Today was a great day outside of the traffic that got us to
school late after my rant about Kenyan Standard Time, we were late, Ughhh. Got to class, started with meditation
and people just dove into where they left off. Its great to see students really jump at something that has
peaked their interest and opened their door. The interesting thing is that the
papers made cylinders really create some interesting sculpture when put
together. Some are creating
flowers, others houses, one a rickshaw, all from this decorated paper that was
rolled and glued. It is very
telling to see the openness of these student when they see art transform to 3D
when they have been used to 2D.
Today we had a slide presentation that Margaret put together
from artists such as Calder, Moore, Giaccometti and more. They were intrigued by what they could
create. One artist that was
interesting to share was Marcel DuChamp, the king of ready made sculpture,
considering that we are gathering found objects for sculpture that are pretty
interesting. We showed them
Fountain, which was basically a urinal, reclaimed put on its side and
renamed. They just kind of
laughed. It all bounces around in
their head and they react later. I
cant wait to ask them about it tomorrow to see what thought went into it.
In class we are either listening to classical or current pop
music. They all move and act very
differently with the music including Margaret. She bops around to the music and the student love seeing her
do that. It’s great that they
connect with us. Today, Beatrice,
the principal came by to visit the class and the first thing out of her mouth
was, “ I see you are trying something new with the students. Very good”. We continued with the class and also incorporated yarn so
that they can put yarn through the cylinders to make them more flexible and
changeable for their sculptures.
It’s all experimental to them.
After class we went to Kibera to visit the Red Rose School,
which is a Children of Kibera Foundation school that our dear friend Ken Okoth
started. The school is Babies
through 8th grade.
Amazing work, amazing outcomes and they are growing by leaps and
bounds. I also got to see my
beautiful and wonderful Kenyan son, David Dinda. He is doing well.
He and I met in 2007 and have been family ever since. David accompanied us in Kibera to visit
the new Red Rose Campus. It is
well planned and well tooled and ready for growth, Great Job Ken and team at
COKF.
Being in Kibera brought back the wave of the past that first
connected us with Kibera, the hard and harsh environment mixed with beautiful
and hopeful people. The St. Al’s
campus in no longer in the center of Kibera as it was when we first started
coming to Kibera so we don’t see these harsh realities so easily. It’s a true
reminder of why we started Art in Kibera and why we still come every year. It is meaningful and helps create a
different lens to look through for our students and frankly for us as
well. I think the great and wonderful
element of this trip is that the only thing you can be sure of is that it will
be great. You often do not know
how or why but you know it will.
Watching the growth in these students is just that great.
Thanks for coming with us on this journey!
Be well,
Charles and Margaret
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