By Suvendrini Kakuchi
OKINAWA, Aug 20 2007 (IPS)

Theatre can help children cope with violence they face during conflict situations, says a group of professional directors and peace activists.

A seminar held late July on Okinawa island, as part of the annual ‘Kijimuna Festa’, an international theatre event, gave experts from conflict areas around the world an opportunity to share their rich and different experiences working with abused children.

Almost unanimously the verdict, from Palestinian theatre workers to counsellors working with abused children in Japan, was that theatre and the arts ease mental suffering for children.

‘’By watching or participating themselves in acting and story telling, the children are taken through a tragedy they have experienced. The theatre is a place where they can experience a solution to their problems. In this way, they are given a chance to confront and relieve their trauma,’’ said Marina Barham who runs the theatre group – Alharah Theatre – based in Palestine.

The 12-member theatre group works at the grass root level in various oppressed areas in Palestine where children face daily violence in the form of Israel-Palestine conflict and also as a result of poverty and lack of social development.

Okinawa island – that has hosted the annual Kijimuna Festa, a fortnight-long affair since 2003 – itself provided a vivid background for this message of world peace.

The island, with a population of 1.22 million, is stoically pacifist as a result of its tragic war experience that left one in four people dead when it was turned into a battlefront by the former Japanese Imperial army to delay a possible invasion of the mainland by U.S. soldiers during World War II.

The consequences of the war continue to haunt Okinawa and the surrounding islands where the presence of U.S. military forces results in constant clashes with the civilian population.

Festival organiser and theatre director Hisashi Shiroyama explained that Kijimuna – the name of a mythical goblin in Okinawa that symbolises peace – that the role of art and theatre in helping children cope with tragedy was chosen as the theme this year because of growing insecurity in the world.

‘’We chose violence and children for discussion in Kijimuna because this problem is not restricted to countries having a war. Children are the victims of aggression caused by adults in various forms. The growing incidence of juvenile crime may also be the consequence of social violence against them,’’ he told IPS.

Child abuse cases have soared in Japan – reaching a record 37,343 in 2006. Juvenile crime has also risen with more than 113,000 arrests per annum, leading to a new law that allows children as young as 12 years to be sent to a reformatory.

Counsellors at the seminar spoke of how acting has helped to draw traumatised children out from their shells.

‘’We take issues of violence by parents as a core storyline for a performance. Through acting this story, the victim realises what is going on around him. We find at the end, the child has become more self-confident as he understands the reasons behind the abuse and finds ways to deal with it,’’ said Naoko Nomura, who works with troubled children.

During the discussions, experts also cautioned about the overuse of aesthetics for social issues which, according to Nicola Zceineh from Croatia, could defeat the purpose of theatre.

‘’While education is a major goal in theatre, the medium must not lose its original purpose – which is to create a place for children to imagine and discover their own dreams. Artistes are not therapists,’’ he said.

Japanese theatre education expert, Toyoko Nishida agrees. She explained that Japanese theatre for children tends to project a fantasy world rather than deal with reality which makes them unable to emotionally use their imagination when dealing with a social crisis.

‘’Arts programmes for children tend to be about fairy tales and pretty costumes, a notion stemming from Japanese traditional values that believe children are not individuals with their own rights, but rather the property of their parents,’’ she explained.

Nishida is at the forefront of a new movement started by experts to create deeper understanding among parents on this issue and to support theatre directors to bring community issues to children’s theatre, involving the children themselves.

A key factor in the movement is the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child passed in 1989 that supports the child’s right of expression and of which Japan is now a signatory.

A UNESCO report on the future of media and education also outlines the importance of aesthetic education as a pre-requisite for children’s education, and Nishida bases her work to increase theatre education in Japanese schools on this philosophy against the current trend where students follow a rigid school curriculum based on examinations.

On the warfront, Barham talked about her theatre work which has helped children to place value on humanity and peace against the violence around them.

The play ‘Longing for the Sea’ features a group of children in Palestine who long to go to the beach despite Israeli occupation. Through the performance based on song and dance, a story that makes their dream come true evolves.

“Theatre gives oppressed children a chance to relive their childhood in an environment denied them. By going to the theatre they can let their imagination soar and develop a sense of ownership of their lives, empowering them to think and develop their own political thoughts,’’ she explained to IPS.

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