Art therapy professor to work with tsunami survivors

Dr. Gaelynn Wolf Bordonaro is traveling with a team of American professionals to the east coast of India to work with tsunami survivors.  Dr. Bordonaro, a second year art therapy professor at Emporia State University, has worked abroad in several countries including: Thailand, Australia, and Jamaica. She plans to work in Berlin in September. 

Dr. Bordonaro is looking forward to “the interaction with another culture and country as well as getting to know the team and contributing to their efforts and to the people.”

In India the American team will work on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for two weeks.  Professionals include pediatricians, physicians, occupational therapists, a clinical psychologist, a hearing aid specialist and an art therapist. 

These remote islands were left with most of their services gone after the tsunami in December, 2004.  Sangha an organization founded by Hina Sharma hopes to bring these services back to the islands.  The team of professionals will spend their morning’s training and working with the people on the islands getting them back onto their feet.  In the afternoons the team will spend time working with the community members and children.

“To get this phone call to do what I like to do is tremendously rewarding,” said Dr. Bordonaro. 

Dr. Bordonaro is the only art therapist on the team and hopes to use the art to assess the drama associated with the tsunami in children.  She says that art is a normal activity for a child which makes it easier for them to express their emotions. 

For more information on Sangha please visit www.sanghaworld.org.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>