In-Sight Collaborative's 10 Week Mentorship Cohort Creative Projects: Part 1

The opportunity to be a humanitarian is possible and accessible to anyone when given the right tools and resources. In-Sight Collaborative is facilitating the creation of a new generation of humanitarians and ensuring they have access to the tools and resources to continue the work.

Founded in 2020, In-Sight Collaborative's Mentorship Program has provided unique and invaluable educational opportunities for aspiring humanitarians. Since its creation, the program has grown into a collaborative learning space, offered twice each year, where mentors and mentees are able to contribute to the continual development of the curriculum. In 2023, creative projects were introduced at the mid-way point as a fun way for mentees to share their learning and reflections on the experience.

Each participant found unique and compelling ways to express their learnings, including:

• ‍Rainbow’s Curation of Art

A collection of poems, music, and art that touch on some of the themes we're exploring -Rainbow‍

• Maria’s Emotional Gallery
  
  • A presentation exploring artifacts of colonialism in aid and humanitarian responses;

"It is necessary to think critically about our role and responsibility in relation to the dynamics of the aid complex... When we incorporate empathy into the design process, it not only allows the design to be more meaningful, but also enables us to address real-world needs to improve people's lives. - Maria

• Joe's Making a Fist Playlist
  • Inspired by the following poem by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE:

For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,
I felt the life sliding out of me,
a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.
I was seven, I lay in the car
watching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.
My stomach was a melon split wide inside my skin.

“How do you know if you are going to die?”
I begged my mother.
We had been traveling for days.
With strange confidence she answered,
“When you can no longer make a fist.”

Years later I smile to think of that journey,
the borders we must cross separately,
stamped with our unanswerable woes.
I who did not die, who am still living,
still lying in the backseat behind all my questions,
clenching and opening one small hand.

Browse the gallery below to explore more of the creative expressions from the program's participants, and read on to learn more about these projects.

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