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| Anas and Ammar Al-Kadry |
As is my routine every night, while in my bed, I fading in and out of sleep, I listen to late night radio. In the wee hours of Saturday nights they broadcast from Ireland, through RTÉ Radio 1, documentaries which are usually very compelling, and I am more often wide awake to listen intently, because these programs are so interesting, often very moving, and leave lasting impressions.
Within Canada we in the beginning stages of accepting 25,000 refugees, and within my own very rural community we are going through the process of getting prepared to accept a family. I've heard bits and pieces of what life has been like for these individuals, and their families fleeing for their lives, but I haven't heard anything really detailed about what has happened to them. These are powerful stories that need to be told, resulting in a real appreciation for who these individuals are, what they have experienced, as Anas and Ammar Al-Kadry, and for the kind of unimaginable, and incredible suffering, dangers they have endured and overcome.
The documentary story by Nicoline Greer, called Sand, Sea, and Smugglers conveys in an in depth way, that enables us to understand the kind of incredible, resilient strength existing within and among these individuals, a strength that many of us can only imagine in a lifetime.
This kind of documentary, and the stories refugees have to tell, might help us to rearrange our values here in our privileged Western world, and what is really important, and perhaps to even see what own purpose in life might be.
As an artist, and in my past as a Youth Care Worker for 20 years, I’ve seen first hand how art and creativity changes lives for the better. I have also volunteered in correctional facilities. Many adult offenders started out as young offenders.
When youth are in Open Custody there is next to no help or support for them or for their families, once they serve their sentence in open or closed custody as young offenders, many of them go right back into dysfunctional familial environments.
If youth are in therapeutic group homes it’s different, they have more support. They’ll have a social worker, psychologist, family counseling etc.
The way the correctional system is set up, particularly closed custody for young offender, is like the adult penal system and they are simply being preened for prison.These facilities are even referred to as jails, particularly by the youth themselves.
80% of adult offenders inside prison have been sexually assaulted, a good majority are First Nations, many have been in long term foster care, in the system for years, and suffer with mental health or addiction issues etc.
Anything creative IS healthy healing, and therapeutic. They sure as heck don’t have much of a hope of “rehabilitation” the way most prisons are set up presently. So yes bring on the creative opportunity!
I say start trying to understand people, especially youth instead of trying to control them!
Here's a informative article by Sarah Poko who works for The Signal in Halifax Nova Scotia, about Youth Now Radio started by Sobaz Benjamin.