The project was originally dreamt up as a bridge between the arctic world and the rest. Over the years, also thanks to the collaboration of the Italian nonprofit association Perigeo Onlus, engaged in the safeguard and valorisation of indigenous peoples cultural heritage, it succeeded in involving children belonging to native populations ranging from the ice of the arctic regions to the warm savannahs of southern Ethiopia .
The project invites children to tell other children the stories, traditions, uses and costumes populating their world, through the expressive way of the drawing.
Through the immediacy of the drawing, indeed, the project Friends from the World wants to make new generations become aware of unknown peoples reality, in order to encourage the encounter among different cultures, values, habits and traditions, develop boys and girls listening, meeting and confront skills and contribute to the growth of future men and women able to understand the importance and beauty of cultures different from their own.
Among the educational activities, beyond the drawing exchange out-and-out, the project counts: in-depth meetings focused on the historical, cultural and social realities of the involved populations, exhibitions, didactic workshops, movie screenings.
At present, a permanent polar exhibition has been set up at the Oromo Ethnographic Museum of Kofale, promoting in Ethiopia the drawing exchange project.
Involved children:
- Italian children attending junior and junior high schools from different Italian regions
- Inuit children coming from Isertoq village, in eastern Greenland
- Nency children, living in Jamal Peninsula, in western Siberia, attending the schools of Salechard village
- Ethiopian children belonging to two different ethnos: the Oromo of Kofale, and the Surma of Kibish
