UNHCR - Unit plan for ages 9-11 in Art: A Response Through Artwork

High Commissioner António Guterres looks at drawings by displaced children in Krinding camp near the West Darfur capital of El Geneina on Tuesday. © UNHCR/A.Rehrl

Teaching About Refugees

Unit plan for ages 9-11 in Art: A Response Through Artwork

UNIT OBJECTIVES

Knowledge

To understand the kinds of experiences through which refugees pass.

Skills

To exercise creative imagination

To practise translating powerful emotions into artwork.

Values

To encourage the students to envisage the situations which refugee children live through, and the conditions in which they now live.

To stimulate empathy for children who are trying to cope and adjust their recent memories of their refugee experiences.

LESSONS 1 and 2: What Do You See In Your Mind?

CONTENT	TEACHING METHODS/LEARNING STRATEGIES
Creative artistic response to refugee children's experience.	Stimulus: An evocative passage is read out aloud to which the students respond through artwork.
RESOURCES
The teacher could select from: "Narin's story", "Jacob's story" and "Amra's story" in Refugee Children (Geneva, UNHCR, 1993), pp. 12-19. "Something like an accident" and "I am the first-born" in Sybella Wilkes, One day we had to run! (London, Evans Brothers, 1994), pp. 16-17, 35-37, 39. See Teaching Resources for ordering details.

John Habimani, a Rwandan refugee in Cape Town, discusses the drawing he did for the UNHCR study on children and violence. © UNHCR/J.Redden

LESSONS 3 and 4: What Refugee Children Draw

CONTENT	TEACHING METHODS/LEARNING STRATEGIES
What refugee children draw.	Display: Two groups of artwork are on display - the first group is a collection of artwork depicting their experiences by refugee children, and the second group includes prints and reproductions by painters such as Renoir and Gauguin.
RESOURCES
Poster series Do your kids bring home pictures like this? Refugee kids do. Available from UNHCR Public Affairs Unit, Case Postale 2500 CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt, Suisse. Additional sources of refugee children's artwork Sybella Wilkes, One day we had to run! (London, Evans Brothers, 1994), p. 20 (The walking of many), p. 21 (Crossing the River Gillo), p. 29 (My village in Sudan), p. 33 (Walking to Kenya), p. 41, p. 52-53 Refugee Children (Geneva, UNHCR, 1993), p. 10. Refugee and returnee children in Southern Africa: Perceptions and experiences of violence (Pretoria, UNHCR, 2005) Available from UNHCR Regional Office, P.O. Box 12506, The Tramshed 0126, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, You told us about your lives! Children's views on violence, Marratane Refugee Camp [PDF, 2pp., 739Kb], Mozambique You told us about your lives! Children's views on violence, Dukwi Refugee Camp [PDF, 2pp., 681Kb], Bostwana You told us about your lives! Children's views on violence, Dzaleka Refugee Camp [PDF, 2pp., 642Kb], Malawi You told us about your lives! Refugee and returnee children in Southern Africa: Perceptions and experiences of violence (flyer [PDF, 2pp., 550Kb]) Display prints and art books which contain artwork depicting every day life in various ages.

Amin's Escape
An illustrated story about a ten-year old refugee boy from Kabul, Afghanistan (from Refugee Children: Escape and Protection From Persecution and War (2000 [PDF, 32pp., 1.31Mb]), pp. 8-13) [PDF, 6pp., 313Kb] Read more here

Related News Stories:

12 December 2005
UNHCR News Stories
New methodology helps refugee children in Southern Africa deal with violence

15 June 2006
UNHCR News Stories
New book captures the voices and art of African child refugees

Related websites
(external links, new window):

The War Through My Eyes
Children's drawings of Chechnya.
(external link)

Darfur Dawn
The Conflict in Darfur Through Childrens's Eyes
(external link)