Aanr Fua Loi Ador Dow Yas Saa Thay Hulahala Gori Hawta Bat Tara Hoawn (Heart-to-Heart With My Child) is a joint production of the Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre and the IOM child protection team. This poetic story-in-thread is an imaginary conversation between a child and the people who make up his/her world, including friends, neighbors, and parents. The text and illustrations beautifully bring to life the complex and delicate emotions of a child’s life, and address with sensitivity the dangers that vulnerable children face, including child labour, early marriage, or sexual abuse.

To create this book, ten Rohingya embroidery artists from the RCMC team collaborated over a two-week period, with each woman artist producing four images. After discussing the story text, the artists drew a series of sketches. Then, after feedback from IOM’s protection officer and the RCMC artist-in-residence, they finalized the images for the story and begin to work their ideas onto colorful cotton cloth. The images they created range from scenes of children playing together under a guardian’s watchful eye to a mother’s face rendered in flowers to scenes of singing, laughter, and traditional Rohingya games. With its vibrant images and unique storytelling approach, this book captures the universal hopes, joys and anxieties of childhood through a Rohingya woman’s particular lens.

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Heart-to-Heart with Mother & Child (PDF)

MEET THE ARTISANS
Dildar Begum
Fatema
Lala Begum
Morijan
Rokeya
Salema
Sanjidha
Shamsun Nahar
Yasmin
Zaheda