Sun in Skies, Birds in Trees
The Story of a Cultural Worker
Introduction
Time and again, where in small or large ways the shackles of violence are broken, we find a singular tap root that gives life to the moral imagination: the capacity of individuals to imagine themselves in a web of relationship even with their enemies (Lederach, 2005, p.34).
Claudia Lefko, a preschool teacher and founder of the Iraqi Children’s Art Exchange Project, finds the tender roots and gently nurtures them within a climate of chaos and disaster. Her work exemplifies the four principles of peace building as described by John Paul Lederach in The Moral Imagination. These include the centrality of relationships, the practice of paradoxical curiosity, a provided space for the creative act and a willingness to risk (Lederach, 2005). Since 2001, Lefko has evoked a cross-cultural exchange between Iraqi and American children through the literal exchange of drawings. Simply thinking about Iraq overwhelms me, so I chose to interview Lefko because her work infiltrates the conflict in an incredibly focused manner. Lefko’s project does not solve everything but it has the potential to catalyze other movements toward reconciliation. The following is an account of her story.
During the 90’s Lefko put most of her efforts into local issues, but with the encouragement of activist Frances Crowe she began to work for change in Iraq. Frances Crowe kept saying to me “you care about children so much…” Crowe urged her to look into the effect of the U.S. sanctions on Iraqi children. I came under the weight of this data…they were falling off the map…I wanted to do something.[1]
Lefko decided to go to Iraq in January 2001 with a delegation of about forty people, mostly doctors. The goal of the delegation was to bring medicines and medical supplies to Iraqi hospitals and clinics. I thought that’s not personal, maybe I could have a more personal project. And so it began…. One day… I thought, I could take pictures back for my kids and take their wishes with me…It was one of those shower ideas.
But it was more complicated than simply going into hospitals and finding children. I couldn’t go wherever I wanted and I had to find a sympathetic person. Independently from the delegation, Lefko ventured to a hospital in Baghdad where she met with doctors and reached out to children on her own. She found this experience much more rewarding than traveling with twenty other people. With her collection of children’s drawings Lefko returned to the U.S.
As an American growing up I remember hearing briefly about Iraq; but not until after 9/11 do I recall the images of terrorists filling the T.V., magazines, and newspapers. These negative images can shackle us down and force us to believe things we do not want to believe. Lefko squeezed in between the shackles of violent images by presenting images from real people. The pictures Lefko collects facilitate and encourage Iraqis and Americans to imagine themselves interconnected in what Lederach calls, “a web of relationship.” By working with children she lays the foundation for future generations of understanding. She “recognizes that the well being of our grandchildren is directly tied to the well-being of our enemy’s grandchildren” (Lederach, 2005, p.35).
After 9/11 Lefko became even more determined. She found the media’s portrayal of the other to be horrible. Under the bombardment of these images, Lefko strengthened her resolve to change and make a sympathetic image of Iraqis to counteract the negative.