PH embassy in Oman invites OFW's children to share stories through art and literary contest



By: Tricia Aquino, InterAksyon.com
MANILA, Philippines -- While there have been many stories about overseas Filipino workers, those of their children, who go with them from place to place, have not been heard too often.
The Philippine Embassy in Muscat, Oman, through itsSentro Rizal cultural center, is giving these young overseas Filipinos in the Middle East the chance to tell their own stories through an art and literary competition, “Art as reality: Young lives in transition.”
“Paint or draw, write an essay or poetry, choose any creative form of medium that would best illustrate your personal story of transition and adjustment in a new country. You may also describe your own different ideas of transition and how they relate to your experience as OFW children,” the instructions on the Philippine Embassy’s website say.
The contest is open to Filipino students in Philippine Schools Overseas-listed institutions in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates who are eight to 18-years old during the school year 2012 to 2013.
One or both of their parents must also be working in any of these six countries.
The winners’ works will be published in a coffee-table book and be featured in an exhibit during Independence Day celebrations next year.
Students have until October 15 to submit their entry forms to their teachers and until November 7 to hand in their works.
Entry forms can be accessed at http://www.muscatpe.org/artandliterary.html.
The Muscat embassy’s Sentro Rizal -- the first of its kind in the Middle East, and similar to the one in Intramuros, Manila -- was launched during Independence Day this year “to give Filipino expats in Oman and their children an opportunity to reconnect with their homeland through books, films and other published materials,” according to its website.
In the same month, the center showed the Cesar Montano-starrer José Rizal to junior and senior high school students from the Philippine School, Oman, to commemorate the National Hero’s 151st birth anniversary and allow the students “to reconnect with their nation’s colorful history, thus instilling pride and nationalism."

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