DAVAO City, Oct. 29, 2012—Capturing both still-life and real images, around 30 children of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) showcased to the public their first ever art exhibit which mirrors their portrayal of families detached due to the harsh realities of parents working abroad.
Staging their art gallery forum with the theme ‘Unveiling Stories through Angles and Strokes,’ the children’s artworks are borne from the Communicators Development Training and Mentoring organized by the Mindanao Migrants Center for Empowering Actions, Inc. (MMCEAI), a Davao City-based non-government organization that promotes the welfare of migrant workers as well as their families.
The exhibit was unveiled at one p.m. Oct. 29 at the Davao Episcopal Mission Center, Royal Pines, Matina, this city.
Inorisa Sialana-Elento, MMCEAI executive director, said the exhibit culminates the training held sometime in September for school-based OFW children.
“Our program “Building Capacities and Creating Opportunities for ANAK OFWs” employs undertakings that provide avenues for children of migrants to ventilate their voices and aspirations by enhancing their skills through their various crafts in arts,” Sialana-Elento said.
In partnership with other institutions, MMCEAI taps the role of children of OFWs in shaping local policies and initiatives that aim to strengthen families of OFWs in the city as well as in other parts in Mindanao.
Most of the artworks are the products of children enrolled in different schools in the city which MMCEAI has institutional partnership programs, said Sialana-Elento.
A total of 29 school-based ANAK OFWs from Davao City participated and successfully completed the training through the following art disciplines: visual arts, photography, radio broadcasting and writing.
MMCEAI is a rights-based non-government organization assisting distressed migrants, their families and communities in the key center cities in the Davao region. (Rick Flores/CBCPNews)
