Storytelling festival for differently-abled children at Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: An international storytelling festival “BhuFeSto” was organised for the differently- abled children in Bhubaneswar on Monday where special storytelling sessions for children with visual and hearing disabilities was organised.

Ramayana was performed in form of musical storytelling by artist Deepa Kiran with a twist while children enjoyed the musical narration. The storytelling was both verbal and in Indian Sign Language by the artists.

“The idea was to create a special performance for the deaf and also to sensitise the hearing people to change their perception of the deafness as a disability and understand their capability,” said Kiran.

Manganiars, a group of musicians from Rajasthan narrated stories about kings and culture with their musical performance by using instruments such as Kamaicha, Kartal and Morchan.

Sujit Mahapatra, Director of the festival thanked the Bhubaneswar Development Authority and government for hosting the programme focusing on children to create a brand identity for Bhubaneswar.

He said that the inclusive nature of the festival will contribute significantly to the aspiration of Bhubaneswar to be a child-friendly smart city.

Apart from Indian storytellers, several international storytellers shared stories about their culture. Paula Martin a storyteller from Argentina, Sabrina Raushan from France, Wajuppa Todas from Thailand, Wangari Grace from Kenya shared their stories with the help of different art forms and musical instruments.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]