Dogs (cats) and mural painting, that’s what makes my world
go round! So painting a mural about dogs was extra fun! This mural (5 x 3m) was
painted at Veterinary Clinic El Panorama in Antigua Guatemala. The clinic was
opened by fellow Unidos para los Animals volunteers Luis and Noreen and it is
the place we use often to spay/neuter free roaming animals from Antigua and
surroundings.
It's an educational mural meant for kids (and adults too, why
not!). I’ll print banners out of this design and use it during educational activities
we do at the place we go to with our mobile sterilization clinics.
If you’d like to help us sterilizing as many cats and dogs
in Guatemala as possible, please donate through this website:
Off to San
Martín Jilotepeque (Guatemala), yet again. This time to paint a mural on a brand-new
wall at the outskirts of town. It was recently built to protect the well and
public wash basins behind it, half way down a steep trail that leads to a creek.
This well has been an important water source for many neighbours for over a
century. But in the last few years, some nearby homeowners have been tapping
into the well. The basin dried up, it fell in disarray and was completely
destroyed when not too long ago a huge oak tree tumbled down, right on top of
it. The once beautiful public well of San Nicolás turned into a ruin and a
garbage dump.
A group of
concerned citizens want to restore the well and bring back the water for the
use of all, because there are still a lot of families in the area that have no
running water in their homes. They
started by cleaning up the trash and planting trees in the beautiful, lush
area. Next step was to build a retaining wall which was done with part of the
materials and labour provided by the municipality. It will protect the place
and will hopefully stop people from throwing their trash downhill. In order to
make people aware about the well and incite them to protect the place, I was
asked to design a mural for the 20-meter-long wall.
But that
was not all that the project embarked. Telma Calan, former director of the
school for children with special needs and member of the COCODE (Community
Development Counsil) wanted to give a group of children who had recently
participated in a drawing contest (organised by the public library) the chance
to learn more about painting and thus asked me to involve them in the process.
Designing a
mural that involves the participation of children is completely different from
designing one I’ll be painting just by myself. It’s much more difficult in a
way, because the design needs to allow to participants to work more or less
independently even though they have no prior experience. There are several
approaches, but in this case, I opted for a design of simple elements, all
representing water, of which I first drew the outline and then had the kids
colour them in. In the end, I traced all elements with black, and the result
was pretty neat. Of course there was much more to it than just colouring some
pictures. First, we primed the wall, then applied the background colour. Next
we drew a grid with a spirit level, which is not as easy as it looks! At least
not if you have to fill up 20 meters of wall with 25 x 25cm squares, all neatly
levelled out. Then finally the real action, followed by some tedious touch ups
and last but not least, varnishing all. Twice!
The
conditions were tough! The sun was scorching, drying the paint even before
putting it on the wall! Heavy traffic passed behind our backs, lifting up big
clouds of sand and dust. The “water men” of the municipality were nice enough
to drive by and hose down the dirt road, but still, each of us and everything
we brought with us, was covered in a thick layer of dust. Every afternoon, a
chill shadow covered the mural while the wind became stronger. The temperature
dropped and from overheated we went to being cold in no time! But the kids did
great and kept on painting!
Despite it
being at the outskirts of town, it was clear that the people from the community
appreciated the art work. Cars stopped, people cheered us on and even brought
us drinks and snacks. And told us stories about the neighbourhood. Horrible
stories, truly. The civil war in Guatemala seems so far away already, but for
many people it has been a traumatic experience they will never get over. The
road we were painting the mural at was controlled by the military during the
eighties. The high school located on a hill right above the place we were
working, still a school to this day, was at the time a place where people were
held prison and being tortured. The road leads out of town, along many high cliffs.
It became a popular place among the military to make bodies disappear. It was
literally the road to nowhere. Very eerie. It was kind of surreal to hear
people telling their experiences to each other right behind my back while I was
painting happy pictures, surrounded by kids doing the same. I hope they
listened too, because as hard as these stories are to listen to, they should
not be forgotten.
Three days
of hard, hard work and then the mural was done! Very dirty but also very well-watered
and fed, we wrapped it all up. We did a little photo session, unfortunately
with bad lighting for pics, and Telma and Doña Marta of the COCODE gave me and
the kids a diploma and a gift. It was a wonderful experience and I hope the
mural will indeed help to get the restauration of the water project of the
ground. Despite being tired and ready for a break, we’re already planning the
next mural in San Martín Jilotepeque!
This mural
was sponsored by Dutch foundation Uno Más. Thank you very much!
