Using Art as a Vehicle of Hope and Understanding: Messages FROM Youth in the United States and Africa

Abstract

This chapter summarizes a therapeutic art-based education project in Houston and two United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resettlement camps in Burkina Faso, a small landlocked country in West Africa. The project, which was developed and led by the authors, Be the Peace – Be the Hope, was born from a spirit of hope and concern for the plight of children; particularly, for the mounting numbers of children displaced by war and conflict. Many of these children now live in resettlement camps. The ages of the participating students ranged from 8 to 22 in the camps. Many participating Houston middle and high school students had arrived recently in the United States and several had been refugees themselves.

Citation

Bezette-Flores, N. and Parker, K. (2018), "Using Art as a Vehicle of Hope and Understanding: Messages FROM Youth in the United States and Africa", Sengupta, E. and Blessinger, P. (Ed.) Refugee Education: Integration and Acceptance of Refugees in Mainstream Society (Innovations in Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Vol. 11), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 197-214. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120180000011016