On 18th August 2021, an art program for the Rohingya and Host Community children was jointly organized by the Center for Peace Studies (CPS) of the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), North South University (NSU), Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Artolution. Dr. Ishrat Zakia Sultana, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Political Science and Sociology (PSS) & SIPG, NSU, and Md. Parvez Hasan Yousuf, Research Associate, SIPG, NSU attended the program in person. The first phase of the art competition was held at the local office of Agrajatra, a local NGO and partner of Artolution, Thengkhali, near the Balukhali Rohingya Camp. 20 Rohingya children participated in the program.
First, they drew individually on the papers using pencil colors. They expressed their inner thoughts and experiences on the papers. Some drew about the painstaking exodus that still haunts them.
Some drew of going to school in Myanmar with the hoisted flag of their motherland. And some drew of nature surrounding their home at Rakhine and their boat journey to Bangladesh. Most of them replied positively and expressed their gratitude towards the Bangladeshi host community for giving them shelter in times of dire need. They have many playmates from the host community and they are living peacefully.
The second phase was held with the host community children at Palongkhali in a school. There we witnessed the amazing skills of drawing and art by them. They were also moved by the art skills demonstrated by the Rohingya children. Then they started coloring on the canvas sketches of the Rohingya children. It was like a confluence of art where the chalk sketches meet the color and the artworks by two community's children gets a meaning. The beauty of social cohesion and peaceful coexistence became vivid in front of our eyes as we witnessed the amalgamation of art by two different yet bonded by fate communities.
