In a series of sessions with the students at the Akshar Arbol International School in Chennai, we hope to be able to work with the students at the school to facilitate gender equality and conflict resolution.
A line by Fredrick Douglas goes: “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Moved by
this, ChalkPeace has been built with the aim of reaching as many children and
youth, to help them build their personalities in frameworks of empathy,
equality, respect and tolerance, inquiry and critical thinking. In a social
climate that has been so filled with antagonism rooted in inequality, we see a
lot of violence, a lot of discrimination and a lot of borrowed hatred. In our first session, we looked into
how art works as an effective medium to build peace and facilitate gender
equality. We focused on identity building, mutual respect, empathy building and
media of expression. Our students made Doves of Diversity and Stars of
Solidarity to celebrate individual identity and ways to improve the future of
the world by picking out causes we each wanted to work with.
