The driving question of The Fig Singing Tree of the Child is “What is Your Wish for Children?” 800 people helped to created the 12’ h x 8’ wide wooden mural, including teens from the Youth Empowerment School and Upward Bound in Oakland, CA; middle school students from Novato Charter School in Novato, CA; elders from a nursing home in Novato, CA; high school students from Arts and Ethics Academy in Santa Rosa, CA; artists from around the world; survivors of the sex trade in Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, and children from Palestine. Marcus Smith of Arts and Ethics Academy came up with the idea of making the child two different races to show the diversity of the children of the world.

We partnered with Cheryl Perara, founder of OneChild - a youth-run organization dedicated to stopping trafficking of children.  She took colored pencils and leaves and birds as she travelled to Southeast Asia to establish safe houses so that children could escape the sex industry.