Students use art skills to aid refugees

National 'Tents of Hope' project created by Petaluma resident

Sacha Meehan Meadow School students involved in the “Tents of Hope” project try to locate Sudan on the globe. From left, Hannah Becker, Ben Rawles, Brandon Chelini and Peter Parrick. Zoom Photo

Young Petaluma children soon will be sitting side by side at desks in classrooms, joyfully creating colorful artistic panels that contain images and messages of peace, compassion and love.

Halfway around the world, other children solemnly sit on the hard ground under tents, their “home” after being displaced — along with 3.5 million other people — from their native country.

The contrast is distinct and striking, but it belies a shared humanness and specific, underlying association between the groups. For, starting Nov. 1, the Petaluma children — 452 students at Meadow Elementary School — will be creating 1-foot-by-1-foot panels on one side of a canvas tent that in December will be brought to the Farchana Refugee Camp in eastern Chad, where children from families displaced by the genocide in Darfur, Sudan will paint panels on the other side.

These students are participating in the Tents of Hope project, created by Petaluma resident Tim Nonn and other members of the United Church of Christ to help bring attention to the plight of Sudanese refugees and build support for them. Tents are being created in around 40 cities throughout the country, and all of them will be brought to Washington, D.C., for a huge display on Sept. 5 and 6, 2008, at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and a nearby mall.

The project is being supported by several global and national religious organizations, including the National Council of Churches USA, United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Church World Service, American Jewish World Service and Lutheran World Relief.

Locally, students from Corona Creek Elementary School and other local schools also plan to participate in the project. Nonn never imagined that so many local students would be interested.

“It has surprised me,” said Nonn, the national coordinator for Tents of Hope. “These students haven’t experienced genocide, and the refugees are on the other side of the world. But they understand the ethical issue that is involved, and want to help the refugees.

“Children often want to open their hearts to innocent people who are suffering. As adults, we often block them out. Hopefully, this project will help.”

“Kids are good at heart and want to help others, but sometimes don’t know what to do,” added Melissa Becker, Meadow’s principal. “It’s up to adults to show them how to channel their desires.”

Local adults who want to get involved in Tents for Hope will have the opportunity. Members of several local groups are applying their artistic talents to 8-foot-by-10-foot pieces of canvas, and the official launch of the Petaluma Tents of Hope project is scheduled for 2-5 p.m. on Nov. 10 in Walnut Park, at Petaluma Boulevard South and D Street.

The event is open to everyone, and will include tent painting, music, food, a booth for writing letters to advocate help for the refugees, fund-raising for relief efforts, children’s art activities and a display involving Farchana refugees. And organizations will be able to sign up to host and paint a Tent of Hope for two weeks.

“We will order as many tents as we need. Once we fill one up, we’ll order another one,” said the Rev. Dave Weidlich of First Presbyterian Church, who is co-chairing the local effort with Ken Roman of B’nai Israel Jewish Center.

The group is seeking participation from schools, businesses, civic organizations and faith communities, and is suggesting donations of $50 from individuals and $200 from groups. So far, representatives of the UCC, First Presbyterian Church, B’nai Israel Jewish Center, Elim Lutheran Church, Meadow School, Corona Creek School and local artist Chris Newhard are on board.

Nationwide, the tents are being purchased from Reliable Tents and Tipis in Billings, Mont., at a large discount. The tents come with a frame, and normally cost $800 to $900, but are being sold to Tents of Hope project participants for $500. For each tent purchased, Reliable Tents and Tipis is making a 14 percent donation to the project.

The tents symbolize both loss and hope, says Jerry Fowler, the director of the Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and one of the coordinators of the event in Washington, D.C.

“For refugees, the tent is a symbol of loss,” he said. “Every time they come back to their tents, they are reminded of what they used to have, what was taken from them and their longing to return home. Yet, even though the tent represents loss, they immediately humanize their situation by creating a new life. In the camps of Chad, this is most obvious from the fences and screens they build around their tents with sticks and grass, and the little plots they scratch out next to their tents to grow vegetables.

“Loss and hope exist side by side. This is not only true for people uprooted from Darfur: It is the human condition. Our ability to create and sustain hope in the presence of loss — even enormous loss — is one of humanity’s most exalted characteristics.”

(For more information, contact the Tents of Hope Petauma Web site at tentsofhopepetaluma.org; Weidlich at 762-8269 or dave@tentsofhopepetaluma.org; or Roman at 364- 8562 or romanincal@sbcglobal.net. Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)