Seventh-day Adventist® Church

Adventist Youth in the United Kingdom and Ireland

Menu

ADRA Art Contest - World Refugee Day 2021

 

Seventh-day Adventist Church Inter-European Division,

Seventh-day Adventist Church Trans-European Division,

ADRA Eu 

ART CONTEST 2021

“HEAR ME. SEE ME. WALK WITH ME.”  

A call to be creative and support foreigners among us

An image is worth a thousand words. The Art Contest “Hear me. See me. Walk with me.” encourages young people across Europe to use their creativity to learn, understand, and support people forced to flee their country.

This art contest is your chance to use your creativity for a good cause. Worldwide, more than 80 million people have fled their homes to escape conflict and persecution. Children, youth and families can use their talents to share the message that everyone deserves to be treated with practical kindness, justice, compassion and love – to live as God intended.

 

GUIDELINES FOR ENTERING THE ART CONTEST

Who can apply?

The contest is open to all children and youth aged 5 to 25 years and to families.

All artworks must be the sole and original work of the participators. Parents/guardians may provide minimal help to younger children.

Contest entries will be divided by age, and the most outstanding artwork will be chosen from each age category. Artwork will be evaluated by the art committee.

Age groups:

     5 – 9 years

     10 – 14 years

     15 – 18 years

     19 – 25 years

     Families

 

The Deadline to submit art creations is Sunday, 23 May 2021.

 

Themes

  1. EVERYONE WELCOME! Everyone is worthy of kindness, compassion, and love. We should all be kind and compassionate to each other, welcoming the stranger among us.
  2. EVERY CHILD IN SCHOOL! Every refugee child should be given a chance to receive a quality education.
  3. EVERYONE SAFE! Everyone refugee should have a choice to be protected from the deadly virus.

 

Example of artworks that can be submitted:

     VISUAL ARTS like pictures, photos, sculptures, etc.

  • Pictures: Draw or paint a picture by hand on any type of paper or canvas. Then scan or take a good quality photo of your picture. Or create your drawing on your computer using a design program, ensuring a minimum quality of 300 pixels.
  • Photos about one of the three themes.
  • “Green” artworks: Artwork made up of at least 90% recycled material. These would be items that would otherwise be thrown away or recycled after use. Items may include metal cans, plastic bottles and containers, paper, cardboard, etc.

     VIDEO & ANIMATION ARTS like animations, videos, short movies, or an interview with a refugee, the maximum length of 3 minutes or 5 min for an interview.

     Song, poem or music:  the maximum length of 4 minutes for a song or a piece of music.

     Any other piece of art not specified above. All artwork is welcome!

 

How to apply?

Interested candidates can submit their work online in jpeg, pdf or png formats by clicking on official site of ADRA Europe (www.adra.eu). The last date to apply is 23 May 2021.

 

Who will win?

All who participate win and will receive a participation prize – winner certificates. Contest entries will be divided by age, and the most outstanding piece of art will be chosen from each age group. Some artwork may be used to further promote the education of all children, shared on social media and used as education material for raising awareness about the migration issue as widely as possible. Winners will be awarded awards and experiences appropriate for different age groups. For example: a gift vouchers for attending a Camporee, Youth Congress or Volunteer experience of ADRA projects in Europe.

Artwork will be evaluated by the Art Committee. Members will evaluate based on creativity as well as how effectively it conveys the message of kindness, hope and solidarity. The reach of the artwork on social media will also be considered (each participant is welcome to share the artwork on their social media).

Winners will be notified after judging is completed (by 10 June 2021 the latest). The online award ceremony will take place on 19 June 2021.

 


ABOUT & HELPS FOR LEADERS

Young artists are kindly invited to prepare artworks that will “touch” one of three themes explained below. Each participant is welcome to explore thematic further with parents, teachers, friends, and the faith community. All around us live people who were forced to flee persecution, violence, hardship, war, … Listen and think about their stories.

In addition to personal engagement and interaction with refugees, we highly recommend online teaching resources about refugees, migrants and internally displaced people prepared by ADRA International (https://adra.org/worldrefugeesabbath) and the UN agency for refugees (UNHCR). Materials are developed for age groups (6 – 9, 9 – 12, 12 -15, 15 – 18 years). Link to resource page: https://www.unhcr.org/teaching-about-refugees.html.

