Campaign for Empathy and Peace by Light of Hope and UNHCR
On 11th December in Mirpur English Version School, students were excitedly waiting after their exam was finished. They were waiting for their favorite character from Goofi, Bluetooth, and Storyteller Tahmina to tell them a story. In the next hour, the children emerged into the performance and interacted with the storyteller and Bluetooth.
Campaign for Empathy and Peace
The storybook called ‘Amar Bondhu Amena’ is about a Bangladeshi boy and a Rohingya girl and how they become friends despite all the odds. They don’t understand each other’s language but still can feel each other’s pain. The theme of the story is about being empathic to each other and helping build a peaceful society.
The story is written by Waliullah Bhuiyan and illustrated by Sahami Zaman. The book is published in collaboration with UNHCR. As part of the book launching program, Light of Hope & UNHCR are jointly organizing the ‘Campaign for Empathy and Peace’ in 20 schools across Dhaka and Cox’s Bazar; providing books to the children and bringing the message for empathy and peace to over 4,000 school children.
In today’s campaign in Mirpur English Version School, the UNHCR Bangladesh Representative Johannes van der Klaauw was present and enjoyed the campaign with the children. The Author and Founder of Light of Hope Waliullah Bhuiyan were also present at the event. They officially launched the book at the event. All the participating children received a copy of the book.
Light of Hope Ltd. – an education company focusing on 21st-century skills for children, believes that teaching empathy and values to children at an early age is as important as literacy. It has been publishing children’s books, providing parenting education, and making audio-visual content for children focusing on these themes.
The world around us is getting more divided and there is growing intolerance of each other. It is creating chaos and destroying harmony and peace in society. It also largely impacts the children who observe them and often learn from them. A very effective way to shield our children from intolerance, hatred, and division is to engage schools and families themselves.
UNHCR and Light of Hope Ltd. partnered together with the joint mission – of bringing change through children by telling them inspiring stories and the power of media. In the ‘Campaign for Empathy & Peace,’ the organizers are engaging schools, teachers, and parents so that the message stays on the children’s minds for a long time.