‘Arts Inclusion and Diversity’ symposium highlights sharing of experiences among Asian countries
THE Philippines has a lot to learn from fellow Asian countries namely Japan, Singapore, Hongkong and Thailand. These countries allot budget for their programs and projects for people with disabilities especially for children.
Thailand, for instance, has Lopburipanya School, a special school exclusive for PWDS. The school offers a special curriculum for children aged four to 18 years old. It's a huge public school funded by Thai government and supported by various NGOS and philanthropic individuals, organizations and generous companies. Here, the students are provided with a dormitory, fed with nutritious food, given school uniform and other amenities all for free! Most of the students go home to their families at age 19 by the time they are employed or are ready for household chores which are taught and practice in school during the duration of their stay.
The school houses coffee shop which is being mainly operated by the students from preparing and serving the drinks up to cleaning the area. There's also a beauty parlor where the students are trained in beauty culture, guided by their teachers. Young as they are, the pupils are also being taught other skills such as fruit and vegetable carving, curry and sushi-making. They even join competitions with other schools to further hone their skills. Teenage girls have actual training for laundry, ironing, towel folding and bed-making at accredited hotels while the boys go to authorized motor shops to learn motorcycle accessories and proper assembly. The ever-smiling, soft-spoken Thai teachers also teach weaving, planting and gardening, farming, mushroom culture, carpentry, and selling/ entrepreneurship, among others.
In short, the students are being taught life skills which would arm them when they return to the actual, real world. This special curriculum was developed by Dr. Dr. Sujin Sawangsri, PHD, currently president of Workability Thailand, who was former principal of Lopburipanya. He was an educator all his life before coming to Jaifra farm social enterprise (organic farming) as manager. This unique curriculum is recognized and practiced in the whole region of Thailand which currently has 19 schools replicating the good practices at Lopburipanya School. Check out www. lopburipanya.com for more details.
Meanwhile, a special Saori weaving center is located at Nakano-cho Miyahojima-ku, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.
Here, differently-abled individuals come and train for free for Saori, a handweaving program founded in 1968 by Misao Jo, which had produced over 40,000 weavers in Japan, regardless of age, gender, disability or intellectual aptitude. Today, the weaving technology is present in more than 40 countries including the Philippines.
In between weaving, arts classes on music, dancing and other crafts are held with the PWDS as participants.
Saori focuses on a unique weaving technique: the more mistakes, the better. The result is one-of-a-kind woven tapestry showcasing the individual’s creativity.
Here, the handloom weaving serves as a therapeutic rehabilitation for their physical, mental, social and vocational ability. It features a hand-held lever in place of the treadle in interchanging heddles to lock wefts. The handlooms also promote easy-weaving comprehension as they only need eye-hand coordination for their users.
The woven materials are transformed into products from cute kikay bags, ecobags and lady’s bags, wallets, passport holders, hats, headdresses, stuffed toys, key chains, earrings, scarves, shawls, vests, T-shirts, unisex tops and dresses, among others, and sold to supporters and arts crafts enthusiasts.
Over the years, Saori Osaka has been the training ground among Asians wanting to immerse themselves in the weaving therapy, interact with persons with disabilities and learn Japanese culture.
Just like in Japan and Thailand, various trainings and projects for the PWDS in Singapore and Hongkong continues despite the pandemic though limited with most held online.
In the Philippines, Saori weaving has always been included at Saint Francis Integrared Arts School Inc'.s special curriculum called Saori Hands of Love.
Saint Francis School in Quezon City also served as an urban handweaving center, with four portable handweaving looms from Japan and Thailand, plus 10 looms designed and donated by the Department of Science and Technology-national Capital Region-philippine Textile Research Institute on May 4, 2018.
These are some of the experiences shared during the International Symposium for Arts Inclusion and Diversity, an online webinar held on March 6, 2021.
A collaboration project between Japan and the Philippines, the 4-hour webinar highlighted the exchange of experiences of nine Asian countries, namely, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan.
SFSIAS founder Rebecca Martinez Santos a and Yoko Hiroshiwa of Saori Japan spearheaded the project.
For more information, visit afa@ artforalljapan.org, https://www.facebook. COM/ISAID2021. Japanese version available at http://artforalljapan.org/.
Watch the Saori Philippine presentation at https://m.youtube.com/ watch?v=9_o43txt5ue&feature=share