Bremen Peace Award Brochure: Courageously Crossing Thresholds

Bremen Peace Award Brochure: Courageously Crossing Thresholds
http://www.dieschwelle.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Peace_Award_2009.pdf
The Threshold Foundation publishes a brochure titled „Courageously Crossing Thresholds” on the occasion of every peace prize award ceremony. This brochure presents around 30 nominated projects and organizations, which are exemplary in their work for peace, justice and integrity of creation.
Fauzia Aziz Minallah's work is also featured in the brochure in the following words.

Fauzia Aziz Minallah

Art education is a privilege in Pakistan, available only to a very few children. Fauzia Aziz Minallah wants to democratize art education and makes it accessible to kids from low-income families, so that they too can playfully discover their own creativity.

Teaching Kids Peace Through Art
Amai Park, located in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, is one of the outstanding projects by Fauzia Aziz Minallah. It’s a school-playground designed for the special needs of blind and virtually handicapped children. This playground is special since these kids participated in the process of designing it. They put forth their own ideas without any assistance from their teachers. Many of these children come from battered families, where frustration, violence, money troubles and lack of future prospects are part of everyday-life.
Fauzia Aziz Minallah encourages these children to trust their own abilities and develop self-confidence. In this process, boys and girls learn what it means to be truly appreciated. This is a place, where the kids have equal rights and where a peaceful living is possible – a stark
contrast to their experience within their own families. Minallah, who is also an artist, uses art as a vehicle to prevent violence, which often arises out of frustration and desperation. For her, art is one of the strongest pillars of peace – this becomes obvious while observing her in action.
Minallah heads a small institution called "Funkor Child Art Center Pakistan". At this center, thousands of Pakistani children have learnt how inspiring artwork can be. In Germany, using watercolours and pencils is a matter of course. This is not the case in Pakistan: art education
is only given in private schools which are attended by children from privileged families alone.
Besides her commitment to the organization, Fauzia Aziz Minallah also works as an author and illustrator of children’s books, one of them titled „Amai’s wish". Not only through her art projects, but also through this story, Minallah makes kids understand that a world based on mutual respect is possible.
Proposed by Katrin Becker
More information about Amai Park visit http://www.funkorchildart.com/AmaiPark.php

'The Multi-coloured Scarf of Peace'

Display of 110 ft mural ' The Multi-coloured Scarf of Peace'

Peace Mural at F-9 Park

Messages bring smile on faces of displaced kids

Monday, October 19, 2009, The News
Myra Imran

Islamabad

Making a perfect use of colours and images to spread the message of peace at the time when it is needed the most, the 110 foot long mural “My Multicoloured Scarf of Peace,” that went on display at F-9 Park brought smile to the faces of internally displaced children from Bajur and those living in capital’s slums.

Organized by Funkor Childart Centre in collaboration with the youth group Zimmedar Shehri, a group of middle class idealists who have set out to bring social change, the event was also attended by civil society activists including Tahira Abdullah and Nina Zubairi. Bilquis Nasr-um- Minallah was the chief guest on the occasion. Artist and writer Fauzia Minallah designed the mural.

The Funkor plans to exhibit the mural at the ‘Exhibition of the Century’ to be organized by the Art Miles Mural Project (AMMP) in Egypt in 2010. The AMMP plans to construct a pyramid of murals, next to the magnificent ancient pyramids in Egypt.

The event was participated by a large number of children from Pehli Kiran School System (PKSS) that operates in squatter settlements in and around Islamabad. As they wear what they get from donors, the enthusiastic children were dressed up in variety of uniforms and took great interest in expressing their selves through art activities.

Also present were internally displaced children from Bajur who study in a school run by philanthropist Mona Mehmood in Golra. The children embellished hundreds of mirrors on the scarf with the help of Zimmedar Shehri volunteers.

They also enjoyed painting a mural themselves and got a pleasant surprise when the Capital Development Authority (CDA) opened up the Children’s Park for them that is other wise closed for public for repair work. Many of them never experienced such an art related activity before in their lives. “I can not wait to paint as I had never done painting before in my life,” said Shahzia Allah Buksh while pointing towards a harsh reality in an innocent way.

