In autumn 2015 the Aleppofriends association, along with Caritas, have initiated the “kids and colours art workshop” with refugee children currently living in asylum homes in and around Stuttgart will join regular creative classes every Monday afternoon.

The background:
The association started as an initiative to safeguard Aleppo’s urban and built heritage. Now, with the conflict in Syria this activity is shifting towards long-term support and strategy for a future reconstruction. Meanwhile, as this is something we can be helpful, the association has widened its scope of work to support Syrian refugees in Germany, particularly in Stuttgart.

The workshop idea:
The intention of this workshop is to invite children to draw their memories of their home country and cities, and their hopes and wishes. Two art therapists and pedagogists have developed a concept to accompany the attending kids in creatively dealing with their past experiences and looking forward to a life in peace.
Children from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Albania and many others attend the workshops.
After some initial difficulties, the concept has been gladly and enthusiastically accepted. Hence, after a very positive feedback by the workshop tutors, the association has decided to extend the workshop with a third extension in summer 2016.

Children visiting the Kids and Colours exhibition in “Globales Klassenzimmer” 5 December, 2016

The afternoon of 5 December was dedicated to all children who were participating in the art workshop.
After an introduction of all visitors the group celebrated with some sweets and juice. Afterwards, a storyteller shared a few tales with the children. Finally, everybody sang songs from their home countries.
The association thanks everybody involved for this cheerful day.