Creative Community: i-ACT

MY HOME: A Walk Through Children’s Memories of Darfur is a multimedia experience. Bamboo stands and African fabrics create a path for visitors to view Darfuri children’s drawings and photographs. Sounds and video are spread throughout the walk, engaging all the senses.  Darfuri children’s voices, faces, and drawings tell their horrific stories. They also show the beauty and resilience of children who continue to play, learn, and grow. Against all odds, they keep dreaming and hoping for a day when they can walk back home to build a stronger Darfur. 

At the end of the exhibit, visitors will have the opportunity to be part of the exhibit by taking a photograph with the iconic HOME image that will be added to a collage. The target number of visitors to be included in the collage is 3,477, which is the total number of villages damaged or destroyed by violence between February 2003 and December 2009 in Darfur.

Learn more about the MY HOME launch event.

History of the Children’s Drawings

During i-ACT’s visits to the camps, they are surrounded by children saying hello, reaching for their hands, and hoping they will take a photo of them. Many have given them drawings and asked them to share their story with the world. They truly believe that if people see their pictures and hear their stories, that the genocide will end and they will be able to return home.

The canvas panels included in MY HOME are an extension of a project from Petaluma, CA where students from Meadows Elementary sent messages of peace and hope to the children of the refugee camps. With no instructions at all, Darfuri children began to draw their own messages. Not of peace, but of their memories of the attacks on their villages and what home used to be. They are filled with images of guns, helicopters, fire, soldiers shooting people in the back, and blood.

In January 2008, the panels were lost. On the way home from the refugee camps, i-ACT’s staff were caught in the middle of a violent attempt by Chadian rebels to overthrow their president. Gabriel, Katie-Jay, Jeremiah, and Josh were evacuated by French military after being under fire for two days in N’Djamena. They had to leave almost everything behind, including the panels.

On the next i-ACT trip in June 2008, Gabriel and Katie-Jay were reunited with an old friend, Yo ussoff. He had held on to the panels and protected them. Once again i-ACT was caught by a rebel movement and failed to reach the refugee camps. This time, they kept the children’s drawings with them. Upon i-ACT’s return, a tent of the canvas panels was sewn together for the November 2008 Tents of Hope gathering in Washington DC. The school kids of Petaluma also got to see the panels and a few were re-connected with their own panel, now with a message from a Darfuri friend.

For more than a year, i-ACT has brought the remaining panels with them to workshops, panels, events, and Camp Darfur exhibits across the country to help tell the children’s stories. By using them during our presentations, we realized that collectively the panels tell the entire story of Darfur. It is the children and their drawings that inspired the creation of MY HOME.

Bring MY HOME to your Community:

If you are interested in learning how to bring MY HOME to your community to educate, active, and empower email Katie-Jay at ktj@iactivism.org.

About the Curator, i-ACT by Stop Genocide Now:

i-ACT by Stop Genocide Now is a small, grassroots team dedicated to putting a face on the numbers of dead, dying, and displaced while creating mutually enriching relationships between those in danger and those willing and able to act, fostering a new culture of participation. i-ACT seeks to empower individuals within communities, institutions, and governments to take personal responsibility to act on behalf of those affected by genocide, mass atrocities, and crimes against humanity.

i-ACT visits the refugee camps on the Chad-Darfur border on a regular basis. All the children artists and the ones seen and heard through the MY HOME walk are friends.

September 19, 2010: Global Day of Action for Sudan and launch of MY HOME

i-ACT by Stop Genocide Now and Jewish World Watch are partnering to host the Los Angeles area Global Day of Action for Sudan.  MY HOME: A Walk Through Children’s Memories of Darfur will be on display for the first time. Join us for a program of poetry, short film, music, and action.

Location:
ECO-LogicalART
4829 W Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Schedule:
11am - 8:30pm Gallery Open
5pm Reception with Refreshments
6pm Global Day of Action Program