Guatemala: Stories of Transformation

By Alaina Cronkright, Buildabridge Leader, Disapora of Hope Guatemala, 2009 

Drama Teacher Transformed

Luisa was excited from the first day I met her at the orientation for all the teachers and artists.  At the orientation, the Saturday before we left for Camp El Faro, she was trying to piece together objectives from the unity curriculum into her lesson plans.  How do I connect theatre technique objectives to objectives of unity?  She asked good questions as she attempted to wrap her mind around giving the children the experience of unity through their drama class in the upcoming week.  She was apprehensive, and wanted to do things correctly as this was the first time she had done something of this nature.

Philadelphia Stories of Transformation

Imagine staying in a facility that is a safe haven for your mother and siblings from potential harms inside your own home.  Not knowing when you may get back to that home, consistency being a thing of the past, you trudge forward somewhat uncertain of your future.  This is what was facing the children of Diaspora of Hope Philadelphia.  With a handful of children and a mixture of apprehension and anticipation from the students, our team delivered the means for creation in visual and dance forms.  Our six children ranged in age from 6 to 15 years old. I was most concerned about how to establish organic movement from the children for dance that we could use in our final celebration performance.  

The Movement of Me…This is How I’m Shaping Up

After a bit of a rocky start to the week, our Dance/Creative Movement class was underway. The students learned classical dance technique. For the culminating event they were able to demonstrate plie and releve with por de bra (the movement of the arms) in first position as well as in a traveling movement. In addition to classical technique, the students discovered ways to create shapes with their bodies, both individually and collectively.

Like dance, our lives take on many shapes and we have the ability to use those shapes to move us to our ultimate goal and or desire...the dance of our lives. I seized the opportunity to share with the students my personal story of how my desire to dance outweighed the discouragement I received as a young child and invited them to dream as well. Each student shared with the class their dreams and aspirations. With the Styrofoam shapes front and center on the floor, I asked them to document their dreams. They were to include any of the shapes in a drawing depicting their dream. The students were given a string to fold their pictures up and tie around their necks or wrists – close to the beat of their hearts – as a reminder of their dreams.

Kenya: With our Hands an Feet on the Wall

Final DOH article from Moses Okonji, Photography teacher and director of the Inspiration Centre

Photos by Gideon Ochieng

The week was great as I try to reflect on what each class did and their teachers. Saturday was the climax of everything that all the teachers have been doing. We were a little bit scared of the weather when it started raining. Bearing in mind that all our presentations were done outdoors, we took our chances and let things be. Fortunately all went well. The entire presentation was amazing; starting with the poetry class led by Godfrey, Mwaura and Kylee presented a peace poem.  

Egypt: The Impact of the BuildaBridge Classroom Model

Josh Cooper

I came, I saw, and I began to understand. The Diaspora of Hope – Egypt 2009 was a transformational experience, not just for the young people we went to serve, but for me as well. The experience allowed many ideas about how kids should be taught to be resurrected. Quite frankly, some ideas were just changed. It seems I’d already began to forget what I’d learned in the Master’s Urban Studies Arts in Transformation program (this just goes to show that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. Thus, I must commit to using it more often).

I’d forgotten about the impact of the BuildaBridge (BB) Classroom and just how children so quickly respond to it. The format incorporates the very elements that young people, especially those disadvantaged, need. Ritual, rhythm, and response, and structure are good for all of us.

Guatemala Final Celebration

Alaina Cronkright, Buildabridge Team Leader

Today we had the final celebration, exhibiting the children's art work, in Campo de Marte, nearby the Limonada community. One of the metaphors to real life that had come up in our art classes this week came to life today. Even if you don’t have the resources you think you need, you can preserve and work together to reach your goals. We ran into some logistical problems with our venue once we arrived, the main problem being a lack of electricity. But, despite the lack of music for the dance class and the noisy background of the park (soccer games, live music, and traffic to name a few) the children performed. Parents gathered around the stage and watched the celebration of the art-making unfold. They joined in as the Visual Arts & Music class sang their call and response, “music has the power to unite La Limonada.” Children from both communities were present, as well as parents.

