Director's Note

Creativity is a foundational element of learning. Rooted in problem solving and innovation, creativity encourages individuals to take unique and collaborative approaches to situations. As we move toward a global society with complex problems, creativity has also been linked to human capacity and resiliency. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi opens his TED Talk with exploring the idea of “What contributes to a life worth living?” He engages the audience with thinking about how individuals who had been in war and have lost everything could still move forward and be happy. Alternatively, he points out that while a lack of basic resources can interfere with happiness, an increase in material resources did not seem to increase happiness.

My understanding of creativity and its link to resiliency became more clear to me this past August, when I was invited to speak at a conference at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) in Cambodia on Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR).

This workshop included a visit to Phat Sanday, a floating village in Tonlé Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and a UNESCO site. The faculty of RUPP is engaged with villagers in addressing environmental issues effecting fishing in the area. During the three-hour trip to the village, we were fortunate to travel in eight passenger vans with RUPP faculty and community partners. As conversations grew we learned that the native Cambodians had lived through the Khmer Rouge period. The Khmer Rouge was the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975-1979 and during that time the party set up policies and practices that resulted in severe repression and country-wide genocide, killing nearly 2 million people in a four year period.

As we listened to tragic stories, we also somehow ended each story in laughter. Our storytellers recounted real stories of the fear and trauma that they experienced. Yet, with each recounting of the story, there also came a twist of humor. Maybe it was a trick played on the guards in an attempt to get more food or the sharing of humorous tales that families shared among themselves to find a space of escape in a life of tragedy. With fascination, we heard about how many of the stories of Cambodia are tied to this time in history.

Many of the partners from neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, Laos and Burma, quickly joined in to tell their own stories of trauma and war, all integrating the many endearing stories that were given birth during dark periods of history. Indeed, some of our travellers broke out in song and others shared the world of art and literature that flourished during these times.

As I engage deeper into the creativity literature, it is clear that there is a new paradigm in education. While previous generations valued intelligence and diligence, education is increasingly moving toward passion, creativity and initiative. A UNESCO report from 1996 entitled ‘The Treasure Within’ described foundational elements of learning that are necessary for individuals and societies to thrive in the contemporary world. The report states that“each person’s inner nature is unique. This is often referred to as ‘human capacity’, ‘genius’ or ‘self’. Education serves to develop this and not suppress it in any way”.

When I reflect on the work of UNP and the many partners and families that we have the privilege to learn and grow with, this theme of creativity and its link to resiliency is present. There are new stories of creativity and passion written daily in the neighborhoods that surround the UNP office and in the lives that make up the UNP family. We hope you find genius and self in the stories that follow.