Christian Aid Plant "Tree of Life" at British Museum
A piece of extraordinary and significant art work "Tree of Life" is to be unveiled at the British Museum on 2nd February. The half-tonne, three-metre-high sculpture is made entirely out of decommissioned weapons such as AK-47s, pistols and rocket-propelled grenade launchers under the hands of Mozambican artists. The British charity Christian Aid and the British Museum have jointly coordinated the project to mark the start of the Africa 2005 Season in London.
Behind the art work embedded the tragedy of a 16-year-long civil war in Mozambique that finally ended in 1992, till now there are still millions of arms hidden throughout the country.
Christian Aid launched a campaign entitled "Transforming Arms into Tools" to collect as many arms as possible among the population and to destroy them. In the last nine years, the project has employed some former child soldiers, and collected and dismantled more than 600,000 weapons. The success of this campaign led to the associated project to turn the decommissioned arms into works of art.
Dr Daleep Mukarji, Director of Christian Aid, said, "It’s amazing to see how Mozambican artists build a culture of peace through creating fascinating sculptures from dismantled killing machines. This project encourages people to exchange tools of death with tools for living."
Bishop Dom Dinis Sengulane, the founder of the "Transforming Arms into Tools" campaign said, "I tell people that sleeping with a gun in your bedroom is like sleeping with a snake - one day it will turn round and bite you."
Many Mozambicans’ lives have been changed because of the project. The project has successfully prevented the weapons to fall into the wrong hands and cause even more death and suffering. Mozambicans exchange the weapons with new tools which they can use for living.
Filipe Tauzene, a former child soldier, said, "The life I have now is much better as before I didn’t have the bicycle to move and go to town and sell things in my shop. I didn’t have iron sheets to cover my house. I have been given very useful things, which means I can get on with my life."
