Art for All is inspired by the true story of a young
girl in Egypt who noticed that the refugees in her
community sometimes had difﬁculty in adjusting
to their new home. She wanted everyone to feel
welcome and to have the chance to be happy!
Determined to take action, she used her love of art
to help the refugees integrate into the community.
This children’s picture book is the result of acollaboration between Ashoka and Worldreader. It
is intended to inspire children everywhere to
become Changemakers and encourage adults
everywhere to support them in their journey.

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Amira lives in Alexandria with her family. Alexandria
is in Egypt — it’s a big, ancient city on theMediterranean sea. Egypt is a country in Africa. The
sun is very strong, and the sea is bright blue withsandy beaches.

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Around the city, Amira sees lots of refugees. They
are often on the streets and need help. At school,
Amira asks about the refugees. She learns thatrefugees are people who have to leave their homes
to ﬁnd protection in another country.

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Amira’s teacher explains that refugees are trying toescape war, violence, or starvation in their homecountries. They come to Egypt looking for safety.
“Egypt is a welcoming country. Families fromdifferent geographies and cultures come to Egypt
to ﬁnd a better life,” her teacher tells the class.

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Amira’s classmate and friend, Rama, is a refugee
from Syria. One day after school, Amira asks Rama
about her experience.
Rama shares how much she misses her friends andhometown. “It was hard to leave,” Rama says, “butmy family needed to be somewhere that is safer.”
Rama loved to sing and dance with her friends inSyria.
Amira listens while Rama talks about her family’s
culture and traditions.

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After learning about Rama’s story, Amira starts tonotice more refugees in her area. At home, she asks
her mother about their lives.
Her mother explains, “They have experienced manyawful things in their homes. And it isn’t always easy
when they come to Egypt. It can be difﬁcult forthem to get jobs, and housing. Sometimes they
don’t speak the same dialect1 of Arabic as us, which
can make their new life here even harder.”Because of language and cultural differences,
sometimes refugees are bullied and made to not
feel welcome. “They’ve already had such a hardtime, we should all show them kindness and love!”
she tells her mother.
Amira asks her mother what they can do to help
the refugees in their neighborhood. They spend along time talking about how they can help makerefugees feel welcome.
Amira’s mother says, “What about using your art tohelp the refugees?”

1 A form of a language that is spoken
in a certain region or by a certain group8

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Amira loves painting and drawing. Her walls athome are full of artwork with bright colors andshapes. Like her friend Rama, Amira loves all formsof art, like singing, dancing, and performing. Art
makes Amira happy, and she likes to tell stories inher work — about her family, and her life.

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The next day, Amira visits a refugee center. She
wants to plan an art class, and invite all the children
in her neighborhood, both from refugee families
and Egyptian families. The Refugee Center thinks
it’s a great idea, and Amira gets several of her
friends to help out.

11On the day of her ﬁrst class, Amira is warm withexcitement. At the Refugee Center she has a room
ﬁlled with paper, paint, and pencils.
Slowly, everyone starts to arrive. At ﬁrst, everyone isquiet. Amira invites everyone to introduce
themselves and share something special about
their hometown. Rama goes ﬁrst, performing adance from her childhood.
One by one, everyone begins to open up and sharesomething unique about themselves. Afterwards,
they draw and paint together.

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The next art class is more lively. Everyone is talking
to each other, and sharing their stories and cultures
through pictures, song, dance, and theater. Amirawatches and listens to them. She is in awe of theirstrength.
Some families have crossed oceans and deserts to
get to Egypt. Now in one room, everyone hassomething special to share.

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At the end of the month, Amira and her friends
hold an art show. Everyone pins their paintings anddrawings to the wall. Young people stand up tosing, dance, and perform skits for their friends andfamilies. People from the town come to watch.
The paintings are amazing! The performances arepowerful! There are so many emotions for eachpiece of art. Some are very sad, and some are full ofjoy and hope.

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At the end of the show, several families come overto Amira. “Thank you so much for holding thisworkshop,” they say. “Our kids have enjoyedsharing their stories with each other. They feelmore
conﬁdent
andwelcomed
totheNeighborhood.”
Amira and her friends feel incredibly proud. Theyare already thinking about how to involve morefamilies in more neighborhoods! “I can’t wait foreveryone to feel welcomed to Alexandria, andEgypt,” Amira shares.