“The only way to achieve peace is to capture all terrorists,” said 9-years-old Nadeem Khan. Before they started decorating the finally designed scarf, the children were briefed about the message every part of the scarf was conveying. With the help of Amai, character of a bird invented by Fauzia Minallah, the scarf portrays the real meaning of peace that could be achieved only with education, love, tolerance, enlightened minds, gender balance and environment protection.

Amai is a bird of made of light, which is a friend of children and takes them to exciting adventures. Amai means mother in some parts of Balochistan. The character loves children like mothers and makes them understand the meaning of peace by showing them the devastations of war and conflicts in different parts of the world.

Terming it an identity of Pakistani women, Fauzia said that the scarf represents ‘dupatta’ that was an essential part of Pakistani dress. “To make it a true representative of our culture and society, I have chosen mirror work as it also makes a basic component of traditional work done in most parts of the country.”

Highlighting the reason behind choosing scarf as symbol of peace, she said that by using symbols of traditions, she had tried to convey the message that Pakistani society was a peaceful society. “Despite our unprecedented sacrifices to curb terrorism, it is unfortunate to see that the world has started perceiving every Pakistani boy as a terrorist and every girl with scarf as an extremist,” she said, adding that the scarf was an effort to nullify that image.

A unique event at Fatima Jinnah Park

By: Azam Khan Published: October 18, 2009The Nation

ISLAMABAD - A large number of students from different schools of the Capital on Saturday took part in the paintings contest titled, ‘My multi-coloured scarf of peace, a display of 110 ft mural, designed by artist Fauzia Minallah here at the Fatima Jinnah Park (F-9 Park).
It was a unique event of its kind in which students from City School,

Beaconhouse and other high-ranked schools of the Capital and students from the Katchi Abadis’ schools participated organised by Funkor Child Art Centre with the collaboration of Zimmadar Shehri.
The basic aim of the contest was to highlight the miseries of deprived segment of the society and to address the misconception regarding scarf and the peaceful youth of the country.
Rafiullah, a student of class 5th at Pehli Kiran School System, which was started in 1996 near Golra Sharif Katchi Abadi area, s

aid that he first time visited such a marvelous place of the Capital. He suggested that such events should be held every month. Another student of a Katchi Abadi school expressed same feelings, as he took part in the contest and won prizes.
Tahir Abdullah, a social activist, told TheNation that Fauzia has dedicated her multi-coloured scarf of peace to all those children who were living under difficult circumstances and face discrimination. It features, Amai, a cartoon character developed by her for children. It is a bird made of light, which is a friend of children and takes them on exciting adventures and spread the message of love, peace and tolerance, she said.

‘Scarf of Peace’ displayed at F-9 Park

Staff Report DailyTimes

ISLAMABAD: Funkor Child Art Centre (FCA) held a display of a 110 ft mural ‘My Multi-coloured Scarf of Peace’, at Fatima Jinnah Park on Saturday.

FCA organised the event in collaboration with the youth group “Zimmedar Shehri”.

Designed by artist and writer of children literature Fauzia Minallah, the 110 ft mural ‘Multi-coloured Scarf of Peace’ has been dedicated to all those children who are living under difficult circumstances and face discrimination.

The colourful scarf featured ‘Amai’, a cartoon character developed by Minallah for children. More than 100 children embellished this mural with hundreds of small mirrors. Children from squatter settlements of Islamabad, NGOs representatives, students and a large number of people participated in the event. The children later went to Pehli Kiran School System, a voluntarily run school, which was started in 1996.

Talking to Daily Times, Minallah said Amai is a bird made of light, which is a friend of children and takes them on exciting adventures and spreads the message of love, peace and tolerance. Amai means ‘mother’ in some parts of Balochistan, she added.

