Batang Karapat Dapat: Artists Come Together for the Rights of the Child
It takes a village to raise a child. — an African proverb
Last November 20, 2019, CANVAS celebrated Children's Day and the 30th Anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child with the opening of a four-day mini-festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
With our own “village” of partners and volunteers, we gave away hundreds of copies of our activity book on children's rights Karapat Dapat: Child, Know Your Rights! from which the whole event was inspired.
Spread out over November 20 to 23, we held art, dance, and shadowplay workshops that culminated in a three-act musical play entitled “Mga Kwentong Karapat Dapat.” The play was an adaptation of three of CANVAS’ storybooks: Tahan Na, Tahanan, Inang Kalikasan’s Bad Hair Day, and Nadia and the Blue Stars.
Bringing to life these stories were world music group Anima Tierra, Daloy Dance Company, and Anino Shadowplay Collective, with performance by and direction from Abner Delina, Jr. (aka Kuya Fidel of Batibot Revival). In each story, the play explored the roles and rights of children in the home, society, and environment.
As many of you may know, human rights is a controversial topic here in the Philippines. Happily, we have found that this book about the rights of children -- to play, to learn, to be healthy, to grow and be nurtured in a safe environment, and many more -- has found exceedingly broad support. Many groups from all sides -- from government officials and agencies, to nonprofit organizations, to human rights activists, to doctors giving free clinics to ordinary students, and to artists going to the field -- have helped us bring the books to children in all corners of the country.
Event sponsors include the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), the Direct Aid Program (DAP) of the Australian Embassy in the Philippines, Save the Children Philippines and the Araneta Foundation. Admission to the shows were free, but by reservation only.
Check out some of our behind-the-scenes photos below!
