A children's book of fairytales featuring artwork by migrant kids has been published in Thessaloniki, Greece and distributed in schools, public libraries and local migrant camps in the area as part of an initiative by non-profit organization Action Art.
The book, which is called "The Treasure of Kurdish & Syrian Folktales" is available in both Greek and Arabic and features eight beautiful stories with happy endings about princes, animals and children. The book is dedicated "to all the people that tell stories, smile, open their hearts, and go on despite all the difficulties." Local migrant and Greek children helped design the artwork with colorful drawings for the cover of the book together as well as its inner pages. Raising awareness A total of 3,000 copies have been printed and made available free at selected public and cultural spaces, as well as schools, with the aim of educating both children and adults on the refugee issue."Fairytales break down borders" said Rodanthe Dimitresi, spokesperson for Action Art, adding that many of the stories included are similar to Aesop's fables and stories in Greek folklore."Through this, we hope to build both the awareness of children and residents of the city on the migrant issue, while helping the migrant and refugee children in their efforts to learn the Greek language and make them feel welcome here," Dimitresi added. The initiative is another positive story coming out of the Northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, where much is being done to support the plight of migrants in the area. Action Art initiative The inspirational project lead by Action Art is part of a project called "Bridging the Exchange of Ideas-Enhancing Communities" by the NGO INTERSOS, an organization funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It started last autumn at the Derveni refugee camp which then hosted around 600 migrants. Over 100 of them were from Syrian and Iraq and they agreed to tell stories from their homeland and folklore tales to the children. Local aid workers were astonished when they saw young children flooding the room for the stories, listening and watching enchantedly as the storytellers narrated their tales accompanied with animated body movements and songs.
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