“Pakistan is going through tumultuous times and we are the victims of terrorism, consequently, we are losing our friends and loved ones, yet for some- every Pakistani boy is perceived as a ‘terrorist’ and every little girl wearing a scarf as an ‘extremist’, she said.

Courtesy AAJ Tv

Art Contest 'Young People for Peaceful & Tolerant Society'

Center for Civic Education Pakistan CCEPand the British High Commission organised the Art Contest 2009 ‘Young People for a Peaceful and Tolerant Society’. Fauzia Minallah worked as the Chief Technical Adviser for this project.

Pakistan is going through turbulent times. Growing militancy has worsened the security situation in many parts of the country. As a society we are greatly segregated along class and ideological lines. There is a growing need for greater opportunities of dialogue between different segments of society.

Young people in Pakistan, who constitute a major chunk of the population rarely get an opportunity to express themselves. This project involved students from diverse back grounds and social strata, even from Madrassahs, to work on art based projects (calligraphy and painting) that offered them a platform to share their ideas and vision. Facilitated by the Center for Civic Education Pakistan CCEP, this project was organized in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi, Quetta, and Mirpur (AJK). Each workshop was for three days and had an average of 50 – 90 young participants, from 4 – 6 different educational institutions in each project city, along with one teacher from each institution.

A three-day workshop in each city was held in the months of February - March 2009. In each workshop we had 4 – 5 renowned artists from the city as resource persons. Ustad Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam, the award winning calligraphist and teacher at the NCA, Lahore, designed the calligraphy manual and provided all the material for the calligraphic work. Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam was the resource calligraphist in Lahore while he designated his student and assistant Hafiz Saeed to travel to 5 cities as the resource person.

On the first day each workshop began with an inspirational lecture by an eminent scholar on ‘Peace and Tolerance’, followed by a 30 minutes presentation by each resource artist on their work. Each artist talked about their work.

Each presentation was viewed with great interest by the students, whether it was the depiction of natural beauty by veteran artist Ghulam Rasul, thought provoking political imagery of Rahat Saeed, the intricate water colours by Ghalib Baqir, Tayyaba Aziz and Dr. Ghulam Shabbier, Kaleem Khan’s beautiful landscapes of Balochistan and figurative work of Usman Ghauri. Since, we had some Madrassah students too, it was very important that the images were not too explicit for them. At the end of the first day, students were given an assignment to bring thumbnail sketches about their ideas.

Although this workshop was not designed for art students, there were students from the Home Economics College and COMSATS, with some background in arts. However most of the participants had limited exposure while some were painting for the first time. The aim of these workshops was more about expression of ideas, thoughts and feelings and what those paintings told us about the child, rather than judging them. For example, the second prize was awarded to 15 year old Syed Mudassar of Idara Taalim i Islami, for the beautiful message conveyed in his painting, and also considering that coming from a Madrassa he opted for painting rather than calligraphy.

Obtaining great pieces of art was not the main aim for this workshop but rather ensuring that the process was a sensitive human interaction with students some of whom have never painted in their lives before. All the artists participating in this workshop displayed this sensitivity and encouraged the youth to express their feelings in a rich repertoire of images.

Quetta
Location : Iqra University, Quetta

Trainers : Kaleem Khan, Mubarak Shah, Mohd Ayub, Hafiz Saeed

Agha Nasir (Lecture)

Coordinator: Shiza Tareen. Iqra University

.

Mirpur
Location : University College of Home Economics, Mirpur

Trainers : Hafiz Saeed Ahmed, Ahmed Habib, Adnan Khan,
Fareeha Nazneen

Surayya Abbas (lecture)

Coordinator: Rafia Khanum, Dean Faculty of Home Economics. AJK University, Mirpur

Peshawar
Trainers : Jehanzeb Malik, Tayyeba Aziz, Dr. Ghulam Shabbir,
Abbas Ali, Hafiz Saeed Ahmed
Dr Nazir Tabassum (Lecture)

Coordinator: Farmanullah Anjum.
Director, Higher Education Commission (HEC), Peshawar

Islamabad
Location: Preston University, Islamabad

Trainers: Ghulam Rasul, Rahat Saeed, Hafiz Saeed Ahmed, Ahmed Habib, Saima Ali

Kishwar Naheed (lecture)

Coordinator: Murtaza Noor ( HEC)

Karachi
Location: Preston University, Karachi.

