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April 13, 2003
CHILDREN’S BOOKS REVIEWS: In praise of tolerance
The Human Rights Education Programme (HREP) is a non-governmental organization that was started in 1995 with the aim of developing a caring, tolerant, humane and stable society. It aims to provide children a socially relevant and human rights sensitive education, and to achieve this goal it involves them in campaigns revolving around social issues. These campaigns give children opportunities to understand the world they live in, to positively alter their attitudes and perceptions and be motivated to take greater interest in their communities.
The Many Faces of Tolerance/Burdasht Kay Kai Chehray is a bilingual anthology of children’s poems, written by students of class III to class X, based on the theme of tolerance. Children from schools all over the country were invited to send in poems on tolerance as part of an annual campaign run by HREP. Though such campaigns are held regularly, this is the first time that an anthology based on any campaign has been published.
The book contains 80 odd poems selected from more than a thousand received. Though the campaign on tolerance was run in the year 2000, the anthology could only be published in 2003. An important and positive point of these campaigns is that children are not just given a topic to write on. The theme is first explained and discussed in class. Notes and other relevant material is provided by HREP.
While reading the book one realizes how children think and feel about tolerance which has many faces — tolerating bullying by peers or siblings, teachers’ reprimanding, calamities of nature, each others’ religious beliefs, etc. For instance the following lines convey a profound message:
“It doesn’t matter whether you are a Christian/It doesn’t matter whether you are a Muslim/It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew/It doesn’t matter what religion you follow/What matters is that we are all equal citizens/We are born free to remain free.”
Those who think that children are not affected by their surroundings will have to change their views. Many of the poems in this collection speak vehemently of the violent law and order situation, ethnicity and sectarianism, war and conflicts around the world.
Some of the poems are very simple but when the poets’ age group is considered, one is bound to appreciate the beauty and meaning.
The Many Faces of Tolerance
Bardasht Kay Kai Chehray
Edited by Rumana Husain, Harris Khalique, Zulfiqar Ali
Illustrations by Riffat Aliani
Human Rights Education Programme
www.hrep.com.pk
91pp. Price not listed
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