Art Club

Extra-curricular activities in Rwanda. Why not? The kids in our neighbourhood would play with us everyday if they could. Unfortunately, that’s an impossibility but I did decide to start an Art Club. Every Wednesday afternoon at 4pm (or ku wa gatatu/ sakumi in kinyarwanda), we open our doors to a dozen carefully chosen kids between the ages of 5 and 12. Actually yesterday a 4 year old boy named Mohammed somehow managed sneak in, runny nose and all. The initial art club had one kid, JeanPierre who came and painted for the afternoon with Emmanuel, our guard and me. I told him the following week he could invite one friend, he brought Francois. Then I told the two of them to each invite a friend and the next week we had five. (Not sure who didn’t follow the guidelines but it doesn’t matter). Now, after 8 weeks, we have an officially established Art Club.
Last week, Karen made puppets out of brown paper bags with them. They turned out really well! This week, we took large water bottles, hollowed them out, used straws for masts and construction paper for sails- to make our very own sailboats! It’s so interesting to watch kids of this age (we have more boys turn up than girls) here in Rwanda. They are so enthralled by the activities that they rarely speak during the hour but are intently working away on their drawings. There is absolutely no art curriculum in schools so the idea that they have an opportunity or outlet for their creativity was the motivating factor for this club.
As a side benefit, I learned that our 22 year old guard Emmanuel is a very gifted artist. He has since been tasked to make the posters for my teacher trainings. He made all 16 posters that are now hanging in the resource room at EP-Rubona. And thank goodness because I am in no way capable of drawing like that! I am hoping to get him a commission to do some painting at the schools in the future. Why not? We are also looking in to what kind of higher education is available in Rwanda such as an Art College. His birthday is in December and we are going to get him some oil pastels or something. Finding art supplies in Rwanda is like finding an icecube in the Sahara. I have used many of the stickers, markers and paper that Dina and Ana sent in their packages. The superhero stickers were a big hit !!!
I have been reading through my resource books to find art activities that can be made from simple materials like boxes, paper, sticks, glue and so forth. I even sent emails to teacher friends for simple art ideas along with energizer ideas for my workshops. Speaking of them, I am running 3 workshops in November. I am 100% ready, the room is set, the didactic materials and math manipulatives are made and sitting at the school, the teacher handbooks are mostly ready and the itinerary is set. The workshop plan has been submitted but the first one isn’t until November 9th so I am waiting patiently. The pace here continues to be so much slower than how I’m used to doing things. That’s fine, I guess but I am a results-oriented person so I’ve had to make a huge adjustment.
Things like the Art Club, or writing Kate’s memoir or possibly tutoring some kids are all ways in which I can “volunteer” as well. I had a few of the girls over the other day and we made bracelets. We continue to have Marie and her 10 month old son JeanPaul over every Sunday. And our little friend Clementina, her mom and her brother have been joining us as well. There is a Rwandan tradition of visiting that initially I balked at because I thought I needed atleast one space to myself. I have since changed my mind, influenced greatly by another friend who lives in a rural area with no other expats. He has a revolving door of visitors from colleagues to street kids. It’s charming and there is a cultural lesson I can learn here. Keeping the company of others is an integral part of maintaining one’s well-being and extending that invitation or accepting that offer is far superior for my state of mind than watching another Ben Affleck movie. (Sorry Ben).
Case in point, last Sunday JeanPierre (pictured in the green shirt on my blog) invited Karen and I over to his house. This thirteen year old, who lives with his often absent father, bought us each a Coke and sat contentedly as host in his living room. The living room being a very small dirt and mud room. We caused quite a stir among the other kids who kept crowding around the door or casually sauntering by the window to peer in. I finally shoo-ed them away but not before a comical exchange with some of them. I have a very slight control over the kinyarwanda language and often in times of disciplining, this is an impairment of sorts. I said to the one cheeky boy “Wowe oya hano ubu!!” which roughly means “You, not here, now!” While his friends ran off at the sight of me wagging my finger and looking all stern, he proceeded to make those four words into a little song and jig. I had to turn around to keep from laughing!Ever have those teacher moments, when you’re trying to discipline a kid and he makes you laugh?
A very nice visit indeed with JeanPierre and we now have an invitation to Fils’ next week. Should be interesting, we really want to find out who looks after him as he is parentless.
Speaking of orphans, I met a really nice one on the bus yesterday. Usually when I’m sitting waiting to leave and a man sits down beside me when there is so obviously 11 other seats he could choose, I get annoyed. In this case, I met Christian a 20 year old who had just completed senior 6 and was returning home for school break. (Home being an orphanage up near Ruhengeri). He has lived there for 10 years. We conversed, I taught him tic-tac-toe and a few other car games and as he dismounted the bus I watched him walk away. He has nobody. What does that feel like to be alone in the world and relying on people other than relatives for support? I promised him a game of pingpong if he’s ever back in Gitarama. He said he’d text me his exam results when he got them next week. I know at some point I will decide to help someone here in a more significant way, whether it’s Christian the orphan, JeanPierre the uber-polite neighbour or Marie and her little son (who we suspect may have Down’s Syndrome as he has several of the traits). I understand I came here as a volunteer and what I’m giving is my time and what I’m sharing are my ideas and the currency I’m trading in is love. It never, ever feels like enough.