Amnesty Campus Caravan at a Glance

The Kabuliwallah Express’

Amnesty Campus Caravan is an initiative of expanding the campaign activities to various colleges and institutes through a Caravan ‘The Kabuliwallah Express’ for the purpose of involving and sensitizing young people on the human rights issues.

The Concept

The Kabuliwallah is a powerful Asian metaphor for migrant mystery, enchantment, relationship, story and sadness. In Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, “Kabuliwallah” (The Fruit Seller from Kabul) he is a figure who appears from another land, with a rucksack full of goodies to surprise and enthrall children with his appearance, difference, conversation and disappearance. A teller of tales with an unshakeable audience, the Kabuliwallah was an appropriate imagined character for Amnesty Caravan to take hidden stories to youth.

Objective of the Amnesty Campus Caravan

• Reaching out with the Amnesty International’s campaigns to various colleges, institutes and public places.
• Sensitizing young people on the human rights issues.
• Preparing students and youths to be leading activists in campuses and localities.
• Increasing the youth participation in the activities of human rights issues.
• Advocating for the support of authorities and general public.

Themes of the Amnesty Campus Caravan

• Right to life
• Disappearance
• Displacement
• Human security
• Dignity
• Fundamentalisms, and
• Prison stories
• Borders

Tools of the Amnesty Campus Caravan

The Caravan
Kabuliwallah Express
The Campus Caravan is a white traveler decorated with dazzling streamers in hues of yellow, orange, scarlet, azure and emerald green which in turn are embossed with slogans on human rights issues.

Photo Exhibition

Numaaish

A photo exhibition on human rights issues such as on discrimination, displacement, disappearances etc. developed through contributions from journalists, photo artists and archives is one of the Caravan’s powerful story telling tools. Photos are displayed on mobile photostands and can be placed inside a gallery as well as in the open. Extra photos can also be arranged on strings or popped against walls.

Street Theatre

‘Vichaar Hona Chaahiye

To have visual interactive communication and impact on Amnesty’s campaigns, the Caravan went with a scripted play that could be performed on the streets, inside campus or in a park, by a team of trained volunteers. The trained volunteers are students from various colleges.

Signature Campaigns

Dastakhat Naama

An important part of the Caravan activities is running signature campaigns ‘Dastakhat Naama’ on various burning and relevant issues. The Caravan team has to be always alert and watchful for political developments and emerging issues- domestic as well as international.

The Puppets

Also the companions of the Caravan are the puppets, clad in splendid hues of orange, fuchsia, shamrock green and purple. The puppets are made up of papier-mâché and are designed and dressed in a way to give a gender and ethnic representation. They have to worn. It can be fun for volunteers to get inside them and walk. They are very effective in carrying out signature campaigns on various issues of human rights concerns, advertisement of Amnesty slogans, pin-up for Amnesty posters, distribution of pamphlets on AI activism and also to invite people to visit the literature stall.

Panel Discussions/Film Screenings

‘Voices from Far and Near’

Other interactive tools of the Caravan are talks, panel discussions, film screenings, and testimonies. For this a body of films and resource persons are created to support the activities.

The Literature Stall

The Caravan provides access to resources on human rights issues through a literature stall. The stall is foldable and can easily accommodate an eager volunteer at a table to handle membership queries. It also exhibits Amnesty publications, provides information on the AI membership and campaigns. Besides it furnishes details to students and youths on Amnesty Clubs and youth activism. Besides it is also a good pin-up place for Amnesty shop items like T-shirts, bags etc.

Competitions
Khel Khel Mein

To tap creativity the Caravan also goes with competitions based on various human rights themes. It calls for entries on music, theatre, short film, long film, photography, painting and screen writing.

Journey of the Caravan
Reach Outs so far

Since its launched in Delhi at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Rendezvous Festival in September 2007 the Kabuliwallah Express has traveled to various colleges and public places across the Country. These include; JNU, JMI, Hindu College, St. Stephens College, Sri Aurobindo College, Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi School of Economics, Dilli Haat, IIC (Delhi), AMU (Aligarh), Lucknow University (Lucknow), Utkal University (Bhubaneshwar).

The Next Stop

The Kabuliwallah would soon set out to the University of Kashmir, Srinagar; the Panjab University, Chandigarh; the Osmania University, Hyderabad; University of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla and Manipur University, Imphal.

For more details on the Amnesty Campus Caravan please go to…
http://www.amnesty.org.in/downloads/Caravan_Mail.pdf