"What Does It Mean to You Be a Global Citizen?"

Children re-creating crossing the dangerous trip of five days across mountains on foot to get to the border and often means going without food. These children understood what they were re-creating and once on stage became very serious.

This 11 year old girl was first asked about her life in Syrian. She added her friends, and  her jump rope. Then she was asked why she was in the camp, instead of her home country, and she drew the bombs.

Currently, my favorite travel magazine is  AFAR.  The magazine was started by founders Greg Sullivan & Joe Diaz. The magazine asks questions of its readers like "What does it mean to you to be a global citizen?"

In the March/April 2017 magazine, they feature the Dreamscapes from Patrick Willocq. Quoting from Afar:

"Through his series of theatrical photographs he gives a voice to refugee children from Burundi and Syria. While on assignment for Save the Children in Tanzania and Lebanon, he spent five days in
refuge camps playing with the kids, coloring and talking about their life in the camps, their lives back
home, and their dreams for the future. then , Willocq and his team returned to each settlement for a 12-day stints. They then build sets depicting  scenes from these conversations, using prop's made from bought and salvaged supplies. We were actually listening to their stories and doing something  with them, which was a big deal for the kids, The hope is that this project puts the attention of policy makers back on the refugee crisis."

This brings tears to my eyes. Helping these children communicate through the media of art is pure genius. It allows them to work out the horror of the events they have been through.

I applaud Afar Magazine, Greg Sullivan, Patrick Willocq and of course, Save the Children.  How easy it is to forget what these refuges are going through. These victims of war need our help. The magazine has opened my mind to "What it means to me to be a global citizen." I hope that people who read my blog will ask themselves the same question.

The time for action is now.