Also many thanks to: Telma Calan for organising it all; Doña Martha for all the
support; the wonderful painters Doris Álvarez, Vicky Cumatzil, Hayden Álvarez,
Gaby Chávez and Luís López. Thanks to my friend Cristy Velasco for the
delicious treats and much needed (unsweetened) coffee! Thanks to Hyden and
Doris’ mum for the delicious lunch; the “Water Men” for keeping us cool; and
the traffic police for lending us their cones. Thanks to the entire community
of San Martín Jilotepeque for your kind words and support! I hope you’ll
treasure your precious water source!
It was
exactly two years ago that I spent, with my team, a whole week in San Martín Jilotepeque
(Chimaltenango, Guatemala) to paint an enormous jungle scene at the wall of the
patio of the school for children with special needs. It was a fun project and
it left me inspired to paint the outside wall too. That mural was created in
the beginning of this year, and sponsored by the Dutch Foundation Colour4Kids. While
I was painting this mural, we were in the process of planning the construction
of a second floor at the school. The roof was already there, it “just” needed a
ramp, walls, doors and a railing to convert it into a proper place for the
kids. Colour4Kids provided the funding and by the time I finished the mural in February
of 2024, I knew I would have to come back one day to paint the addition they
planned to put on top of the existing walls, as well as some touch ups, because
the mural would surely get damaged during the remodelling.
The
construction went as smooth as could be, well within the time limit and even
with a little money left over! But what surprised me most was that the murals were
still in perfect shape. The builders had gone out of their way to protect them.
I recently
went back to the school to continue the mural of the jungle above the ramp and do
some minor touch ups here and there.
For the outside, I had asked the director to hire a local painter to cover the new
cinderblock wall on top of the mural with some colour. I had a few coloured horizontal
lines in mind, nothing special, just something to cover up the grey.
To my great surprise, the director sent me a picture of the painting in progress,
asking me if they were doing okay. I was flabbergasted: not only had they
plastered the new wall, they had repeated the geometric design from the bottom
part of the mural, in the straightest of lines! It looked fantastic! I couldn’t
have done it better, especially since we’re talking about 3.5-5 meters up in
the air!
A week ago
I went to San Martín Jilotepeque for the last time this year, as a guest to the
inauguration of the expansion. It was a wonderful event with all the bells and
whistles. The patio was beautifully decorated, the children performed dances,
there was food and cake. What a nice project to be part of!
Upstairs
there’s still one grey wall left at an open corridor. Who knows, maybe next
year this could be a dining hall for the kids, with a gorgeous mural about
nutrition…???
1 November 2024,
All Souls' Day, an important day in Guatemala. People get together at cemeteries
to clean and decorate graves and tombs of loved ones, in order to celebrate life
with the dead. It’s a colourful occasion
with all the with flowers, wreaths and kites. Giant kites are worked on for
months and are then displayed and sometimes even flown to honour the dead and to
send messages to the spirits of loved ones. The children enjoy flying their own
colourful creations, cheering up the otherwise pretty grey and dull sky.
It was also
the day that I put the finishing touches to a mural project in the village of
El Hato, just outside Antigua, Guatemala. It’s the second mural at this school.
Two years ago, I painted a mural here, representing both youth and the community’s
floriculture. Recently, I was approached again by the director and teachers to
come back for yet another mural. The theme was the same: portraits of local
children (students from the school whose parents grow flowers) against a
backdrop of Guatemalan textiles and flowers grown in this village.
When I
finished, late in the afternoon on All Saints Day, it was already getting dark
and it had just started to rain. I couldn’t take any decent pictures of the
result. But I had to go back anyway, for the official opening of the mural, as
organised by principal Paty. The whole school got together and I received a big
thank you, some beautiful flowers from the mother of the kids I had painted, as
well as a beautiful piece of Guatemala fabric.
This mural
was generously sponsored by Colour4Kids, thanks so much!!
The mural Kids
& Dogs mural we painted in Parramos last week was just one part in something
that hopefully will become a substantial educational programme about (street)
dogs. People in Guatemala have of course always had animals. But more and more
rural communities are turning into urban centres and that requires a new attitude
towards pets and domestic animals. Parramos is one of those towns were dozens if
not hundreds of stray animals wander the streets, surviving on garbage, suffering
hard lives and forming a nuisance for its human habitants. A few local women
have taken on this huge task of taking care of them and are doing their best to
have as many of these stray animals spay and neutered. But they can’t do it
alone, neither is it just their responsibility.
With the
organization I volunteer for, Unidos Para los Aninales, we have developed an
activity book for children with lots of information and tips on how to take
care of your dog, especially aimed at a Guatemalan target group with limited resources.
