Interfaith Mural Shares Common Message Among Faiths

August 15, 2009

Author: Melissa Szumlic

Source: Tampa Bay Online

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/aug/15/na-itsnoteasy-beinggreen/life/

They're short, froglike and serving as ambassadors to the Middle East.

Not bad for a few handmade dolls living on a mural titled "It's Not Easy Being Green." The mural is part of an art exchange program with Amman, Jordan, initiated by the Children's Board of Hillsborough County and KidzCreate, the board's traveling art gallery.

Jonathan Terrado, 12, helped craft the mural along with local artists and 40 other kids from the Tampa Police Athletic League.

Jonathan, a seventh-grader at Memorial Middle School and a member of the National Junior Honor Society, says he never expected the artwork to serve as a tool to communicate with a foreign country.

When Jordan replied by sending a thank-you mural, "I was pretty surprised," he says. Jonathan acknowledges that the Jordanian kids' mural improved his global understanding. "It tells me how they're very caring," he says.