MASK PROJECT AND FRIENDS' STORY

MASK PROJECT AND FRIENDS' STORY

Masks are usually seen as for theatre. Those are theatrical and dance masks. Beside them, there are also ritualistic and ceremonial masks, which are unique for each culture, each country.

We have a mask project to firstly learn how to make a mask for ourself, “represent” our face and reflect how we see everything around. It takes couples days for the masks to get dry. And when we come back Omah Petroek from SCJ, we begin our journey with masks.

We paint our masks related to stories of Achi and SayMoo. In front of the mask is our first impression, what we know them at the beginning. And in the back of the mask is what we understand after listening to their sharings. And in the afternoon, we present for our artwork.

Below is what we collect from the story of SayMoo

Before- SayMoo is very kind, he makes us laugh and happy. He works hard and focuses on what he does but when I got to know him, he was a funny guy. He is already searching ways to solve the problem in his state. We see Saymoo as a serious man. He asks serious and deep questions. He never forgets about who he is. When you see his face, he is really kind but when you look at his eyebrows he is strong.

After- In SayMoo’s mask, you see lots of colors. In Karen’s history, from Tibet to Burma, when many tribes came, and had conflict with other groups, Karen people were so kind and honest so they just moved to another places.

Then after the Kingdom, British came… WWII finished, the British gave independence to Burma. At that time, the Burmese didn’t want to let the other ethnic groups have power so they controlled everyone.

Phalla drew a Peace symbol. When he saw Saymoo for the first time, he thought that the blue color or sky it represents hope. Saymoo was born in 1990; but 1994 in ID card, he lives with his parents. He shared to us that in 2004, it was the 1^st time he faced a problem. In their village, they had a problem with the Burmese army…He heard a gun being fired and bombs were everywhere. He and his family hid in a big tree.

Then Saymoo shared about his own masks: The Karen Flag. 2-year experience

The three guys; I went to study in 2005. Many Karen are living in a Catholic dormitory and they go to a government school. In school, Karen, Shan, Burmese and Muslim are studying there. I can’t speak Burmese. Sometimes, when my friends share their story to me but I never share mine because I feel scared of what they will think about me and they know who I really am. I had a Burmese friend. 2006- I had another friend. He is the general’s son. It was 5 months only because he had to go to Rangoon because his father had to do his job there. His father killed himself in front of the meeting because he doesn’t want to go to the front line. 

For Small: His life in refugee, he learned more about social, see diversity, he feels a bit free, safe and relaxed. He stayed there until he finished his education. After that he worked with an organization. There are 7 camps and he likes Maela a lot because it’s like a big city and that he feels safer there. The issue right now, many people haven’t even stepped out of their camp. Many people use drugs. Many of them don’t know what to do next after school because if they go to Thailand they won’t recognize the education the many people haven’t even stepped out of their camp. Many people use drugs. Many of them don’t know what to do next after school because if they go to Thailand they won’t recognize the education they have. Among the Karen people, some also kill each other because even within the camp they have their own divisions. They focus a lot on their independence. He starts learning and seeing the problems/ issues of their people when he lived there and worked with the people. He works as a teacher for 1 year already. Teach them how to read and write and also about their history. His group chose him to be a magazine editor where they send the magazines to all the other refugee camps to let them know what is happening. They also have a radio station. Most of the group members are young.

When we talked about dreams, he wanted to build a school for the Karen people. They have a school but he wants to change it into learning about peace. He also wants to create a social activity in the school. The school will be like a candle that will shine to all the people. He inspired me to think about my country’s issues. He wanted to do something for his people and I hope that Saymoo will carry on his fight/ dream for his people.

Umesh said that we should focus on the inside not the outside. Experience is the most important thing. He wants to organize his people to learn about peace building in many different ways- people organizing, media, radio station. KSNG group heart together. Compassion and love to his people by media and radio. KSNG peace radio. Peace must be built by the people themselves. Children are the soul of the people that is why he wants to focus on the children because they will be the foundation or the hope of the future. He will never forget about the things he’ll learn in SOP 2017 and he will use it to make a clear vision for his people and he can soon become a president. Future plans; he will get married in 2019 so Umesh drew a picture of a family. We hope that he will fulfil all his dreams and that we will all support him.

There is hope as long as the sun is still shining.

Then we listened to Achi’s story

For Yort, Achi is very kind and patient. If I have some confusion in my lesson she tries to explain it to me. She wants to find her own identity because when she went to study, she realized that she was not Indian…she faced many difficulties in her life.

For Chandara, she’s very serious for me. Her lips are very sexy. When she takes off glasses, her face is very attractive. When she went to study, many Indians didn’t know about Nagaland. She started to unlearn and learn about her history. She and her siblings got opportunity to learn. They have many ongoing conflicts. She has many challenges in her life.

She is beautiful. She has lipstick. Identity- she talked about the history of Nagaland where they really don’t know about their history. She shared her story about her childhood where she faced a lot of problem especially when she knew that her mom was her step-mom. She’s the 3^rd child. She has good dreams in the future where she wants to work with her community to know more about their identity. She wants to change. I was very happy when she shared her story.

For Mohammad, everyone always say they’re okay but deep inside they have a problem. I think that you can know more about a person when you get to know them more deeply. She faced many struggles from childhood. When her step mom told her that she was not her real mother, it really struck my heart. She wants to change or remove the negative thing in her community. I hope that she gets transformation from SOP 2017 and that she will share it to her community. I was really inspired by her story. Even if we face many problems, we should cross the road/ find a way to solve it. Men are dependent to women. We must think positively. He also said thank you to Achi because he got lots of energy to continue working harder for his people too.

-          For Marvin, she is already an elder sister. She always cleans our glass and plates – she has a good heart; inside: she faced many problems and the colors represent her experiences. She fights to find her identity. She came to SOP to learn about ways to achieve peace and maybe share it to the young people of Nagaland. She is like a turtle where she was born in a beautiful place and when she went out of the beach- she faced many problems. The ocean is a mystery. Red: brave heart; blue: calm in every situation; black: it’s a mystery – in black there’s love – now she is closer to her mother; all the colors – she is compassionate because when I asked her why she cleans the mugs she told us that when she sees the staff working, she feels that she needs to help or do something. She will be a good mother someday. She has a warm heart.

-          For Max: You know my name but you don’t know my story. Identity was the central part of her story. India – people would follow them, say bad things, groping them. That is when she realized that she needs to know more about her identity and that she was not Indian. She’s a strong person. In every difficulty, there is always hope that springs up. The challenge for me as I belong to a dominant group is that I need to be sensitive about how I treat others. We all need to be sensitive towards the people around us.

-          Tuti imagines Nagaland to be a beautiful place, full of greeneries, and hills. If you can make peace with yourself, you will bring peace to other people. She sees Achi in the future with a grey hair and hopes that Achi will be able to bring change in Nagaland.

-          Finally, Achi shared the mixed colors show her childhood (confused and withdrawn) till she went to university.

She started to ask myself ‘who am I’. In Nagaland, they never learned about their history because they say that their culture is for uncivilized. The identity that has been imposed to you is not really you. She believes that her identity will come from her past and she wants to learn more about it to know more about who she is. For my future – she wrote I AM to show her identity; her eyes are looking.

There is hope as long as the sun is still shining.

 August 12th, 2017