Promoting peace, piece by piece

20 differently-abled children make their thoughts on world peace heard

KARACHI: How often do we see young children who are differently-abled being allowed to enjoy life on their given terms and conditions? The society continues to marginalise them. However, their inclusion and acceptance is integral to achieving peace.

To empower them, as many as 20 differently-abled children were invited on Monday to share their views on how world peace can be achieved.

The students from Deaf Reach School, Gulistan-e-Jauhar campus, within the age bracket from 13 to 17, let their creativity speak for them at Lincoln's Corner, located at Pakistan American Cultural Center. The event was held to celebrate World Peace Day, observed globally on September 21st.

The students were encouraged to depict their thoughts on world peace on a sheet of paper.

Many children, who were accompanied by their art teacher Neelum Asif and interpreter Jessica John, drew the globe and detailed it with books, humans holding hands, doves and the sign of peace.

Their artwork suggested that for them global alliance promoted by education, social inclusion and humanity was necessary to achieve peace in this war-laden world.

One student, Ayesha Arshad, using sign language, asserted "World peace must happen at a global level". The language was interpreted by John, who was kind enough to share her knowledge with The Express Tribune.

Speaking about her students, Asif remarked that differently-abled children are truly creative.

"They enjoy arts and computers with utmost passion, some even enjoy the basic pattern of cooking, which they are taught in school," said John.

At the school itself, John said they love to draw, paint and sketch. If given a backdrop they assemble their thoughts neatly on paper.

Speaking about the event, Lincoln's Corner coordinator Amna Khan said "My main aim was to organise an event to celebrate World Peace Day, and get differently-abled children's thoughts on paper [to know] how they think peace should get promoted. That's the sole reason for taking up this initiative on my part."

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2016.