At the end of the exhibition the students received their Buildabridge Certificates for the classes they participated in, and the teachers were lined up to congratulate them. Smiles were shared, and tears were shed as each one of the 94 children were hugged by the six artists teaching their classes. Some of the children wrote notes to teachers to tell them how much they had affected them. Despite the challenges, today really was a celebration of the life-changing week we all spent together.

Reflections on a week of Unity in Guatemala

For the past week we have been working with the children of La Limonada, from two different sides of this barrio in the heart of Guatemala City: El Limon and Mandarina. On Monday we packed 107 children and 30 adults into two school buses. I shared a seat with three children, others sat on buckets, and quickly we became, quite literally, close. The two school buses of children were separated by communities: Limon on one side, Mandarina on the other.

As soon as we arrived at Camp El Faro (seven hours later) the children were put into groups and cabins that mixed up the two communities. Throughout the week the students were in cabins, played games, ate meals, and made art together in their classes. We had six classes total: Voice and Movement, Graffiti, Visual Arts and Music, Drama, Textiles, and Dance.

Just one?

Alicia Hamming-Assistant Music Teacher



How can I just pick one child or one story? When out of the 15 children in our class, each one has shown an incredible amount of change over the past three days. On Monday, when the children arrived to the camp, they got off the bus with eager anticipation but yet with a look of uncertainty on their faces. All were very quiet and behaved themselves very well. However, this produced very shy, timid voices for our children's choir. I had to strain to hear the soft voices of the children.

As the week progressed, I saw noticeable change in the demeanor of the children and their excitement for class. They smiled when they entered class, answered questions eagerly and were excited to sing. They sang with their whole being and so much emotion. At the end of each song they asked to continue singing or wanted to practice another song.

One young girl, Maria Fernando could hardly open her mouth without giggling. But by the third day, she stood with confidence, a huge smile on her face, singing with lots of passion. Modesto, sat down in choir on the first day and looked like he was going to fall asleep because of boredom. He even admitted to us that he was bored on the first day. However, on the third day, he was practicing his songs with lots of intensity and singing with a smile on his face. He willingly participated in class and said how much fun it was to sing.

There are many other examples that I can think of when I imagine the faces of each child. As we practiced our piece for the final show, I stood proudly in front directing our small children's choir and listened to the voices of these small angels. William's face was aglow because he had been allowed to return to Arts Camp, Edipcia sang with confidence, Erick lead his line up front showing his strength as a leader.

For me, it was a blessing to be part of this Arts Camp and to participate as a leader in one of the classes. I had the honor of working with the children and teach them a new Art form. This was a new experience for me and even though it was a challenge, it was very rewarding to see the results. I will always have the memories of children coming up to me and calling me profe, giving me a hug and thanking me for teaching them.

Try again

Lily Emo- Assistant Teacher of the Painting Class



It seems to be that small things or achievements are able to leave enduring impressions. That has how it has been for me helping out at the Art Camp in Nicaragua this year. Observing the delight of children as they learn for what seemed the first time how to mix basic colors, seeing how they grow a little more confident as they explore with different techniques to make small improvements to their pictures. Small improvements to a painting can quickly become bigger noticeable changes to a painting.
I think it is an instant reaction for children all over the world to throw away paintings that are only half finished and start on a new one when the painting is not working the way that they had wanted it too. This was the case for Modesto. When he came to me with his half finished and obviously un-cherished painting, he was asking for more paper, which I refused to give him. Instead, I sat down beside him and showed him that by adding a few different colors and using his brush in various different ways he would be able to resurrect his painting and not need to throw it away and move on to something else. I left him intently working on that picture for the rest of that class period right up until recess time. During recess I saw him protectively guarding his painting while it dried. It had become a treasure and source of pride, instead of becoming a thing to be discarded and forgotten as quickly as possible. This is just one of the small things that had left its enduring mark on my memory.

