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Hivos Butterfly Peace Garden Allowing traumatised children in Sri Lanka to once again be ‘butterflies’
Children should be able to play, to laugh, to enjoy life. But for years now in eastern Sri Lanka they have not been able to do that. Countless children there have been victim to horrifying experiences. The main cause for this is the armed conflicts between the country’s different ethnic groups. Trauma centre Butterfly Peace Garden hopes to help these children regain their zest for life.
Butterfly Peace Garden wishes to allow children to crawl out of the cocoons in which their war traumas hold them – in order to make ‘butterflies’ of them again. To that end, this Hivos partner uses a special method. Each year it selects, together with parents and teachers, fifty traumatised pupils between 7 and 15 years of age. These children are invited to a special garden two days during the school week plus weekends. There, in a green and safe environment, they can play games, cuddle animals, take care of plants, make music, paint, draw, sculpt, put on stage performances and tell stories.
‘That is not only fun, but it also helps them to process their traumas calmly and to heal,’ says the Canadian Paul Hogan, instigator and advisor of the centre. ‘For nine months the children are coached by creative therapists. These therapists have often been traumatised themselves. Many even spent time in the Butterfly Peace Garden as children. They know from their own experiences that art and play are elements of a healing therapy.’
Hivos has been supporting the Butterfly Peace Garden in Batticaloa since its founding in 1997. ‘If children overcome their traumas and heal, they are much stronger for it and are able to then console traumatised family members or neighbours,’ says Hivos staff member Artien Utrecht. ‘That stimulates peace.’ She visited the trauma centre several times and saw with her own eyes how children’s creations helped them learn to talk about their pent-up experiences. ‘A wonderful thing about this is that they also learn to interact with peers from other ethnic groups,’ she says. ‘Tamil, Muslim and Christian children play side by side in the garden.’
The support for Butterfly Peace Garden is part of the Hivos programme Human Rights and Democratisation. In conflict-prone Sri Lanka, Hivos gives special attention to initiatives that stimulate peace and inter-ethnic relations.
Butterfly garden Dedicated to second-grader - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.comCooper City school dedicates butterfly garden as a memorial to second-grader who died in May
Butterfly garden a memorial to second-grader who died in May
By Chris Guanche | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 21, 2008
When butterflies fly through Embassy Creek Elementary School in Cooper City, they'll have a special meaning now.
The butterflies, and the garden patterned after them, are part of a memorial to Emily Adamson, a second-grader who died of cancer in May. Emily had spent several years battling neuroblastoma, a cancer commonly found in children and infants.
Following Emily's death, students and their families showed an outpouring of support, said Principal Robert Becker.
Becker said the school wanted to feature a fitting memorial for Emily that would mean more than just a plaque with her name. "We wanted to do something special, something that could be used by all children," he said.
Becker said Emily's love of butterflies kicked off the idea to create a garden focused on them. Emily's father, David Adamson, said she collected butterfly cocoons and watched them grow in the hospital during a November 2007 relapse.
"It was always a big thing to her," Adamson said...............
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Westside Plus - Butterfly hub to be ready by year-end, Features,Butterfly hub to be ready by year-end
Posted On Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 02:55:44 PM
Indicators of air quality, prettier insects can help make our city better
Simit Bhagat Bandra
A new butterfly park at the Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP) on the Sion-Dharavi Road is likely to be thrown open to visitors in the city by the end of this year.
The work for developing the park is being carried out since the past two years and experts believe it would not only be an ideal tourist attraction, but also a good place to revive the butterfly population.
Said Avinash Kubal, Deputy Director of MNP, the brainchild behind the park. “Butterflies are indicators of the air quality and if we really want to make our city a better place to live, we need parks like these.”
The project is coming up on a three-acre plot in MNP and is being funded by the MMRDA. The park would have pathways where flowering species, which support butterflies, would be planted.
“It has taken two years to develop this park at a cost of around Rs two lakh. To attract butterflies, we have planted several plants like Peepal, Kadamba, Lantana, Sweet Neem and a few wild plants for nectar and egg laying plants. We are also working on creating mud-puddling sites, where the butterflies can obtain nutrients such as salts,” said Kubal.
The park would be home to several species of butterflies, including some rare ones. India has about 1, 500 identified species of butterflies, while Mumbai has around 150 species. The park is already attracting around 72 species of butterflies and the numbers are expected to rise once the work is complete.
“We also plan to have an education centre, where we would be able to impart knowledge among the general public as well as students about butterflies and about how the systems of nature work,” said Kubal.
Experts believe that the park would contribute to butterfly conservation at a time when green cover in the city is fast dwindling and affecting the butterfly population.
Isaac Kehimkar, an expert on butterflies from the Bombay Natural History Society says, "It's a good initiative that the MNP has taken, and would help in creating awareness about insects among the common people."
Butterfly park awaits inauguration as corporator lands in ACB netButterfly park awaits inauguration as corporator lands in ACB net
Surat: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) ‘clipped the wings’ of Surat BJP corporator Vina Joshi before she could inaugurate the state’s first butterfly park at Sarthana Zoo on Friday.
ACB sleuths arrested Vina, who is also the chairperson of the Gardens and Housing Development Committee, for accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 to regularise an illegal construction in Udhna. Her husband, Jitendra, who accepted the money on her behalf, was also arrested.
The corporator is learnt to have demanded Rs 1.11 lakh from a resident of Udhna Harinagar, who had started the construction work of his house without taking permission from the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).
According to the ACB, the complainant, Devidayalsinh Rajput, a resident of Udhna Harinagar-3, is a land and estate agent, who was building a house for his son in Udhna Karmayogi Nagar-1, Plot 89 about three months ago.
“Nearly a fortnight ago, Rajput came to know that Vina had lodged a complaint in the SMC against the construction. He went to her place in Pandesara, Gujarat Housing Board Colony on several occasions. Vina, who initially adopted a stern attitude, eventually demanded a bribe of Rs 2 lakh, which was settled at Rs 1.11 lakh,” said an ACB official.
