Creativity as refuge: Nurturing hope and resilience in war-torn childhoods

At seven, Ashuza is growing up in eastern Congo, where war shapes the rhythms of daily life and learning is anything but certain. In the absence of stable classrooms, creativity becomes a way of making sense of the world through observation, small acts of making, and imagination. This piece traces how art and education, often treated as secondary in conflict, are in fact lifelines, spaces where children begin not only to survive, but to reimagine what is possible.