fund the continued operation of The Suitcase Project for more refugee | | | |

| | | | |children. In addition, T-shirts inspired by the art of the project were unveiled at the book launch. The profits from | | | |

| | | | |the clothing line, designed by Johannesburg-based Frances Andrew, will also go to the project. | | | |

| | | | |"They are not just victims, they are survivors. They have overcome difficulties with remarkable courage," said | | | |

| | | | |Clacherty. "They are real human beings, they are not just refugees." | | | |

| | | | |Clacherty started the project with art teacher Diane Welvering, subsequently gaining support from the UN refugee agency| | | |

| | | | |and other organisations. It also merged into UNHCR's study into violence affecting refugee children, which in turn | | | |

| | | | |provided insights that will be used in the UN Global Study on Violence Against Children due out later this year. | | | |

| | | | |The children from The Suitcase Project were included in UNHCR workshops using artwork to draw out children's ideas and | | | |

| | | | |experiences on violence. Subsequently five were included in a regional UN meeting in which children not only discussed | | | |

| | | | |their experiences as a group, but proposed solutions to protect against further violence. | | | |

| | | | |Many who were children when Clacherty launched her project are now young adults and the plan is to draw in a fresh | | | |

| | | | |group with the resources from the book and T-shirts. Many of those who took part joined Clacherty on the stage at the | | | |

| | | | |book-launch and their painted suitcases covered the tables. | | | |

| | | | |"None of the children want to be labelled as refugees in their present lives, so they have chosen to remain anonymous,"| | | |

| | | | |Clacherty wrote in an introduction to the book, "The names they chose to replace their own all have significance for | | | |

| | | | |them; they are names of lost parents or special friends from their home countries. | | | |

| | | | |"As I have worked with these stories I have been struck by the sadness, the loss, the displacement that the children | | | |

| | | | |have experienced, but also overwhelmingly by their resilience, their ability to make a plan and often to see the funny | | | |

| | | | |side of what is happening to them." | | | |

| | | | |Further information on The Suitcase Project, the book and the T-shirts is available at: .za | | | |

| | | | |By Jack Redden | | | |

| | | | |In Johannesburg, South Africa | | | |

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| | | | |South African child researcher Glynis Clacherty launches the book in which refugee children tell of their lives in | | | |

| | | | |their own pictures and words. The book is the by-product of an art therapy programme she started for refugee children | | | |

| | | | |she met on the streets of Johannesburg. © UNHCR/J.Redden | | | |

| | | | |More . . . | | | |

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| | | | |Further information on The Suitcase Project, the book and the T-shirts is available at: .za (external | | | |

| | | | |link, new window) | | | |

| | | | |Untold numbers of children, millions of them refugees, continue to live in unimaginable conditions around the world. | | | |

| | | | |More on our special pages: A Child's World | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR "by country" pages: | | | |

| | | | |South Africa | | | |

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| | | | |Story date: 16 June 2006 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

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| | | | |Related stories | | | |

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| | | | |6 June 2006 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

| | | | |Congolese girl gives voice to the world's millions of child refugees | | | |

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| | | | |22 December 2005 | | | |

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| | | | |12 December 2005 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

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| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

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| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

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| | | | |20 July 2005 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

| | | | |Refugees share views on preventing violence against children | | | |

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| | | | |12 April 2005 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

| | | | |Liberian youths launch platform against gender violence | | | |

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| | | | |8 April 2005 | | | |

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| | | | |Tampa Boys rescued by Norwegian freighter become New Zealand citizens | | | |

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| | | | |21 June 2006 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

| | | | |Cape Town issues groundbreaking declaration of rights for its refugees | | | |

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| | | | |6 June 2006 | | | |

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| | | | |Congolese girl gives voice to the world's millions of child refugees | | | |

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| | | | |11 May 2006 | | | |

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| | | | |23 February 2006 | | | |

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| | | | |12 December 2005 | | | |

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| | | | |27 September 2005 | | | |

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| | | | |21 September 2005 | | | |

| | | | |UNHCR News Stories | | | |

| | | | |A Shadow of Hope becomes reality for refugee filmmaker in South Africa | | | |

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