Children ‘Call of Peace’ opens
STRONG MESSAGE: Initiative seeks to promote harmony among world societies
May 9: Nearly 120 children representing 80 countries across the world including Palestine, Syria and Iraq called for world peace in the presence of Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs; Dr Abdulmunim bin Mansour al Hasani, Minister of Information; Dr Fuad bin Jaafar al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries; Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi, Secretary-General of the Foreign Affairs Department and a battery of other key officials from the Oman government as part of the Call of Peace initiative that sought harmony among societies at the Muscat Grand Mall on Monday.
Organised by Value Centre with the participation of several public and private bodies and Unicef, the ‘Call of Peace’ depicted the artistic works of the children that carried a message to the entire world, urging the humanity at large to uphold the voice of peace and reject conflicts and summarise their feelings, thoughts, aspirations and wishes for a better future free from troubles where they can live in peace and dream of a bright tomorrow.
The event is being held over two days, with the support of several parties in the Sultanate and the participation of the United Nations Organisation for Motherhood and Childhood, Unicef, United Nations and the Organisation for Culture and Science (Unesco).
It is considered a message of peace and love from the Sultanate to the peoples of the world. The event that began with Oman’s national anthem and His Majesty’s royal speech on peace also included a number of activities including an art exhibition that contains 150 paintings for children participating in the event, as well as the launching of the event’s logo.
“The aim of organising an event is to send a ‘Peace Message’ to the world through Art. We aim to gather the children of different nationalities who will use paint to express their thoughts and feelings on canvas to form the Omani Map”, Dr Saleh al Fahdi, head of The Values Centre said. “We want to capture how children interpret the Peace Message and then exhibit these to the world where unfortunately today, we witness many wars and conflicts.
As the Sultanate is well known for its promotion of peace, we are pleased to add that Unicef will help us convey our ‘pictorial Message of Peace’ across the world – from the children of many nations living in Oman”, he added.
Artist Ibrahim Gailani, founder of Gailani Art Retreat, helped the children portray their ideas on canvas and send a loud message out to the world.