St. John's teacher uses art therapy to help refugees in Iraq

As the province prepares to welcome its share of the25,000 Syrian refugees coming to Canada, one St. John'swoman is working to help those displaced in Iraq.

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MariaMulcahy,28,a teacher living and working in Iraq, volunteers with the Castle Art Project, a workshop held once a week in the northwestern city ofAkre.

"We just go up there and we help them learn how touse different painting techniques,drawing techniques they're in control of the project," says Mulcahy, who has also taught in Yemen.

In an interview with CBC's St. John's Morning Show, Mulcahy said the therapy group is aimed at teenage girls, all of whom are Syrian fromDamascusandother towns along the Kurdishborder.

"They come up with the ideas for their drawings, which can be as simple as flowers or birds."

Mulcahy said the teenagers are also refugees, and their art showcases"a lot more abstract and visceral images of the conflicts that they've seen."

The group has started aTumblrpageto showcase the young artists of theAkrerefugee camp.

Living behind bars

The camp is on the site of aformer Saddam Hussein prison, and the Syrians displaced there live in its cells.

"The project was born out of the desire to make this a more livable place, a more positive place, to be surrounded by colour and images."

Despite their traumatic experiences, Mulcahy said thegirls are also regular teenagers.

"They've had a lot of life experience and it comes through ... But they're also teenage girls, and teenage girls are teenage girls wherever they are if they're in St. John's, if they're in Iraq, if they're in a refugee camp."

One teenager, Mulcahy said, painted a portrait of herself anda boy she met in the camp.The boy and his family recently moved to Germany, leaving the teenage girl heart-broken.

"This is the feeling of a normal teenage girl who's experiencing something we've all experienced," she said.

A long way from home

The city ofErbil, where Mulcahy lives, is fairly secure. However, 30 miles away, the city ofMosulhas become"anISIL[IslamicState Iraq and Syria]stronghold," she said.

"Russia has been engaging with Syria quite a bit recently so our airport has been shut down a number of times because Russia has been moving missiles back and forth."

"It's not that you feel unsafe in the city, you're just aware of the region that you're in," she said.

"No matter what country you're in, children are a handful. Combined with the obvious strains and stresses of living in a conflict zone, it's been quite tiring but quite rewarding at the same time."

Mulcahy is home in St. John's for the holidays and said more conversations need to be had in the province aboutthe severity of the Syrian crisis.

"Nobody wants to be a refugee," she said.

"This is a tragedy that has happened to so many people in so many countries around the world ... They get treated like criminalsalmost, like 'Why do they want to come here?'"

What most people don't realize, she said, is that most families would gladly return to their homes if it was safe to do so.

Mulcahy said Newfoundlanders don't realize how lucky they are to live in such a safe environment, and that's something thatshould be shared.