But we can
do more. So I returned to Parramos to teach a workshop for eleven children age
7-11. Also participating in the workshop were Lupita, Griselda and another dog,
all three of them live at the Municipality of Parramos. The children learned
about who’s responsibility it is to take care of street dogs (everybody’s!),
why sterilization and vaccination is so important and what food is good for
dogs. The children got to classify some food samples (beneficial/poisonous) and
after the activity the “good” food was shared with the dogs who were
surprisingly uninterested!
Then it was
time to paint. Each participant made a poster with a cat or dog. Some of them
made two! It was such a fun morning, the kids didn’t want it to end. Of course,
each child received a copy of our activity book Cómo Cuidar a mi Chucho.
Hopefully to be repeated!
Many thanks
to Amada from Parramos for setting this up and helping during the workshop, and
the Municipality of Parramos for providing the space and PR. Especially thanks to Colour4Kids for sponsoring this project.
Parramos,
Chimaltenango, is a small but vibrant town in Guatemala that not so long ago
wasn´t much more than a large village. Last week, I went there to paint a mural
on the wall of a nursery school, right next to the city hall. It was as noisy
as usual, much hotter than normal in November and the wall considerably larger
than the measurements I had been given. It wasn’t 2 meters tall, but 2.70,
quite a difference. Fortunately, the design was easy to adapt. We paint a border
at the bottom and just continued the coloured lines in the background.
The mural not
only brightens up the entire street but also hopes to convey an important
message: the overpopulation of street dogs is a problem that can be solved
together. “¡Juntos los cuidamos!”, it says: “Together we take care of
them”, because children can also do their bit to care for pets. Taking responsibility
together will hopefully lead to less so that they are not neglect, abuse and abandonment.
On the right side we painted the logo of Unidos para los Animales, an
organization that offers affordable sterilizations and with which I have been
involved as a volunteer for years. In the text below the logo the public is
encouraged not to dump their pets and to sterilize them. In short, to take
responsibility for the dogs and cats in the community.
The kindergarteners
certainly loved it! “They look just like real!”, they said of the puppies.
“¡Qué chilero!”. Or in other words: super cool! The teachers and principals were
also very pleased.
The request
for this mural came from a group of women from Parramos who, on their own
initiative, trap stray dogs, have them sterilized and release them again, if no
home can be found for them. Sending the dogs back into the streets is always
heartbreaking, but unfortunately often the only option. In any case, they will
no longer contribute to the growth of the dog population on the streets. No
more unwanted puppies!
With the
mural finished, I just want to give big
thank you to Esmeralda and Amada for this opportunity and for coordinating the
logistics. Thanks to the staff of the kindergarten, the students for their
support, the Municipality of Parramos, as well as their photographer Cristian.
Also thanks to Diana Hernández and Gaby Rodriguez for helping me paint and Flori
and Luis Velasquez who were so kind to offer transportation, the first and last
day. And of course a big shout out to Dutch Foundation Colour4Kids for sponsoring
this mural!
But! This
project isn’t quite finished yet! Tomorrow I’ll return to Parramos for an art
workshop about doggie welfare. Stay tuned!
Up before dawn
and on the road at 5am. The things we do for the arts! Also to beat the blazing
sun later on, as well as the traffic. Although, driving in the pre-dawn dark
wasn’t much fun. Plenty of traffic already with many cars outfitted like
Christmas trees. In Guatemala there is no middle way: people drive without any
lights at all, or they pimp their vehicles till they look like the tandem bicycle
in Men in Black II.
We made it to
San Martín Jilotepeque and at 6.30am on the dot we were at work. As soon as we
got out of the car, we were warmly greeted by two street dogs who stuck with us
during the day. Despite of their heartwarming hugs, it was COLD! Something like 12°C. But we knew it wouldn’t last for long. An
indeed, as soon as the sun made it over the mountain tops and then over the buildings
in our street, it was HOT. From 12°C to 28°C in two hours’ time, WOW!
We were back in
San Martín Jilotepeque to finish the mural we had started last month. It wasn’t
an awful lot of work, but the details that were pending were important ones. Such
as the name of the school and the symbols that represent different special needs.
Now it’s all done and finally the mural, with social inclusion as a theme, makes sense!
It won’t be our
last time in San Martín Jilotepeque. With the Dutch Foundation Colour4Kids we’re
still raising funds for the construction of a second level for this school for
children with special needs. Another level means more walls, so hopefully more
paint projects in the future!
This mural is
sponsored by Colour4Kids. Many thanks to Catherine Corry for driving (again!)
as well as doing a terrific paint job. And thanks to our friend Cristy Velasco
who brought us coffee and her delicious carrot cake.
