Art camp turns disaster victims into ‘survivors’

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Nine-year-old Karl Winston Cabañez’s parents could not afford even the simplest of luxuries. Then, the family had to deal with their losses after floodwaters brought about by Tropical Storm “Sendong” destroyed everything they had in December last year.

But a week after the flood, Karl received one of the best Christmas presents ever from a relative—his first balloon.

Karl was aware that if he would untie the balloon from his wrist, it would fly away. But he also knew that he would feel a different kind of happiness if he released it. And he did.

“I felt so happy when I saw the balloon flying into the sky … it was peaceful for me,” he said.

This same feeling gave him strength to endure the struggles that he and his family went through during the past five months. The Grade 3 pupil was able to illustrate this on a simple painting.

Sinag camp

Karl was among the children who joined the Sinag Creative Expression Camp, a psychosocial activity conducted by Kids for Peace Foundation Inc. for children affected by Sendong in Lower Balulang on May 3-8. The nongovernment organization started out of the calls for peace following the conflict in Central Mindanao in 2000.

Kids for Peace arrived in Cagayan de Oro City just days after the Sendong tragedy to make a preliminary assessment of how it can extend its help. By January, facilitators conducted workshops, training and module-making for psychosocial activities for the survivors.

Funded by Save the Children Foundation, the psychosocial debriefings were held at Balulang Elementary and National High School. Ten volunteers, known as ChildHeal facilitators, conducted the sessions for students in Grade 3 up to third year high school.

Stress was evident among the children, Habib Mohamad, ChildHeal team leader, observed. “Whenever it started to get dark, the children became scared.”

Adjustment period

The volunteers and children went through an adjustment period. Most of the youth volunteers were from Cotabato City, so the Cagayan de Oro experience was their first time to be separated from their families for several months.

They felt homesick. But the desire to reach out to the children was intense that they were able to get pass the feeling of missing their loved ones back home.

“I really wanted to help the children, even in small ways,” Mohamad said.

It has almost been five months since Sendong ravaged thousands of homes last year. Traces of the tragedy, such as ruined houses and litter, can still be seen. But the most noteworthy are the survivors who are still camped out in barangay halls that serve as evacuation centers.

The people are slowly picking up their lives. For the children in Lower Balulang, moving forward has been possible with the help of the youth volunteers in psychosocial activities.

Art attack

The intervention in Balulang was supposed to have ended on May 1. The volunteers, however, felt the desire to leave something memorable to the children so despite fund constraints, they extended the activity for a couple more days to hold the art camp.

A total of 73 kids participated. They expressed their feelings in creative ways by learning soil painting, theater arts, photography, big book writing and illustration, and filmmaking.

Those in the theater arts communicated through gestures, speeches and songs.

With soil painting, the children made use of colored soil, brush and canvas, and painted portraits of the environment and things that made them happy—“Angry Birds” included.

Most of the shy ones joined the photography session and were amazed by the outcome of their photos of different camp activities. They were even more delighted when they were given printed copies of their photographs.

Self-expressions

The filmmaking experience taught the children to come up with three artistic works—narrative, public service announcement  and a documentary on three women about their Sendong experience. The participants went around the Balulang area with their facilitators and shot scenes.

Yam Palma, the facilitator, said the activity was a healing process for the children as they realized that telling their stories would help them cope with the situation. “Instead of feeling depressed, they found inspiration and courage when they were working on the films,” she said.

Those aspiring to become writers and illustrators were given the task of making big storybooks that depicted the storm experiences—their own or somebody else’s.