Kenya: On the Rocks

Rebekah Wilcox and Moses Okonji, the leader of Inspiration Center Mathare

On today, our final day of camp before celebration, we ran into a few glitches. Though the weather has improved and is more beautiful than ever, we lost the space we had for drama and poetry class. We looked around and found a space behind a pile of rocks and a space on top of the rocks to hold class. Though not an ideal or easy place to have a class, the children and teachres were very flexible and simply adjusted their lessons to fit their new environments. Gideon Ochieng, one of the photography teachers, reflects on the day:

Yesterday our class went through what we have learnt since Monday. All of them can now take us through the basic steps of the art of peace building. Their lives are full of brokenness but this does not deter them from seeking peace not just for themselves but on behalf of boys and girls in their communities as well as those they hope to meet elsewhere. We call our class the ambassadors of peace because of how serious they have taken up their roles in Mathare and Huruma. In the beginning my challenge was to incorporate the elements of peace in photography. It seemed as though we would just talk about peace and then take pictures on the side, however, to my surprise, I realized how possible and now easy it is to bring the two together in a classroom right on the corridors of beautiful Mathare. Suleiman and Salim, brothers, who are in our class have gone full throttle, thinking about nothing else but camera, it is not just an obsession. The two and Suleiman in particular loves to bring to the attention of the class all that we have been learning, I keep on teasing him that he is the captain, and indeed he is. The future is bright and filled with hope as the many children in our camp, who are mostly being raised by single mothers, leaves tomorrow with a message of peace to their communities. I have definitely learned as much as I have had an opportunity to teach these children.

Moses Okonji, the leader of Inspiration Center Mathare

Philly's Phenomenal Potential...

Sarah Thompson

Walking from my apartment in South Philly to 30th St. Station the day before Thanksgiving, I take the ‘scenic route’; the Schuylkill River Trail. The nominal trees scattered along the bank sway their naked branches (save a few threadbare leaves) and I revel at their altered physique. Weeks ago, they were flaming reds and brilliant yellows. Months previous, they had the fullness of green, dense and vibrant. Preceding even that, they were blossoming fragrant with fruitful blooms or bursting from buds and new shoots. And yet, falling farther back in time, before all of the visible seasonal checkpoints, they were..

Seeds.

Lowly and small, deep in the earth, displaced. Sleeping and secretive, they waited. Time capsules of potential. Yearning to be awakened and jump start the cycle that gradually proclaims their purpose for the world to experience. And so there it was. Right before me, the apparent truth that even in this city seeds can take root, grow and multiply. And so can we.

For the Diaspora of Hope Philadelphia, our team (a group of five visual artists, practicing and retired public educators and dancers) is using this metaphor - that of the seed and it’s possibility of growth and becoming - to speak hope into the lives of children living in a Domestic Violence Shelter in North

Do all things with Excellence

After planning, evaluation and debriefing with the artist and class helpers, the team was ready to start the day with new energy and ideas. Before we left, I walked along the beach located behind our housing and picked up shells from the shore that inspired a dance exercise for my students. For the painting teacher, the ladies walking down the street selling fruit from a basket on the top of their heads was the analogy for life bearing good results in the painting class. In the music class, a piece of red string was the connecting source in finding that in a choir, all are an important strand of strength to the group. Our camp theme song is Como tu no hay( There is no one like you)
Sabias que eres especial,
sabias que tienes un lugar
aqui en la tierra,
no hay nadie como tu tan especial,
con tu desfectos y qualidades, como tu no hay.
Do you know that you are special
Do you know that you have a place
in the earth
there is no one like you as special
with your defects and qualities like you there is no one

We sing this song every day, but in the afternoon, I heard the song a bit differently. As I was typing the blog and I overheard a brother singing the song to his sister in the other room. It was the most beautiful version of the song that I had ever heard.

