My letter for the kids of the artistic laboratory in Kibera

 I would like to leave, to all the students of our artistic laboratory, my letter for the new year.

I am incredibly grateful to all of you for the commitment you have shown this year, and I would like to thank everyone: those who have been with us since the beginning, those who have recently arrived, and those who unfortunately had to leave us because they are no longer in Kibera.

New challenges await us next year and I will need the commitment of all of you, the trust you have given us so far, and your advice.

In fact, my goal would be to help you and us become better people, and give you and us the strength and courage to cultivate our talents and our future.

This is why I will ask you two things first of all:

- To always support each other by helping each other in difficulties, and learning to work in a team.

- To participate in the workshops always putting all your effort into what you are doing. Both the commitment to give your best in your work and the maximum in helping your teammates.

If you are tired, or if your family needs you, do what you think is best.

The laboratory must not seem like an obligation, it must remain a place where you enjoy coming.

I hope that this year that we have spent together has been beautiful and useful, and I hope that the next one can be even better.

The greatest gift you can give me will not be to thank me, but to commit yourself to what you do, to believe in me and in yourselves, and above all to find a way to tell us what you think. To talk to me about your ideas, your doubts or your advice.

Because it's not just you who wants our help, but we also need your one. 

And we need to know you to know what is best to do.

I would like to try to give you some advice:

Think and reason a lot with your thoughts. Let them grow by sharing them with friends.

Start to think as if the world is much smaller than you think. Because as time passes we are all closer and closer, our problems affect you and your problems affect us.

And start also to think that you are important, that the future depends on you too, and that if you can't make your dreams come true on your own, you can find someone to team up with, and become stronger or better.

Amazing dream

Today I am happy to present to you the first results of the writing project of our artistic laboratory in Kibera.

The children were divided into homogeneous groups so that each group contained both older and younger children.

The Merceline group wrote a story titled: Amazing dream.

Here are the photos and the text, which we have transcribed for ease of reading.

AMAZING DREAM

It was during an English lesson when two strong men, armed with guns burst into our classroom and ordered us to get down on the floor. Everyone immediately obeyed, not knowing what was happening. 

They spoke in a familiar language, it sounded similar to our mother tongue.

We were all taken into a truck and tied up like slaves. Fear and terror colonized me and I broke the silence by screaming loud enough to wake the dead.

One of the armed men with his rough, hairy hands, slapped me so hard that made me see all the planets parading before Jupiter.

Before seconds turned into minutes, the driver kicked the engine to life, leaving clouds of dust dungling behind us. My heart skipped a beat.  I was between the blue night and the devil, seated close to the door, which did not seem to be locked. It was up to me whether to jump out and risk a severe injury, or wait for what was coming. A lot of questions and thoughts dawned in my brain, tears of melanchony trinkled down my chubby child’s cheeks. In no time the truck stopped and well all alighted to our surprise we were in a spooky forest with scary voices everywhere. 

We were made to sit in groups of five, then one of the men called and spoke on the phone with an unknown person for about half an hour, then the men left without us. I wished the earth would split in two and swallow me. Our teacher was quiet all along, not even a world from him.

We untied ourselves and, under the teacher’s instructions, called the emergency number, all with his phone. It was too unfortunate for us that there was no network connection. I tried to brainstorm a way out with my classmates, but they were so busy crying in agony that could not share a thought with me.  I saw it was better for me if I could just find a way home by myself. I started walking, following a footpath that led me deep inside the forest and departed from the very people. I was to stick with who could help me find a way out. I was now stranded in the thick bushes of the spooky forest. I tried shouting and seeing if anyone could hear my voice, but all I could hear was the echo of my own voice.

Some few steps from my right side was a bunch of strawberries that looked ripe and juicy. I went there and ate as many as I could until I was full, and carried some in my pocket.

Night darkness was nearly approaching, so I started looking for where I would spend the night. Finally I found a cave and lit a fire using a firestone like the crude people did. Then I set up a camp inside the cave.   

A big scary creature jumped out of a hole which was beside some heap of sand and started running towards me. I ran as fast as my wobbly, thin legs would carry me. The creature jumped up trying to pounce on me.

Just then I threw my blanket up in the air, sweat covered my face only to realise that it was all a dream. My mother had already made breakfast and I had to get ready for school. Craizy enough, the first class of the day was the English lesson.

Why a blog! 🙂❤️

I take advantage of this first post to briefly tell how this initiative was born.

It all started from my interest in international cooperation.

I am Luca Luigi Aschieri, I live in Italy and for some time I have had the desire to get to know and help young people and children from disadvantaged areas of the world. However, I have never had particular trust in large international organizations.

My interest led me to meet a young family from Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. They are Calvin Juma and Florence Owino, and are very socially active. 

Dialogue and discussion quickly began on several important issues related to the Kibera slum. 

Florence volunteered with children, helping them with homework at a local association. I tried to propose a drawing workshop: the idea was to have the children draw and I would publish the photos on social media; the hope was to collect donations to support the art project.

We started on a table with a few children.

Soon the number grew Andrea we started renting a room, to have a larger and safe space.

Now the laboratory is growing and we are trying to expand the activities to also support dance and writing.

We would like this space to become a resource that promotes study, artistic talent and the desire to get involved on a social level.

Personally, I would also like to create a dialogue and exchange of ideas and projects with other children from all over the world. I am convinced that this can become a first step towards cultivating friendship and support between different cultures.