Refugee child's painting tells of horror

By LAURA BASHAM

The story behind the painting is scary, especially for a child.

The painting is one of 30 in the Hope for the Child of War art exhibition at Nelson's Christ Church Cathedral.

Ruth Corlett, director of the Christian aid and development charity Partners Relief and Development NZ, brought them back from Myanmar where she led an art workshop for children as a means for them to tell their stories.

One of those paintings is by Nang Nay.

Mrs Corlett said that as the girl painted she told her what happened.

"This is my village," Nang Nay said timidly, "the day the Burma Army soldiers came, and shot two of the students, then burnt down the school".

"Where are you?" Mrs Corlett asked, thinking of what horrors she may have seen.

"That's me on the other side of the picture, kneeling beside my sick mother. I didn't go to school that day because I was looking after my mother. When the Burma Army came, she was too sick to run away. I am crying."

"What happened next?" Mrs Corlett asked quietly, giving her a mother hug.

"My mother was so frightened that not long after that, she died. The Burma soldiers didn't find me."

"Later the Shan Army came and found me and brought me here to the IDP camp. I feel safe here, but I don't know where my father is."

On Saturday the exhibition opened at Christ Church Cathedral with a gathering of Nelson residents.

Thirteen-year-old Lun Lian Zaw from the Zo Chin community, who has lived in Nelson for five years, said the paintings made her feel sad and sorry for the children who had been through such horrors.

"But I think it is a powerful way to let people know about what happened to them."

The exhibition is an awareness-raising and fundraising event for refugees and displaced people from Myanmar who live along the border with Thailand, and with whom Partners NZ works.

Since 1996, the Burmese military government has displaced more than 1 million people and destroyed more than 3500 villages in the country's northeast.

Ian Faulkner, co-ordinator for Partners in Nelson and a friend of Mrs Corlett, said painting the pictures was a way for the children to release their emotions, as many had been through a lot of trauma.

They were also encouraged to paint a picture of their dream for the future.

Another child, Sai Fa, painted a picture with bright colours of trees laden with fruit, a big house for his whole family to live in, smooth road and cars symbolising the freedom to travel, and his name written in big confident letters in the middle of the page with the message: Please notice me and take care of my dream. 

Source : http://www.stuff.co.nz