Top contestants receive awards from our esteemed partners: YWLC and IPHRD-Africa, and the IPPNW MSSR UoN organising committee.
There are moments when a campus stops rote teaching – and becomes a living, breathing force. Art for Peace Month-long Contest and Exhibition was one such a one.
It began quietly. A whisper in corridors. A question without a clear answer: What does peace look like?
No one knew how far it would travel. Not even those who dared to begin it.
By January, the silence had fractured. Ideas spilt across whiteboards. Conversations grew urgent. Some worked in teams, voices clashing and colliding. Others chose solitude – guarding fragile sparks of inspiration as if they might vanish if spoken aloud.
Then, February 2nd. The link went live. The first submission arrived in seconds. Henceforth, it became a movement. Forty submissions in thirty days. Forty acts of courage.
Paintings that held entire worlds in color. Stories that bled truth and imagination in equal measure. Photographs that forced us to see. Poetry that refused to be forgotten. Even thread and needle became instruments of peace – stitched with patience, intention, and quiet defiance. All gave the lifeless library wall a lot to speak.
Each piece asked something of us. To pause. To feel. To confront.
And then came March 14th. A hall transformed. Light, texture, warmth – every detail alive with purpose. The air itself felt heavier, charged with something unspoken. Our artists remember this day.
When they took the stage, they did not just present work. They revealed what true peace is.
And when the envelope finally opened, time held its breath. Resilience it was. A piece by Brian Muuo. You better see this exhibited somewhere. I loved it. Applause erupted. Laughter broke through. Cameras flashed. For a moment, nothing else existed but joy – raw, shared, undeniable.
Beyond, something deeper questioned:
As medical students, how often do we step beyond textbooks into conversations that shape the world we will serve? Is peace merely an idea – or is it as fundamental to health as any diagnosis we study?
Art for Peace 2026 was the beginning. And perhaps, a reminder – that healing does not only happen in hospitals.
Sometimes, it begins with expression.
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