The art2art Children’s Project began in the Pottuvil area on the east coast of Sri Lanka, following the 2004 tsunami.

 

The aim of the project is to provide a healing opportunity for children to express themselves creatively in different mediums and have fun, facilitated by a combination of paid local staff and foreign volunteers.

At present we have ten local staff, five women and five men (one of whom is deaf and dumb), and work with around 500 children. The local population is ethnically and culturally mixed; Muslim, Tamil and Singhalese. Religions include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Surfing.

Below is a short DVD about our work.

If you would like to make a donation, please go to the contacts page. If you are interested in screening the DVD as a fundraiser, please contact us at info@art-2-art.org, putting art2art in the subject box.

In addition to the devastation caused by the tsunami, people here also suffer due to the long running civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), conflict between Tamils and Muslims, globalisation, environmental degradation and pollution, sexism, corruption, domestic violence and child abuse.

The guiding principles of the art2art project are compassion, creativity, peace, empathy, empowerment, healing, education, cooperation, awareness, environmental and financial sustainability, spirituality, beauty and fun!