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Activity 1: Mindfulness
Age Group: All ages
Skill: Empathy, Emotional competency
Materials: Paper, pen or marker
Why? Research shows there is a strong correlation
between mindfulness and our ability to empathize.
Mindfulness is a practice of bringing one's attention
into the present moment while acknowledging andaccepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily
sensations. Quite literally, mindfulness creates themental space for children and young people to bothconnect with one another and to learn.
How?
Step 1: Deep Breaths | To kick off, have everyone close
their eyes and walk them through the following steps:
Get out a piece of paper and pen or marker. Then, sit up
straight. Close your eyes. Breathe in and out a fewtimes. (It helps to use a visual: “Imagine there’s a cord
pulling at the top of your heads.”)
Step 2: Draw your Breath | After practicing deep
breathing for a few rounds, it's time to draw our breath.
Open your eyes and grab your piece of paper and amarker or pen.
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With the marker in the middle of the paper,
breathe in and breathe out again, this time
drawing lines for each breath. Don’t raise your pen
from the piece of paper. When you breathe in, you
draw a line in any direction. Keeping the pen on
the paper and when you breathe out, you draw
another line. Keep doing this as you breathe in andout, slowly drawing your own shapes and creative
artwork.
After a minute or two, add color to your art piece.
Draw pictures and patterns, whatever comesnaturally to your piece. Give your art piece a title,
and share with a friend.

17Activity 2: Forget the What. It’s All About the Why
Age Group: 3-12
Skill: Empathy, Critical thinking
Materials: None
Why? Stories enable us to step into an imagined worldand encounter characters, circumstances, and events
they would never otherwise experience. Throughstories, we can step into the shoes of those whoseexperiences are dramatically different from our own
and take on new perspectives. Researchers have foundthat in the process, we overcome preconceptions andarrive at a new appreciation of our common humanity.
When reading or watching a story, we often focus moreon what happened than on why it happened, exploring
the thoughts and feelings that compelled certain
individuals or characters to respond the way they did.
Instead, let’s explore the thoughts and feelings of Amiraand Rama.
How? Take time to reﬂect on what you read and heard,and how their stories relate back to your own lives.
Let’s talk about Rama:●●How do you think Rama might be feeling about
her new life in Egypt?
How do you know?

18Let’s talk about Amira:●●●

What led Amira to lead an art class at the RefugeeCenter?
What do you think Amira felt that moment when
she ﬁrst stood in front of everyone gathered forthe art workshop?
Afterwards, how did this class make her feel?

Let’s talk about you:●●●Can you think of a time when you felt scared orvulnerable?
When a part of you is feeling scared or vulnerable,
what helps you?
When have you been brave? Or when have you
encouraged another person to be brave?

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Activity 3: Your Dream for the WorldAge Group: All ages
Skill: Empathy, Creativity
Materials: Art supplies, paper, pens
Why? Our world is full of complex challenges, where
the decision of one person can have ripple effects
through communities and cultures. Having hope forthe future gives us the fuel we need to bechangemakers. Empathy motivates us to build
something better together and helps us do so withimagination and respect — guided by a deep
understanding for the people and the world around us.
Envisioning a better future can give us all theencouragement we need for ﬁnding our power aschangemakers.
How? Get out a piece of paper and any art supplies you
have. Let’s think big and boldly about the future. Draw
what your dream for the world looks like.
When drawing, think about:●●●

What does a world look like where everyone, like
Rama, feels welcomed and a sense of belonging?
What does a world look like where everyone iscontributing, like all the young people in the art
class?
What does a world look like where everyone, like
Amira, is powerful?

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Hang up your art piece in your home or classroom as areminder of your “dream for the world”. Share your art
piece with a family member, friend, or teacher. Askthem what their dream for the world looks like, too!

21Meet Amira
When Amira was a teenager,
she interned with CARE
International to help withrefugee resettlement in her
hometown
ofAlexandria,Egypt. During her internship,
she met dozens of families
living in refugee communities
and talked to women andchildren from countries like
Sudan, Syria, Libya, andYemen. She leaned on her
passion for art and painting
to launch a social venture
Ohana, to provide art and culture workshops foryoung people. With the goal of building a more justand inclusive community for refugees, Amira andher friends create safe spaces for children to learn
about each other’s cultures and express themselves
through dancing, theater, drawing, and painting.
Today, she is a graduate of Political Science. She
says, “I want to change our cultural norms. Tochange culture, we can share art and traditions
across communities. This is when real change
happens — when you start to change people’s
minds and perceptions.”22

About Ashoka
Ashoka believes the ability to adapt to and drivechange is essential for everyone to thrive in a
rapidly changing world. Ashoka is building a global
community that is laying the foundation for a world
where everyone is a changemaker. At the heart of
the Everyone a Changemaker movement is a vision
to transform the way children and young people
grow up so everyone has the power and skillset tocreate change for the good of all.
www.ashoka.org

About Worldreader
Worldreader believes that readers build a betterworld. We work with partners globally to support
vulnerable and underserved communities withdigital reading solutions that help improve literacy
and learning outcomes for children.
www.worldreader.org

We want to hear from you!
Share your feedback here:232021 Ashoka and Worldreader
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
International License.
For inquiries please contact privacy@ashoka.org or publishing@worldreader.org

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