Kenya: A Drenching Rain

This morning we were greeted with space complications and drenching rains. In Kenya, rain is a major issue because many of our classes meet outside. Despite the weather, and one of our teachers loosing their cell phone in the public bathrooms (think squatty potty), we had a productive day. We heard stories of family, community, and national conflict. Many children shared stories of witnessing violent crimes including murders. Art was used to teach them peaceful steps to deal with this conflict. Said and Jackson, two Kenyan teachers, share their reflections:

"Todays class was interesting we learned some Latin dance and taught about peace through it.Today's step was talk it out. my high point was that every thing went as planed low point was one of the students decided to go to another class." ~Jackson, Dance instructor

"Today was good day. We enjoyed the day. It was interesting after seeing what the children had done as an assignment. The shocking work of them all was one child had written about how his parents one day had an argument then the mother stabbed the father with a knife on the chest. All in all the class was fun despite the sad stories." ~Said, Drama teacher

Pictures are taken by Gideon Ochieng and Godfrey Boi

The Fairy Tale of Peter, Poussy and the Evil Mask – a moment of transformation.

It was the first time practicing their story in drama form all the way through...

The plan of Peter and his friends to thwart the villain Shahir was to have Poussy, their cat, slip under the door while Shahir was sleeping, flick the evil mask off with his paw and escape with it out the window.  The two boys playing the “door” and the “window” moved quickly and proudly into place; the masked Shahir fell asleep, tired from ruining the good work of the Peter’s team.  The little boy “cat” moved quickly through the legs of the “door”, snatched the evil mask from Shahir’s face in a nano-second and leaped out the four-armed “window”.  The children on and off the stage erupted in spontaneous applause.  The adults felt chills! This was the transformational moment of the camp – a first dry run rehearsal of a play the children had just orally written.  But this moment would not be repeated with the next rehearsals or the performance to come on Wednesday, the last day of the camp.  The magic was in this time when a cat, on behalf of his friends, turned evil into good, and allowed Shahir to be reconciled to Peter.  The students knew something great had happened, and that they were a part of it.  It was as if it was purging all the bad from each of them in one cathartic gesture.  Forgiveness occurred and they went on together doing good forever.  The play didn’t start out this way.

Asked what we might write a story about – something about their lives – the students offered themes about a bad person on the street.  Asked how to stop that person from doing bad things, answers of graphic violence came:  beat him up, kill him, throw him where the fish swim, spear him.  These answers come from children who live with violence on the street and who have escaped from war torn countries like Sudan that train them to kill.  “What else can we do that is not violent or physical?”  Their imaginations began to work.  They introduced a mask that makes him do bad things; maybe tie him up.  What if the rope doesn’t hold?  Drop a net on him from a airplane.  What if the net breaks?  Ahhhhh.  Get the mask!  What happens when the mask come off?  He turns good.  With that suggestion from the children, the process of playwrighting succeeded in facilitated the transformation of their minds in the symbol of a fairytale.

This week in Cairo, the arts are helping children remove the evil masks inside that burden them.  If this isn’t hope, we don’t know what is.

The full Fairytale will be available soon.

Vivian

This is the Day

By 7:30 am we were all in the van on our way to what we knew was going to be a joyous yet tiring week. When we got to the church building where the camp was held, there were bare walls, cement slab floor and empty rooms. Within 3 hours there was for lack of better words a rebirth. The walls were filled with colorful banners saying art, dance, choir and painting. The banners had faces of happy children and most of all the writing, "creating art....creating life. When the bus with the 50 students arrived, which had a banner attached on the side with the Buildabridge and Nehemiah Center (Nehemiah Center is the host organization in Nicaragua), my heart was beating out of my chest full of excitement. The children filed out of the bus with expectant faces, entering the church in amazement as they were greeted by one of the camp coordinators greeting them with music. The students were so quiet and we had their attention from the door. They were well behaved throughout the classes to my surprise. This is a testimony to the work that the Child Development Program from Food for the Hungry has had major impact in the lives of the children. With time, the students warmed up to the teachers and vice versa. The motto could be heard out the windows of the classes. the voices of hte children singing at the top of their lungs in choir class, the stopping of feet in dance class and the intensity on the faces of the children in painting class were all signs that they children were giving their all in cooperation with their teachers. I had a student that I had to put in timeout for 1 minute. After class I spoke with him and asked if the dance class was hard, easy or difficult. I asked that question because he was playing around which could mean many things. He said he had difficulty with the steps which explain his acting silly instead of trying. I gave him a little speech about not giving up and that I want his participation and effort which is one of the Buildabridge Rules-do your best at all times. However, his response was one i did not expect. He said thank you. In all my teaching experience, I never had a kid after I put in timeout and I had to talk with them afterwards, tell me thank you. That was a sign of the relationships that would be made during the week.

