Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Monday 30 July 2018
2 New Yorker artists bring colors, smiles to Rohingya camps

By RISHABH R. JAIN feels proud when people
KUTUPALONG, Bangla- in his community call him a
desh (AP) — With his blond painter. He believes learn-
dreads tied in a ponytail ing to draw and paint is a
and baggy jeans caked means for his people to
with paint smudges, Max move on.
Frieder first arrived at the "If they can temporarily for-
cramped Rohingya refu- get about their memories
gee camps last December. from Myanmar, they can
Unlike many other foreign- use the happiness they get
ers, he wasn't an aid worker here and move forward
in one of the biggest camps with their lives," Hasan, 28,
for Myanmar's persecuted said. "Also, they are be-
minority in southern Bangla- coming perfect at drawing
desh. and painting."
His mission: bringing color Though the schools are ru-
and art to one of the most dimentary and immense
dismal places in the world. efforts are needed to
Amid the sea of makeshift educate and rehabilitate
bamboo-and-tarp shelters Rohingya children in Ban-
dotting the rolling hills of gladesh, the murals are
Kutupalong, some huts are bringing in more kids to
now painted over with col- spaces where they can
orful murals. Each mural is In this Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, photo, Rohingya refugee children kick a soccer ball outside their learn, draw and play.
a collection of stories from makeshift school in the Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's bazar, Bangladesh. In May, Artolution joined
the lives of Rohingya refu- Associated Press hands with UNICEF to cre-
gees and their hopes for ate an exchange mural,
the future. and painting. They created art and work with children cleansing. which was painted by chil-
Frieder and his partner more than a dozen murals in the camps. As refugees complete al- dren and other Rohingya
Joel Bergner run a pub- spread across the expan- She said the paintings were most a year of living in Ban- in Kutupalong. It was later
lic art organization called sive camps — covering therapeutic for children. gladesh, with little hope of hand-carried to New York
Artolution. They've made schools, toilets and gather- "The Rohingya have suf- quick repatriation to their City, where it is now on dis-
hundreds of large-scale ing spaces with a myriad of fered greatly in Myanmar. homes in Myanmar, few play inside the World Trade
murals around the world, colors. They (government soldiers) have found ways of earn- Center transit hub known
particularly with communi- While hundreds of chil- slaughtered mothers and ing a living. Most still rely as the Oculus.
ties living in conflict zones, dren, teenagers and entire shot people dead. When on handouts from aid or- Frieder said almost half a
from Syrian refugee camps families came together to children see this art, they ganizations working in the million people now see the
in Jordan and Lebanon to participate in painting the forget about all that and camps, including food, art created by Rohingya in
the Gaza Strip and Israel. murals, some refugees said become happy instead," blankets and tarp. New York every day. He be-
"You might have food, you they found their calling in Hasina said. A growing number of chil- lieves the murals are mak-
might have water, you art. Rohingya face official and dren, who make up more ing people aware, some
might have shelter, but Hasina, 20, who covers social discrimination in pre- than 60 percent of the refu- for the first time, about the
there are many deep-root- her face in a veil in accor- dominantly Buddhist Myan- gees, don't have enough displacement of more than
ed psychological traumas dance to her Islamic faith mar, which denies most of schools to go to. They can 900,000 Rohingya Muslims.
that refugees around the and uses only one name, them citizenship and basic be found selling packets "I think people around the
world are facing today," said she never thought rights because they are of chips and cheap ciga- world have no idea who
Frieder said. women were allowed to looked on as immigrants rettes at small makeshift the Rohingya people are
In Bangladesh, they spent draw and paint. She is now from Bangladesh, even shops or helping their fam- and what they are going
several weeks interacting part of Artolution's group of though many of them set- ily carry aid and care for through," he said. "These
with children and other ref- local Rohingya artists who tled in Myanmar genera- other children. pieces of art, these stories
ugees interested in drawing continue to make public tions ago. Dire conditions Mohammad Hasan, an- that they create, are able
led more than 200,000 to other Rohingya who was to say, 'We are here, we
flee the country between trained by Frieder, said he exist.'"q
2012 and 2015.
The latest crisis began last
August after the Myanmar
military crackdown on Ro-
hingya Muslims in retalia-
tion for an insurgent attack.
The military responded with
counterinsurgency sweeps
and was accused of wide-
spread human rights viola-
tions, including rape, mur-
der, torture and the burning
of Rohingya homes. Thou-
sands are believed to have
In this June 20, 2018, photo, vice president of marketing and died and about 700,000
communications for UNICEF USA Francesco De Flaviis talks with fled to Bangladesh. The In this Jan. 21, 2018, photo, Rohingya refugee children draw and
co-founder and co-director of Artolution, Max Levi Frieder, of U.N. and U.S. officials have paint inside the makeshift school that is covered by murals at
Denver. called the government's Kutupalong Refugee Camp.
Associated Press military campaign ethnic Associated Press