Video reports and materials from previous years are available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVMGuiW0EE&list=PLHlTyU7ArSTI4bHWyf-qRp_FnaneJ7Tru


FAMILY WORSHIP RESOURCES WITH KAREN HOLFORD - download here

WHO are refugees?

Refugees are people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. They often have had to flee with little more than the clothes on their back, leaving behind homes, possessions, jobs and loved ones. 

These journeys, which all start with the hope for a better future, can also be full of danger and fear. Some people risk falling prey to human trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Some are detained by the authorities as soon as they arrive in a new country. Once they’re settling in and start building a new life, many face daily racism, xenophobia and discrimination. Some people end up feeling alone and isolated because they have lost the support networks that most of us take for granted – our communities, colleagues, relatives and friends.

 

EVERYONE WELCOME!

Every day, all over the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life.

There are many reasons why people around the globe seek to rebuild their lives in a different country. Some people are forced to flee persecution or human rights violations such as torture. Millions flee from armed conflicts or other crises or violence. Others no longer feel safe and might have been targeted just because of who they are or what they do or believe – for example, for their ethnicity, religion or political opinions. 

The world is witnessing the highest levels of displacement on record. UNHCR estimates that global forced displacement has surpassed 80 million in mid-2020[1].  An unprecedented number of people around the world have been forced to flee from their home by conflict and persecution and over half of them are under the age of 18. There are also millions of stateless people, who have been denied nationality and access to basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement.

In the Bible, we can read about God’s position regarding foreigners among us. Thousands of years ago he told us:

     “The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.” - Psalm 146:9

     “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” - Deuteronomy 10:19

     “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God. - Leviticus 19:34 (NIV)

We, as God’s children are called to show justice, compassion, love, and practice kindness to the strangers among us – to people from Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, and other countries.

 

EVERY CHILD IN SCHOOL!

Conflict is one of the most significant factors impeding children’s access to education. Children in fragile, conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be out of school than children in non-conflict affected countries. Of those out of school, 35% of children of primary school age, 25% of adolescents of lower secondary age, and 18% of youth of upper secondary age live in conflict-affected areas.

In Yemen, the ongoing crisis is affecting the education of its 6.5 million school-aged children. School closures are common, with teachers being forced to look for alternative work when they are not paid for months at a time.

In the Central African Republic, civil war has seen school buildings destroyed by conflict, families displaced and children put at risk of being recruited into armed groups and forced into child marriage. This crisis has deprived an estimated 500,000 children of the opportunity to attend school and receive an education.

Furthermore, conflict fuels the global refugee crisis, with individuals and families facing on average 20 years of displacement due to conflict. And refugee children are five times less likely to attend school than the children who live in those countries to which they have fled. In 2017, four million refugee children were out of school, which was an increase of half a million from the previous year.[2]

 

EVERYONE SAFE![3]

Millions of refugees worldwide are exposed to violence, family separation, culture loss and exile. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) exposes these populations to a new threat, one that could prove to be more devastating than the events forcing them to flee their homelands.

Refugees are vulnerable to COVID-19, as they live in conditions that disproportionately increase their risk of contagion. For example, in densely populated refugee camps, social distancing is challenging and if basic sanitation is lacking, proper hand hygiene is close to impossible. The situation is worsening by language barriers that refugees face in host communities and their limited access to health care for obtaining health information, testing and treatment, which some may even avoid out of fears of being deported. The refugees fear being isolated in quarantines and separated from their families, or even killed to slow the pandemic. The social stigma associated with COVID-19 may encourage illness concealment, delay early detection and treatment, increase distrust in health authorities and prolong recovery.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has strained the finances of governments, non-governmental organizations and humanitarian agencies that serve refugees. This economic hardship might interact with past trauma exposure to prolong and exacerbate mental health conditions in refugee populations.

Lastly, overlooking mental health conditions, exacerbated by the socioeconomic hardship caused by this pandemic, will complicate refugees’ integration and increase the uncertainty they endure.

Happy creating!