Nairobi: Think it Out

Rebekah Wilcox

After the 2007 general elections in Kenya, fighting began between different tribes. In Mathare Valley, neighbor turned against neighbor and people were killed based solely on the tribe they belonged to. Several people were brutally killed including children. When a child sees adults dealing with conflict by physical brutality, the child learns to deal with conflict in the same way. During our first day of camp, children shared stories about things they saw in their community and things they continue to see. In addition, they learned the first step to the peacemaking process: Think it out. In Theatre class, students acted out scenes of conflict in their lives and replayed them with different, peaceful endings. In Photography, students began taking pictures and video in their community of what they saw as peaceful interactions between people. In Mural class, students covered the wall with the first coat of white and are keeping us all in suspense about what they will be painting. Teachers were excited after the first day and children are eager for the rest of the week. Tomorrow, they will be learning step two: Talk it out.

Cairo: What about Maraina

Dr. Vivian Nix-Early, Egypt Team Leader and Co-Founder of BuildaBridge

Thursday November 19
 

Melanie and I were the last of the team to arrive in Cairo today.  We were anxious and excited to join the others waiting at the hotel.  We landed right on time at  the airport and soon began to get a taste of the politics and culture of the Middle-East.  I would like to think it not typical, and it is dangerous to generalize, but our experience in the customs line seems in retrospect to present a possible glimpse into the personality of this part of the world.  The Egyptian in front of waved to his friend to come into the line with him.  At first it seemed that they were traveling together and just got separated; and so of course he should join him in line.

Poetry and Music

By Rebekah Wilcox, BuildaBridge Kenya Team Leader and International Program Coordinator

Celmali Jaime

This morning, I woke up in Kenya for my 32nd Birthday. I was greeted by the early morning sun and beginning of a very warm day. I went downstairs in my host's home and had my regular breakfast of bread with peanut butter and a cup of chai. I was also lucky to have a Chapati left over from dinner last night. I smiled as I ventured out of the home alone and walked the dusty busy road to my first lonesome Matatu ride. I made it across the street alive and climbed aboard the Matatu. I rode into City Centre to meet my friend and fellow classmate, Celmali Jaime. Celmali is a woman I look up to. She graduated from the same graduate program that I am now in and is a Spoken Word poet. She and I both came to Kenya last year to teach at the first Kenyan Diaspora of Hope with BuildaBridge. This morning, we were invited to a concert that included a performance by Celmali and three of the Kenyan teachers who work with us. Said (drama teacher), Shadrack (visual arts teacher), and Jack (dance teacher), are all musicians and part of a hip-hop group called Mashahidi Krew.

Greetings from Diaspora of Hope Kenya

By Rebekah Wilcox, BuildaBridge Kenya Team Leader and International Program Coordinator

We are patiently awaiting and preparing for the beginning of a wonderful week of camp. So far, we had two productive training events for local artists. The first was covering the BuildaBridge classroom and the second to go over our Peace curriculum. This year, we have five classes covering poetry, dance, theatre, muraling, and photography. We will be working with 70-80 students from Mathare Valley in Nairobi. Most of these students has witnessed extreme violence and continue to see violence on a daily basis in their community (see link on left). BuildaBridge will be using the arts to teach steps to peaceful conflict resolution.

Orientation Day in Guatemala

Yesterday, all of the people who will be working at the camp came to meet for a training in La Limonada (pictured above), the community where the children we will be working with and teaching next week. There are 29 adults along with 94 children from La Limonada who will be at the camp called EL Faro located in Puerto Barrios, Punta De Palma. Out of the 29 adults there are a mixture of artists from Buildabridge who have come as Artists on Call, long term missionaries who are living in Guatemala, Guatemalan residents, and some teachers who grew up in La Limonada and now work at the school.