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I Want Him to Live

3 November 2015, Almaty, KAZAKHSTAN – Araily Tolybekova, 15, is a young woman from Aktobe, Kazakhstan. She has been deeply touched by what she heard about the huge displacement of refugees across the Mediterranean from the Middle East and she was horrified by some of the images from there that she saw on TV.

Araily had decided to take part in an exhibition, organized by UNESCO, to mark the 70th anniversary of the United Nations and she wanted to convey in a painting her feelings about the fate of the refugees. The UNESCO exhibition was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in October 2015 and displayed more than fifty paintings, drawn by young people from all parts of the country. One of the most striking images at the exhibition was Araily’s painting entitled “I want him to live”.

“I am deeply touched by the deaths of people, children among them. I painted a boy, and tried to show that the boy in the painting represents millions of refugees, who have to save their lives and families, by fleeing from war. This boy had a chance to start a new life in a new country. I hope all refugees will be saved and given such a chance. I hope wars and conflicts, which force refugees to flee, will stop someday.” – said Araily.
    
Currently, about four million refugees have fled from the conflict in Syria. The crisis has been intensified by refugees crossings the Mediterranean, where many have lost their lives in the attempt. This is what is depicted in Arailys’ painting.

“Central Asia is far from the war zone and has so far been virtually untouched directly by the Syrian refugee crisis. Yet the scale of the crisis is such that this young woman, far away in the middle of Kazakhstan, was moved to express her feelings about the horror of children perishing while trying to find safety. ” – says Bernard Doyle, UNHCR Regional Representative for Central Asia.

Araily currently studies at the Art School in Aktobe, but she is not planning to become an artist. Instead she wants to study architecture. She remarks that, “by my paintings I want to attract the attention of people to the most burning issues. I want them to stop wars and a refugee boy to stay alive”.

Stopping wars and protecting refugees are some of the aspirations upon which the UN was founded 70 years ago. The passion and commitment of young people like Arayli is needed in order to make those aspirations a reality.