An award-winning exhibition is now welcoming visitors in the Whitgift Centre.
Croydon children visiting the Whitgift Centre can experience the World Vision exhibit
“Journey of Hope” is being staged until July 23 by World Vision, the international children’s charity, offering a free interactive experience to learn about some of the most vulnerable children across the globe.
Two life-size huts recreate the family home of Sierra Leonean mother Miatta and her eight-year-old daughter, Ayie.
The first hut depicts the family’s struggles 15 years ago, while the second shows how the family are thriving after working with World Vision.
Steve Wood, Director of Marketing and Communications at World Vision UK, said: “It can be an incredibly moving experience, as visitors try to lift the heavy can of dirty water children like little Ayie have to carry every day, and see the dangerous open fire – the only place the family have to cook.
“But it’s also a chance to see the difference World Vision’s work makes to some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children, and how we can all be part of the story of changing lives for the better.”
Young Londoners are transported to Sierra Leone village life with the exhibit
The installation is fully interactive and tactile. Visitors are transported into the lives of the family for a few minutes, away from televisual depictions of poverty and into an experience that makes it easier to connect with Miatta and Ayie’s story.
They will see how World Vision helps Miatta set up her own business – enabling her to grow food for the family, and for Ayie to go to school instead of having to help her mother with manual labour.
The installation will also offer pupils from local schools the opportunity to take part in hands-on African drumming workshops.
Before they know it, children will be drumming as part of a musical family, transported to the lands of Africa to see some of the work that World Vision is doing to help those in need.
For more information about World Vision, click here.
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