Photo: "Dove of Peace" with Ukrainian flag on wall in Gdansk, Poland, Mural and photo by Andrzej Otrebski, Wikimedia Commons
Miss Eco International/Miss Ukraine Universe/UN Goodwill Ambassador, Miss Angelina Usanova visited our UNESCO Center for Peace in Oceanside, which is the savvy beach city where the UNA SD Art Miles Project resides. In my capacity as the Director of the Center, I have hosted previous Miss Eco Internationals and UN Goodwill Ambassadors, and it was my pleasure to host Angelina.
This young woman with large green eyes had a classically beautiful face that made people stop and stare at her. But what made her even more beautiful was her humility and humbleness. It was as if she hadn’t looked at herself in the mirror ever. On her social media, you’ll see that, while she has appeared on the cover of Vogue and other publications, she is most interested in sharing her self-produced videos that feature her own musical compositions. Her main message is about saving Mother Earth.
I felt honored to be able to spend this week with her. My goodness, she surfs, she’s written a children’s book, and on top of it all, she’s a musician and singer.
The twist in this little story, however, is this all happened during the ongoing war in Ukraine. Her eyes held a sadness, especially as she acknowledged that her family, friends, and fellow countrymen and women were there suffering amid the painful existence of bombs, destruction, and political turmoil.
Some people likened the history of the Joe Balderrama Park to the current Ukrainian conflict. It wasn’t a true dichotomy, but violence and conflict at any level is horrific when lives are obliterated.
My goal with Angelina was to share my experiences about how the role of women in positions of power can make a difference in healing, be it an individual, a family or a neighbor and even a country. Angelina shared another war that was in her own mind, and the conversation stuck with me and will forever as she stated how “women are some of the greatest causes of environmental degradation.” She felt that we were or we taught and practiced so much consumerism in life that we contributed to this crucial time in history where climate change is in need of climate action by each individual living on the planet. That war is frightening and as scary as any bomb or ongoing conflict as the destruction continues at an accelerated pace if we are to be honest with ourselves.
But here in our little park, at the very edge of the city’s center, existed something beautiful, something she could take home and share. That something beautiful was the sight of the community coming together to create a beautiful park by painting an enormous number of wall murals. This method was used to help heal past wounds and bring the community together. I had shared with her that, while I was in Bosnia, I had worked with some of the women there to reseed, replant, and rebuild their country after the war.
In the park, young people and elders worked together to create visual voices of their traditions and heritage. These creations showcase their passion to teach people that they were united in their human desire to give and receive respect. This art is a true testament to the love each of us have for the origins from whence we came. It is what makes America great, not great again. It is the beauty and the goodness that this young woman came to know during her week here.
She marveled at the images, each and every one in progress or near finished or finished, and stopped to talk to several artists, and I knew, in her beautiful mind, she’d tucked this experience away in her head to keep and to share when she said to me, “Joanna, I have seen murals all over the world in many cities, even in Ukraine and even in the war, but what I never saw was the people who create them and never knew them. Here in this park, it is an example of coming together, community unity as you feel and see! Coming here was a revelation of the beautiful eyes and hearts of the people here and in other places that they must have in their hearts to capture the good and the healing we all need.”
Yes, Balderrama artists, you showed Angelina one very special method she can immerse herself in when she returns, when she shares how a community can come together to show how peace can prevail on Earth.
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