Adversity, Art and Advocacy: Sedra’s Journey
Art and Advocacy
Learn how a Plan International Canada Youth Ambassador is drawing attention to the plight of children living in refugee camps.
Sedra standing outside the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, where she attended the Global Refugee Forum as a speaker.
Dodging bullets and bombs — when you’re only four years old — isn’t how anyone should spend their childhood. Yet that was the situation for Sedra Alshamaly and her family back in 2011, when civil war broke out in their home country of Syria.
“There was fear everywhere,” recalls the Plan International Canada youth ambassador. “We saw people dying right in front of us. We couldn’t do anything to save them, and nothing in our power could’ve helped them.”
Sedra’s family made the difficult decision to abandon everything they had known — their friends and their community — to flee to Turkey. With none of their belongings and no experience speaking Turkish, Sedra and her family attempted to build their lives as refugees.
And while they had thought this move would be for the better, it turned out to be quite the opposite. The family eventually found themselves in hiding after facing discrimination and threats and being robbed. The violence they experienced left them desperate to leave Turkey. It would be another five years before they obtained refugee status in Canada.
“And even though Canada is very cold, the love that was spread by the people here made us feel very warm,” Sedra shared with CBC when she and her sister were interviewed about Elegant Art, their organization that raises funds to support children living in refugee settlements in Syria. “We found the place that we feel safe in, and we can’t just forget about those who are left behind.”
According to this year’s State of the World’s Girls report, nearly 300 million people will need humanitarian support in 2024 due to ongoing conflicts around the world. Those impacted have had their lives disrupted, including their education, emotional well-being and livelihood.
This International Day of the Girl, we’re standing in solidarity with girls who live in conflict around the world.
Read this year’s report, Still We Dream: Girls and Young People Living Through Conflict, and help shine a light on the capabilities and potential of girls and the specific barriers they face.
The power of art
Sedra was 11 when she and her younger sister, Shahd, launched Elegant Art. The pair drew scenes from refugee camps of children sharing their dreams, their struggles, and their fears, and they began selling their canvas artwork to individuals and studios. These images were inspired by articles and videos their father had shown them about life in Syrian refugee camps. After meeting with Plan International Canada youth engagement manager Zein Hindawi, the girls were connected with Cute Roots, a Canadian company that creates wildflower-seed paper cards.
The sisters’ drawings were made into plantable postcards – and Elegant Art as we know it began. To date, they have raised thousands of dollars, which has been was used to support 117 children and nine community initiatives. With a focus in northern Syria, they have partnered with the Molham Volunteering team, a non-profit organization that helps refugees in the country.
“The reason I do what I do is because I feel for all the people who go through harsh difficulties in their life – difficulties that were brought upon them,” says the Sedra, now 16 years old. "And kids, especially, make my heart ache, because I was once a kid who saw all the horrors around me.”
Sedra has another goal in mind as well. She wants people to understand the power of art to tell stories that can inspire change. “We hope that people can see art not just as a hobby, but as a tool for change,” she says.
It’s only the beginning
Another tool Sedra hopes to add to her activist kit is the book she wants to write about refugees’ experiences.
“I want to highlight these stories, not just for my family’s sake, but for the sake of all refugee families who are not able to tell these stories,” she says.
Sedra also wants to create an opportunity for youths living in refugee settlements to tell the world about what they have endured and continue to live through.
“Only then will I leave it to the rest of the world and hope that they will turn around and listen,” says Sedra, adding, “Like my dad always tells me: ‘It’s important for everyone to do things that will make a permanent impact, even if it’s small, and make their time worth it!’”
Are you ready to start your activist journey?
Learn how a soccer game in Bolivia is teaching men and women about gender equality on and off the field.
Talk about poetic justice! Catch the conversation between Celebrated Ambassador Lisa LaFlamme and Nigerian youth activist Pelemo Nyajo on how poetry can spark change.
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