Trainers :Ghalib Baqar, Asmaa Hashmi, Usman Ghauri, Syeda Habib, Hafiz Saeed
Zafarullah Khan (Lecture)

Coordinator: Nisho Siddiqui, Deputy Registrar, Preston University, Karachi

Lahore
Location: University of Punjab (I E R), Lahore .

Trainers: Khurshid Alam Gauhar Qalam, Hafiz Saeed Ahmed, Sameeha Qadeer
Abdul Rauf (Lecture)

Coordinator: Dr. Shahida Manzoor. University College of Art and Design, University of Punjab

Calligraphy

Shazia Aslam
University College of Home Economics, Mirpur

Islam, indeed a religion of peace and prosperity has inspired me to opt for Calligraphy.
My inspiration of koofic art is since childhood. And today also my work is depicting my inspiration. I believe in Islam and Allah is great. .I want to further continue my effort in the field of calligraphy.

Tayyaba Nazir Awan
Department of Architecture and Design
COMSATS, Institute of Information Technology

Sadaf Farooq
Government Degree College, Mirpur

The verse I have chosen is ‘Allah is Omni present’ Allah has created this universe, and created this earth, sky, moon, stars. Allah has blessed us with countless blessings and gave us Intellect , unfortunately we are not grateful to Allah.

Adil Hussain Jamia Rizwiya al Uloom

I have chosen the Quranic ayah ‘The one who saves one human, saves the whole of humanity’.
Mohd Saeed Shaukat
Dar-ul-uloom Naeemia Karachi

My painting gives the message of peace and satisfaction. The leaf on the line of cease fire indicates the peace and development of friendly relation between the two countries, and the two flags of the two countries are joined together, this is a proof of a peaceful dialogue.
Tuba Rani
University College of Home Economics, Mirpur

The theme of my painting is ‘love and tolerance’. In my painting I have shown two birds, sitting on a wall. It is evening and both the birds are in a state of harmony. One bird is giving a gift to the other. This is how we can spread love and this is how there will be peace.
Syed Muddassar
Idara -e- Taleemaat –e – Islamia, Islamabad

My painting is based on the poetry of the famous Sufi poet Rehman Baba:
Not for a single moment, am I indifferent to you!
Not indifferent to your invocation and reflection!
Whatever shrine I go to, I have you in mind!
I am not interested in any pilgrimage to mosque or temple!

Adnan Khan, Government College, Peshawar

A church, a mosque and a tree shaped like a globe reflects my desire for a dialogue between the ‘West’ and the ‘East’.People from different religions are shown in the foreground.

Sulman Khan Swati.
Islamia College University, Peshawar

“In my painting I have shown a blue sky. For me a blue sky is a symbol of peace because I think that the peace of the sky is never shattered, I have shown a world in the sky. The symbol of a mosque represents the East while a Church stands for the West. There is a lot of tension between East and West these days. Islam and Christianity are the largest religions of the world which is why I have depicted them. I have painted a Christmas tree and no one is fighting in my painting because they live in the sky”.

Mohd Abdullah Abbassi
Dar-ul-uloom Naeemia Karachi

I have shown the footwear of worshippers outside a mosque. Everyone has to leave their shoes outside, and whether it is the rich or the poor, everyone is equal inside a mosque. For me ‘equality’ of human beings is the meaning of peace.
Aleem
Karachi University

In this chaotic world, peace and tolerance can be promoted with the light of hope and strength. The minerat symbolizes that Islam is the religion of peace and tranquility and the ray represents harmony in today’s world where there’s no tolerance. If we can understand our religion properly we can achieve peace and tolerance. Textural effects have been used to depict, tension, chaos and lack of harmony and the particles or the dot effect is used to distinguish, hope and strength through religion. Dark shades and tints are used to enhance the background tones.

