Empowering Through Art: A Conversation with Halbast Abdulah on the “Artful Mind: Reading and Art Program for Orphans” at AUIS

Halbast Abdulah, taken on July 27, 2023

Halbast Abdullah is the Library Manager of the Moulakis Library and Academic Coordinator to the VPAA office at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS). She graduated from AUIS with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2018. She worked in multiple places before joining AUIS again to pursue her master’s degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing in 2021.  She is a mum of three cats, Babah Dabah (means a chubby baby in Kurdish), Klu (means snowflake in Kurdish), and Rasha (means black in Kurdish).

Credits: Halbast Abdulah (from left to right – Babah Dabah, Klu, and Rasha)

While studying at AUIS, she gained valuable experience through volunteering with local organizations and engaging in community outreach. She wants to give current AUIS students the same learning experience, hence, she started the community project “Artful Mind: Reading and Art Program for Orphans” in collaboration with the Sulaymaniyah Orphanage for Girls. The project launched its first session as volunteer students as well as library staff visited the orphanage on the 14th of May, 2023. The project aims to promote arts and provide creative opportunities for young girls to express themselves through art, as well as to foster a reading culture among them.

Why did you choose to start the “Artful Mind: Reading and Art Program for Orphans”? 

When I was a student here (AUIS), I think there were many more community projects back then. I participated in many of them when I was an undergraduate student, such as Alternative Spring Break – I volunteered for two years for it. It is a community project that was all led by the students at that time, they managed everything with the help of the Student Services Department as well as the Dean of the Students. Through the project, we went to different refugee camps over the span of two years in the Spring break of the semester. The first year we visited Khanke camp in Duhok. The next year we went to Rwanduz refugee camp in Erbil. We were trying to get the kids there to have some fun. We did a lot of activities such as singing and dancing with the kids as well as reading books for them. That’s what inspired me to start thinking, “let’s do something else for our community” when I started working with AUIS. However, I didn’t have the chance to start something, until I came up with the idea of the Artful Mind project. I chose the girls orphanage to collaborate with after realizing that services there might not be the best.

What was the decision-making process that led to relocating all project sessions to the AUIS campus after the initial session at the orphanage?

After we went there for the first session, we realized that the place was too small and we were struggling to do the activities comfortably. However, our volunteers were still able to read books for the girls. We then did the drawing activities followed by us gifting them art supplies and books. That’s why we decided to move all of the other sessions into AUIS. Another thing is, I wanted the girls to come see AUIS and hopefully decide to work hard in school to be able, in the future, to study at AUIS. We also thought that learning English would open up a door of opportunities for them so we decided to incorporate English lessons in the sessions of the program. 

When giving out the gifts for the girls in the sessions, are these gifts personalized according to the individual interests of each girl, or are they rather randomized and then given to the participants?

There’s actually a standard set of art supplies given to all participants. As for the books, I make sure that I know their content and I also ensure that it is tailored to their ages, based on data from the orphanage.

Could you shed light on the selection process for volunteers and staff who facilitate the sessions?

There’s no current selection process of who the volunteers are, everyone is welcomed. However, we mostly chose from the students who volunteered for the Moulakis Library at the University Day 2023 since we were impressed by their dedication.

When is the next session of the Artful Mind Project?

Since the girls at the orphanage are currently busy with their school work and the library staff are also busy with organizing other events during the semesters. We decided to hold the sessions each Summer semester where we hopefully would have more time to better organize the activities.

Are there any plans to continue the sessions of the project outside the AUIS campus?
The Education Club at AUIS had contacted me asking for advice to implement similar activities that involve the orphans in Slemani. Maybe then the students could continue with the girls of the orphanage and possibly go to them on the weekends to hold similar activities with the support of the Student Services Department.

If you want to volunteer for the Artful Mind Project at AUIS or have any questions related to it, reach out to halbast.abdulah@auis.edu.krd

- Zahraa Zahir