Harmony – Peace Angels Global Project: A World Without Strangers
Post/Dr. Monica Wong
If someone on the street approaches you, not to ask for directions but to make a request, how would you react?
I was in Boston, USA, presenting at the 35th International Trauma Conference, sharing research findings on the application of Narrative Drawing Intervention® — a locally developed Chinese therapeutic approach — in trauma treatment. At the same time, I was teaching at Lesley University in Cambridge. As a co-convener of the “Harmony – Peace Angels Global Project”, my heart and mind were preoccupied with one question: How could I engage more people in this international project? How could we deliver more love and hope to children in war-torn regions while also offering children growing up in peace a rare and invaluable lesson in life?
On a beautiful sunny afternoon, a sudden idea struck me, and I decided to act on it — I would ask complete strangers to draw their “vision of world peace” and compile these artworks into a collection titled “A World Without Strangers”.
Today, if you stop someone on the street and make a request, you’ll quickly realize it becomes a vivid, real-life performance art. The interplay of suspicion and trust, rejection and acceptance, awkwardness and ease — even fulfillment, joy, and gratitude — unfolds before you. Each person’s inner monologue and body language, the richness of their emotions, thoughts, and actions, ultimately become the most dynamic form of personal growth. And along the way, friendships are formed, even the profound joy of helping others flourish.
“A World Without Strangers” is still an ongoing project. After Boston, it has continued in Osaka, Kyoto, Beijing, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and beyond.
