Hamed Farmand, COIPI’s president, volunteered as a mentor at All God’s Children Camp for the third consecutive year in 2018. This summer camp, supported by the United Methodist Church in Virginia, is designed for children with incarcerated parents, providing them with a safe and nurturing space to connect, heal, and just be kids.

Story of Leaves
That year, Hamed was assigned to mentor a tough 9-year-old boy, whom we’ll call Arthur.
It was a hot but beautiful day, and the group planned to spend time at a small lake. Even the mentors were excited to swim and play. But Arthur was the only one who refused to get wet. Unsurprisingly, while playing on the beach—fully dressed—he did.
Quietly, he turned to Hamed and said, “I need to go back to the cabin and change my trousers.”
“What?” Hamed replied, caught off guard.
Arthur repeated himself.
“It’s fine; it’s a beach! Everyone gets wet,” Hamed said, frustrated.
But Arthur stood firm. It was clear he wasn’t going to budge. Hamed had no choice but to walk back with him—a 15-minute trek each way.
On the way, Hamed tried to make conversation, asking about school, what he liked or disliked, but Arthur said nothing. They walked in silence.

The Leaf That Started It All
As they walked, Hamed noticed fresh leaves scattered on the ground. He bent down, picked one up.
Hamed heard Arthur ask curiously, “Why did you pick up a leaf?”
Without thinking, Hamed replied, “I have a project. I want to make something out of leaves.”
Arthur hesitated, then asked, “What project?”
“I don’t know yet,” Hamed admitted.
The conversation didn’t continue. But a few moments later, Hamed realized Arthur was no longer walking beside him. He turned and saw Arthur bent down, one hand full of leaves, gathering more.
From that moment on, leaves became their language. They spent the rest of the camp talking about different types of leaves—shapes, colors, and even their characters. The concept of “the character of a leaf” gave Hamed more space to build communication.
By the next day, Arthur had collected dozens of leaves and Hamed had to emptied a box he had brought for his painting supplies just to store them.
A Bridge to Connection
On the last day of camp, during a nature walk, Hamed used his made-up “Leaves’ Project” again—this time to comfort a little girl, we called her Lucy, who was struggling with the thought of leaving her mentors behind.

Later that night, as the children prepared for bed, a young girl from Lucy’s cabin came to Hamed, handed him a bunch of leaves, and said, “These are from Lucy, for the bald man.”
That simple exchange confirmed something powerful: leaves had become a bridge, a way to connect with children who struggled to communicate their pain and loss.
From Camp to Storytelling Project
When Hamed returned from camp, he started a storytelling project—later named “Story of Leaves.”
Using leaves as a metaphor, he crafted stories about sadness, loneliness, and anxiety, feelings of leaving, separation and loss experienced by children whose parents are incarcerated. These were emotions often dismissed by adults making policies and decisions without truly listening to the children’s voices, the story of leaves.
Since that summer, Hamed has created ten different art pieces from leaves and showcased this interactive storytelling project at Studio Pause in Arlington, Virginia, USA.
Through Story of Leaves, we continues to build a bridge between children of incarcerated parents and their communities—one leaf at a time.
👉 Learn more about All God’s Children Camp here: https://vaumc.org/agcc/