{"id":4461,"date":"2023-03-02T00:28:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T05:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charlesconklin.com\/4cambodia\/?p=4461"},"modified":"2023-03-02T02:49:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T07:49:10","slug":"clay-pots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charlesconklin.com\/4cambodia\/2023\/clay-pots\/","title":{"rendered":"Clay Pots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the peacebuilding exercises that we’ve seen Women Peace Makers (WPM)<\/a> and Peace Bridges Organization (PBO)<\/a> use here in Cambodia is to split the training participants up into small groups with the assignment to work together to paint a clay pot with their vision of the future that they want for their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Interethnic youth painting their vision for the future during a training by WPM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This is, usually, after an initial period of building some trust among the group – who may belong to different ethnic groups, religions, economic backgrounds, or social classes – and is presented as an important set in illustrating, through art, what they hope for their communities. It, also, involves working together; it’s not just one person’s vision for the community. Despite our different cultures and backgrounds, our hopes and aspiration are usually not so foreign after all. <\/p>\n\n\n

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ODOV staff painting their vision for the future during a training by PBO.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The painted clay pots are evocative and optimistic. The visions of the future communities are beautiful, especially when they’re presented by a group of diverse people who share a common commitment to peace. Art can help us to express and understand things that we struggle to convey with words, especially across communication barriers like language, culture, and disability.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Participants from WPM’s interethnic youth peacebuilding project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

And then our partner staff, who are facilitating this activity, take each group’s carefully painted clay pot, covered with hope for the future, and smash <\/em><\/strong>it into pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s right. Without warning they suddenly take and break the artistic expression of everyone’s hopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes this is done while the participants are out of the room during break, they return to discover that their pots have been broken. Other times this is done while the participants are in the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n