PACER Center uses puppets to foster tolerance
Here at Search, we firmly believe that media can be a very powerful tool for conflict transformation. Through our radio and television programs including The Team, we hope to reach a broad audience and teach them about transcending their differences to achieve common objectives, while at the same time doing so in an entertaining manner. With this context in mind, we thought we would highlight a similar initiative by the US-based PACER Center (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights). Though the initiative focuses on disability education rather than peacebuilding, it is a similar use of interactive theater to foster tolerance.
In 1979, the PACER Puppets, a multicultural cast representing children with various disabilities, were introduced to classrooms of kindergarten through fourth grade students. The puppets are each a work of handcrafted art and were created as a teaching tool to educate children about their peers with disabilities and to assist schools in efforts to implement programs of inclusion. The puppets come to life through the puppetry techniques of trained volunteers.
The Center has created various puppet shows to educate students about a range of issues. For example, the Count Me In shows include scripts on blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy and Down Syndrome. Another program, Kids Against Bullying, is designed to helps students and adults learn about bullying prevention. This show is designed for students in 1st through 3rd grade and helps them learn ways to respond if they are being bullied, how to help if they see someone being bullied and, most importantly, that no one ever deserves to be bullied.
The PACER Puppets is yet another example of the powerful role that media such as radio, television or theater can play to encourage tolerance and inclusion, while being entertaining at the same time.
Below, you can watch a short clip featuring interviews with PACER puppeteers.
British Arabs Showcase Multifaceted Identities
Performers at the first Arabic Music and Cultural Festival in London.
In our first video produced for the Common Ground News Service, freelance journalist Nada Akl asks participants of last week’s Arab UK Festival to talk about their multi-faceted identities.
The first Arabic Music and Cultural Festival was held in London on June 26th. Different Arab communities in the city had the chance to gather and showcase elements of their cultures with live music , art exhibits and fashion shows. It was an opportunity for Britons of all backgrounds to experience the diversity of their city and an opportunity to reflect on what multiculturalism really means.
Nada Akl, a Lebanese student pursuing a Master’s degree in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, interviewed many of the people who were attending the event. All of the interviewees had interesting stories to share, ranging from tales of war and exile to stories about love between people from different backgrounds.
“Multiculturalism is not just the messy result of Britain’s imperial past,” Akl writes, for CG News. “It’s more than that, it’s about people and places that keep redefining themselves in terms of their stories, encounters and experiences.”
Below, check out some of Nada’s interviews with participants in the festival talking about their multi-faceted identities:
By Sterling Carter
Food distribution at an internally displaced persons camp in Jos, January 20, 2010 (Reuters)
On Tuesday, I wrote about how Search for Common Ground organized a meeting between community leaders and journalists with the goal of better utilizing media to attain peace in Plateau State. On Wednesday, Search for Common Ground brought together 35 women community leaders and journalists to discuss how we can increase women’s voices in the media. The goal: to give voice to those typically marginalized by conflict in order to attain a sustainable peace.
The two meetings raised similar issues. However, the character of the two groups could not have been more different. The men spoke of their exhaustion: ten years of conflict, neighborhoods and communities torn apart by violence, children raised on hatred and mistrust challenging their leaders, becoming more extreme, calling for more violence. The emotion was raw and powerful and helped more than anything to put a human face to this conflict. read more…
The cast and crew of The Team Sierra Leone take a break in between takes. (Margot Isman)
By Margot Isman
Here in Freetown, shooting has just wrapped up for the new TV series The Team Sierra Leone. It’s a 10 part series that explores issues of corruption, gender equality and political polarization through a fictional football team, which has to learn to overcome their differences and work together in order to score goals and win. The production process has involved a group of mostly first time actors learning the ropes of making a TV show—and reflecting on the issues facing their country eleven years after the end of the war. read more…
One man fights for his shooter’s life
Rais Bhuiyan speaking to a group from Amnesty International earlier this spring (Alex Scott)
By Laurna Strikwerda–-Program Coordinator, Partners in Humanity
Washington, DC – How would you respond if someone tried to kill you because of who you are? I know what my own responses would be: anger, fear, rage. For Rais Bhuiyan, the answer was different: forgiveness.
When I first heard Rais’ story, I could hardly believe it. A Muslim victim of a post-9/11 hate crime was fighting to save the life of his attacker. And one of the reasons that Bhuiyan was targeted – his faith tradition – is also the motivation for trying to save his attacker’s life. read more…
A total of 248 women have reported being raped by soldiers last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo (AFP/File, Gwen Dubourthoumieu)
Search for Common Ground’s country office in the Democratic Republic of Congo has recently launched a new campaign, “Est-il un vrai djo?” (Is he a real man?) to promote positive male role models in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence. In collaboration with Cyberpictures and with support from the British government, the campaign includes five short films as well as three audio spots which will be aired on radio and television throughout the country. Public screenings are also planned for the city of Dongo, in Equateur province.
Violence against women is a major issue in the DRC. Rape in the country has often been used as a weapon of war, but has continued and even increased after the war’s end. It is estimated that there are as many as 400,000 surviving rape victims living in the DRC today. Large sectors of society perceive violence against women as a normal part of life. SFCG has been working to raise awareness about the issues surrounding sexual exploitation and gender based violence, through the use of mobile cinema and programs like Uishe na Upende (Live and Love), a radio show aimed at helping youth between the ages of 15 and 25 talk seriously about their sexuality, their relationships, and how to avoid the risks of violence and exploitation. read more…
