Kathmandu, Oct. 25 -- Children sit in a circle experimenting with different colours on palettes at a shelter in Godavari one morning this week. Some design flowers in bright colours, others draw homes nestled below mountains.
Many of the children were rescued from traffickers or domestic violence, from circuses in India where they worked like slaves, or from sexual abuse. The one thing they have in common is mental trauma.
For Colombian painter Dairo Vargas (pictured with students of Kitini College) who is coaching these and other Nepali children, the situation is very familiar to that of his own country. Vargas himself suffered depression as a teenager, and believes art can be a great healer in a country wracked by war.
"When I was dep...