Faryal Abdullah.

College of Home Economics, Lahore.

My painting’s main object is a baby in a womb. Any living thing is more secure in a womb. The dark background shows sorrow and violence in the world. Light colors show happiness.

Maryam Hossain
College of Home Economics , Karachi

A bubble reflects the peaceful life of a society. It is sensitive, delicate and beautiful. It flows with smooth wind and breeze. Just a little gesture may shatter it forever.
It also reminds me of my infant life which was peaceful, unharmed and filled with example of tolerance. “The barren tree is blossoming with the bubbles of life and this message is flowing throughout the universe. We do not enclose peace but let it breathe and fly.

Midhat un Nisa
Department of Architecture and Design
COMSATS, Institute of Information Technology

My painting is based on the Quranic ayat ‘ Hold Allah’s rope firmly, and do not divide into factions’. It reflects my feelings for a united Pakistan. A Pakistan, where people of all religions and ideologies are united for the sake of a stronger Pakistan.

Zaib- un- nissa.College of Home Economics, Peshawar

I have shown in my painting a Pakistan where there is peace children are busy playing without any fear. I have shown a Pakistani family under a big Pakistani flag. It depicts that under the shadow of our flag we stand united and no one will divide us.

Mohd Shehzad Raza Dar-ul-Aloom Naeemia, Karachi

The message that I am basically trying to put across is that violence and intolerance prevailing in our society has scarred the social lattice we live in. In the painting, my basic inspiration is the honeycomb and I’ve tried to relate this to the life of an individual in this world. In my work I’ve expressed that if such tiny insects can live harmoniously within a single community, with their different statuses and workloads divided, why cant we?

There are stars visible during the day, the world basks in the potential the universe has to offer and yet a solitary figure remains detached and disillusioned. The question is-how quickly can we bring back the lost peace and tranquility to our world, before it inflicts permanent, irreversible damage?

Neha Ansari
Department of Architecture and Design
COMSATS, Institute of Information Technology

In my painting I wanted to show a city where there is peace. In this painting I have shown the unity between our different ethnic groups in Baluchistan i.e Baluchi, Pathan, Punjabi, Sindhi and Hazara, living together with peace and tolerance.

Umaira Ishaque
Govt Girls College Quetta Cantt

In my painting I tried to show ‘Peace’ by highlighting the beautiful aspect of my Baluchi culture. I have painted the Baluchi musical instruments ‘damboora’ and ‘suruz’. I want the music of these instruments to live forever.
Amir Gichki.
Iqra University. Quetta.

The theme of my painting is peace and tolerance. There is moon, Gautama Buddha and the Buddha tree; they all are symbols of peace.
Buddha is sitting under a tree, a prince who ran away from the world to attain and feel peace. He is tolerant. He is bearing hardship. He is fasting, is thirsty but peace is best food for his soul. I have learnt tolerance from him. As he is sitting under the tree and the days are passing he is moving towards peace, more and more peac, day by day and that peace is represented by moon in my painting.

Rafia Maroof
AJK University, Mirpur Campus

A mothers lap is the best place for peace. Where we forget our all sorrows and worries. A Mother is also a symbol for our home land……
Mother…..!
You are close to God
Though I’m a little sad
Yet the force of your love
Gathering prayers and blessings
Brings me prosperity and peace.

Sadia Tanvir
M.T.E (PU)


I feel now we need ‘peace’ more than ever before, especially for those Kashmiris who live in Pakistan and India. This is how I have expressed my feelings.

Sonia Fazal
Government Girls College Mirpur

I have really enjoyed this workshop because it brought ( Deeni ) religious and (Dunyawi) regular colleges at the same platform and promoted the message of ‘peace’ and ‘tolerance’ there should be many more workshops like these so that the coming generation should be aware of the beautiful colors of the world. I have painted the name of Allah the great.

Hammad Abbassi
Dar-ul-uloom Muhammadia Ghosia

For more information visit
http://www.civiceducation.org/Paintingsexh.php