Drawing Hope is a trans-local peace project that delivers messages of hope through children’s artwork, fostering intergenerational dialogue.
Edupaz
Fundación Educación para la Paz
Republic of Colombia
The Education for Peace Foundation (EDUPAZ) is a 25-year-old organization of the Mennonite Brethren Church of Valle del Cauca. This historic journey begins at Colegio Américas Unidas, where the initiative emerged through Principal Gabriel Mosquera and Attorney Francisco Mosquera as a model of resilience and social transformation in the wake of the problems and events that have marked the region. EDUPAZ's fundamental foundation is based on promoting, based on Anabaptist principles, social justice and reconciliation with individuals, families, churches, communities, educational institutions, and social organizations, with a perspective of active nonviolence, peaceful coexistence, care for creation, and human dignity.
As the Edupaz Cali-Colombia Foundation, we are joining this beautiful art exhibition project; because the colors, pencils, and drawings presented here contain different expressions such as joy, wisdom, empathy, compassion, and imagination of children and adolescents as builders of peace in their educational communities and churches. Their strokes inspire us to dream of a world where it is dignified to live for everyone; What's more, many of those dreams are coming true because they are adding to the good practices of peaceful coexistence, friendship, respect for others, care for the environment, love, and the willingness to open our hands to give and share what we have. So art and creativity come together to provide innovative and peaceful solutions to conflicts. That is why we share here the talent of these Colombian children and young people from the communities that we accompany at Edupaz. They are the ones who inspire us every day to keep moving forward and working hard in our contexts to continue sowing peace and hope and reaping life, even when there is pain.
- Martha Cortés, director of EDUPAZ