the exhibition was held at Maverix-SketchCrawl Benefit Auction to Help Civilian War Victims Sunday May 20th, at Maverix Studios. Maverix Studios made the Auction of Total $10,387!!!! all the proceeds went to EMERGENCY USA, Life Support for Civilian War Victims. according to Emergency, in war-thorn countries 7% of victims are soldiers, 93% are civilians, 34% of victims of war are children. such extremely high percentage of collateral damage is the staple of modern warfare. Emergency is an organization that is building hospitals and bringing care and human rights in these countries (such as Sudan, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Erithrea).
check out some of the event pictures at the Maverix website.
..there should be more efforts like this..art can be used to heal in more than one way! thanks Sho for inviting me!
strangely, it was not the first time that Gino Strada, the founder of the organization, inspired me to do something for the greater good...
Five years ago, i saw a documentary about him, called" Jung (War) in the Land of the Mujaheddin" (2001), in which he goes to Afghanistan during the civil war (before 9/11) to establish a hospital there for civilian war victims...
the film is powerfully moving and it's equally disturbing... it certainly doesn't spare the audience from brutally painful images of human suffering (in one of the hospitals, one can see how doctors don't even have proper instruments to amputate, and how they are forced to operate with a rusty saw blade...not for the faint of heart)...
(For more about the film, check out reviews of indiewire.com and offoffoff.com
it was this film that inspired me to find the refugee camps in Hungary and volunteer for the refugees and for Cordelia, a Hungarian non-profit organization that provides psychological care for torture and severe trauma survivors...it inspired me to help specifically the Afghan community in Hungary and in the States with volunteer works..these projects had many fruits, in one of which i coordinated with Afghan Communicator to organize the first Afghan Art and Human Rights Film Festival here in Boston a few years ago. people who are not directly involved with current Afghan affairs are starting to forget about Afghanistan again, despite the fact that the security situation is progressively degenerating and the living-conditions are still extremely hard and inhumane for most people...there is so much to do, and there are so many little ways that one can make a difference...many people who want to help others think in grandiose plans but than they get discouraged...but helping even one person could save so many generations...saving even one life from total neglect and alienation, lifelong suffering and lack of opportunities is an incredible feat!
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