Syrian refugees turn peaceful page with colouring book
Local Syrian refugees are tracing a peaceful road map through Calgary with pencil crayons.
Fronted by a rendition of the city’s Peace Bridge, Colouring Peace in Calgary is a page-turning welcome for those who’ve fled Mideast conflict, says one of the colouring book’s creators, Carolyn Pogue.
“It’s to help them find their way around the city and to emphasize that Calgary is a city of peace,” said Pogue, whose Hillhurst United Church colleagues brainstormed the project.
Taking inspiration from similar efforts in Toronto and Windsor, Ont., the group, whose church is sponsoring a Syrian family of seven, recruited 26 professional and amateur artists to produce images that represent Calgary.
Among them are landmarks such as Heritage Park, Peace Pole, the Centre Street Bridge, Nose Hill, the Chinese Cultural Centre and Stephen Avenue Walk.
Captions are not only in English and Arabic but in Blackfoot, to remind the newcomers they’re now living on First Nations’ traditional territory, said Pogue.
“It’s helping them understand they’ve arrived someplace special.”
Those drawings to be coloured in and the artists’ tri-lingual explanations are also meant to impart a narrative of peace for people who’d known little before they fled their homelands, said Pogue.
“It’s the city speaking about peace and these artists wanted to contribute,” said Pogue, who noted the book contains an endorsement from Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
“With the terrible bombings that have been going on in Aleppo (Syria) lately, it’s just made what we’re trying to offer people even more poignant.”
Artist Urszula Ciechanska, who contributed a drawing of a Blackfoot dancer at the Calgary Stampede, said visuals are an ideal tool of welcome.
“Pictures are a universal language and open doors to understanding when there is a language barrier,” she said.
A local printer has produced 500 copies of the book at a discount rate, added Pogue.
They’re being sold for $10. With each purchase, one of the books is given to a Syrian refugee family.
They’ve struck a chord with the Yassin family, which is being sponsored by Hillhurst United Church, said Pogue, who expects demand for the books to quickly grow.
“Everyone feels enthusiastic about it ... I think we’re going to have to do another printing soon and we haven’t even figured in Christmas yet,” she said.
Colouring Peace in Calgary is available at St. Andrew’s Centre, 1 10601 Southport Rd. S.W., and at Sunnyside Art Supplies, 132 10th Street N.W.