Art show breaks down barriers
by Dusti Moran
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

Twelve-year-old Kevin Clegg needed ideas for a community service project. He hoped to meet the requirements for his bar mitzvah. A mitzvah or "good deed" is required in order to take part in the Jewish rite of passage. So, Clegg came to Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston for guidance and ideas.

"He told me he had a great love of art, and wanted to incorporate that love into his project," said Julie Eberly, director of volunteer services for Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. "I introduced him to two young girls who are artists and who are newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan."

Sara Wahabzada is a 9th grader at Spring Woods High School. She began drawing and painting portraits and postcards when she was 7 years old. Her younger sister, Bilquis Wahabzada, an 8th grader at Spring Oaks Middle School, began her art career at the age of 5, painting a landscaping of her surroundings in Kabul. Both sisters received guidance from their grandfather, an accomplished painter.

The Wahabzada sisters live in Houston with their three other siblings. After their parents' death, due to conflicts in Afghanistan, the youngsters were cared for by their grandfather, who died before they moved to the United States. The family was resettled by Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston, an establishment that has resettled more than 345 individuals from various countries in 2002.

They are now cared for by their 19- and 22-year-old sisters.

"Though Kevin, Sara and Bilquis have been traditionally separated by their faiths, Kevin is Jewish, the Wahabzadas are Muslim, art brought them together," Eberly said.

When given the idea of the multicultural art show, Clegg pondered the possibilities.

"When I started the project, I thought about what is happening overseas, and I thought it would be a neat show - peace between the two religions instead of a threat."

Although Kevin was excited about the prospect of doing something different, his mother, Beth Clegg had apprehensions.

"I had to do a lot of soul searching," Beth Clegg said. "So many Jewish people and the whole state of Israel needs money, and then we go and help people that could potentially help to hurt Jewish people. But, I came to terms with the good things that could come out of this, I thought that one way to help Israel is to help relations with Muslim people. This was absolutely a worthwhile project that needed to be done."

Both Wahabzada sisters seemed shocked, but excited by the prospect of an art show.

"I wanted to show people that there isn't any difference between religions, and there is a possibility to become friends and for all people to come together," said Bilquis Wahabzada. "That is what I want."

In February, Kevin hosted a showing of 20 paintings from the Wahabzada sisters during Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston's Celebration of the Arts. Individual donations and a silent auction of the girls' artwork helped raise more than $3,000 to benefit the Wahabzada family's further resettlement in Houston.

All 12 of Sara's and 18 of Bilquis' works of art, which included pieces created in oil, water color and colored pencil, were sold. In addition to the funds raised, Jerry Roberts, a staff member from Spring Oaks Middle School, donated his 1997 Cutlass Supreme to the family. Raymond Sanchez, who attended the event, also donated fees for the title transfer and car insurance.

"We were so surprised," said Diana Wahabzada, one of Sara and Bilquis' older siblings. "We almost couldn't take it - it was too much."

At the end of the day, Kevin and the Wahabzada girls left with more than a completed bar mitzvah project and much needed money for their resettlement. They began to understand people from a culture different and estranged from their own.

"It was a big help for us and I really appreciate them," Sara Wahabzada said. "It was amazing for us but also for the people who came to the exhibition. They saw two different religions come together to help each other."

Kevin Clegg reflects on the experience.

"All the people who came to the show saw that we can get along," Clegg said. "So, why can't the people overseas? Why can't they change the way they think or act?"

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