Integration through art
By Bobur Turdiyev “Have a look, isn’t it beautiful!” nine year old Renata Karimova is busy drawing a picture of a dolphin. In spite of being born with three fingers, Renata is a keen artist and the winner of several international art competitions. “When I am drawing or sculpting,” she says, “I forget about my missing fingers, instead I think the ones I do have are magic.” Renata is a pupil at the Sanvikt art rehabilitation centre. However, many other children in Uzbekistan do not benefit from a resource like this. There are an estimated 125,000 children with physical disabilities in this country of 25 million people. Insufficient numbers of trained teachers and social workers means the majority of these children don’t have access to any tailored support services. This creates a great barrier to their physical and social development. But for over 100 children in Tashkent, aged from 5 to 17, Sanvikt is a creative oasis and home from home. Through joint creative work, shared problem solving, games, laughs and lots of encouragement, the pupils are blossoming. “We learn and play games together. We really are a family,” says Centre Director Gulsara Rajapova. In this atmosphere of warmth the kids are developing key life-skills, discovering their latent talents and have a chance to creatively excel.
“It is impossible for disabled children to integrate into everyday life without joint education and communication.”
The staff are convinced that regular engagement with non-disabled children is part of the key to their success. “It is impossible for disabled children to integrate into everyday life without joint education and communication,” says Gulsara. “It is also a valuable opportunity for non-disabled children to learn tolerance, surmount deep-rooted prejudices and to become open-minded towards life” she added. "Hasten to create kindness” - motto of the staff of Sanvikt Art Centre. The end of a day means a reluctant parting for some of the children on day visits from other children homes who must return to less stimulating and sometimes less encouraging environments. One pupil expressed her constant worry on waking: “I’m afraid that today they will take another girl instead of me.” Sanvikt is at the very heart of a creative community. Artists, musicians, actors, radio and television journalists are frequent visitors, holding workshops and sharing projects with the children. As do proud graduates, always happy to return to recount their experiences, their stories and their successes and offer inspiration to the next generation. And their successes have been considerable. Some graduates have continued their studies at university or college; others have taken their place among the leading artists of the country. In part thanks to the pioneering work of Sanvikt, the Tashkent city administration has recently started paying attention to the issue of discrimination and the need for the integration of disabled children fully into society. UNICEF has been contributing to the day-to-day running costs of Sanvikt since 2004. It is one of several projects for disabled children that UNICEF supports in Uzbekistan.
Bobur Turdiev, Communication Officer, UNICEF Uzbekistan
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