“Understanding Our Human Rights,” an exhibition-workshop organized by our Siberian Creative Group, held its opening Friday, October 20th, at the Theater of Youth in Ulan Ude.

We began to visualize this project last summer, while several of our volunteers were participating in summer camps organized by SCI-Germany. Our volunteers came back with lots of ideas and enthusiasm, and by mid-September we had begun to plan and develop a human rights exhibit. Our initial vision became clearer and more inspiring during the process of work, development and creation.

Our exhibition focuses on tolerance in a human rights context. It includes many different exhibits. One exhibit invites visitors to explore and experience the difficulties disabled people face every day. Another features videotapes of our first visitors, explaining what “human rights” means to them (the most interesting of these will be broadcast on a local youth television program). There is a wall on which visitors are asked to express their understanding of tolerance. We have a mirror in which visitors see themselves in the company of great human rights leaders, and a distorted mirror to symbolize society’s sometimes distorted views of individuals. We have displayed collages that our volunteers brought from their German summer camps. There is a map explaining human rights abuses in different parts of the world, and a figure dressed in clothes from different countries to show that we all live in one world – we are interconnected and interdependent. If we want to achieve justice, unity, peace and harmony in the world, we can only do it together.

This emphasis on interconnection is not only our goal, but our practice. Our exhibition emerged from a network of people and events. Take, for example, the poem that hangs in the entrance to our exhibit. Its route to our exhibit began at a strategic seminar in Berlin. There, John Myers, the senior manager of the YNTF-project, recited this poem, citing it as one of the things that motivates him in his work for SCI. The poem remained in Vica’s memory. When she returned to Russia, she shared it with James, a long-term volunteer from Ireland who was working in a local orphanage. He found it on the internet and distributed it among our group. As the volunteers prepared for the exhibition, Oxanna Dorzhieva remembered the poem and suggested we use it. Natasha Svoboda had an idea for a design, Lena Svistunova prepared a Russian translation, Zhenya Yendonova made the frame, and so on. Now the poem hangs in the entrance, reminding us that all we’ve accomplished, we did together, helping and supporting each other, collaborating together.

This collaborative, open method also reflects the exhibit itself. We hope that the exhibit will grow and change as visitors come and see what there is, react, and add their own experiences and ideas. We hope the exhibit can be a place where we learn, seek, reflect, and share our opinions.

We have also planned many events to augment the exhibition. Our volunteers will provide interactive tours for the many student groups that are coming. We are organizing weekly lectures, discussions, role-playing games, and films. For example, we are planning a discussion of the differences between Russian and American perceptions of World War II, and presentations by both an NGO that promotes the rights of the disabled and a woman’s organizations. There will be events on Crystal Night and Day of Tolerance. Then, after a month, we will take our exhibition out of the city and into the regions. The Youth Ministry of Buryatia has agreed to help us with this project. We also have help from a group of students from the Pedagogical College, who are working in the cloakroom during our exhibition. And there are many other people who are ready to support this project. When the idea came, it was impossible to stop it. It was time for such a new idea in Buryatia. It was time for a full understanding and appreciation of our human rights.

Here are a few notes from our guest book:

Well done, guys! You’ve made a lot of progress in our Republic.

I hope your efforts bring many followers and supporters.

It’s great for young people to talk to other young people about human rights and freedoms, understanding their importance. Good luck, and don’t stop with just this!

E. Radnaeva

Dear organizers!

Please accept my sincere delight. I was impressed by the amount of material, the creative performance, and your sincere desire to promote human rights.

Congratulations on the opening of your first exhibition! 

L. Sandanova

Hello, “great creators”!

We know that youth are part of a special socio-demographic group, especially able to change the world for the better. This workshop, in my opinion, will help youth see, read, and understand the problem of human rights – but it is also a reflection of the energy of the young to create and spread understanding.

Thanks to all of those who participated in creating this workshop!

Olga (from the newspaper “Chas Pik”)