Although
I no longer post every week about our art workshops in the shelter in
Alotenango, it doesn’t mean the workshops don’t continue. And things are
finally changing…
Last
week we actually didn’t go to Alotenango because the people in the shelter were
being relocated to a transition shelter at the outskirts of Alotenango. Here the
army has constructed wooden units, one for each family. I haven’t been there
yet, but from what I understand it is rather cramped. The residents will have
no opportunity to cook in those units, but there is a separate kitchen where they
will receive (or cook?) their meals. There is an old school building where the
kids will receive classes. A woman called Suzan is constructing a building for
recreational purposes out of eco-blocks: plastic bottles filled with waste
(chips bags and such). The students of the Carpentry Project are making the wooden
frame for this structure. As soon as people are settled in we hope to continue
our art classes here as well as some other activities.
In
the meantime things start to look “normal”. The tents in the Central Park of
Alotenango have been removed. Even the road to Escuintla (RN14) is accessible again
thanks to a major effort by the government to clear away the debris. The same
government still does not allow residents from the affected areas to keep
searching for remains of their loved ones because it is “too dangerous” (and
yes, body parts are still being found.) Experts keep saying that the dangerous
thing is actually to reopen the road because it is more than likely that soon
it will be covered up by millions of tons of debris from the flanks of the
volcano. I guess we’ll just wait for the next disaster to happen.
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| Suzan and Yoselin |
But
back to the art classes.
On
Thursday August 2nd I went to the shelter with Suzan Eleveld,
director of the Carpentry Project (not to be confused with the Suzan I
mentioned before). She had been away from just days before the eruption, so
this was her first visit to the shelter. It was a happy encounter with her
student Ermelinda who lives at the shelter with her whole extended family, as
well as other acquaintances.
There
was no activity going on this day, so all kids came running up to me, barely
giving me the chance to set up the activity. I had expected about 15 kids, but
there were more than 30 and most of them rather young. I had planned to make
decorated paper bags, but that turned out to be a bit too much for so many
kids. So we just drew and coloured and had plenty of fun. Later on a group of
the older kids did get to work on their bags with some beautiful results.
In
the meantime it had started to rain heavily and the little kids playing with
their push cars on the patio moved up to the corridor where we had set up the
art station. They were playing “ambulance”, mimicking sirens on top of their
lungs while racing past the tables. All in all a crazy afternoon that left me
pretty exhausted.
One
moment that stood out for me was when a little boy, not even two years old I
guess, climbed on a chair and grabbed a piece of paper. I gave him a crayon and
with a very serious expression he drew a line on the paper. His whole face lit
up when he saw the result (a blue line) and he looked up at me with an ecstatic
look on his face. I gave him another crayon and he squeaked with pleasure when
he drew a red line. This went on for quite a bit. Oh, the delights of making
your first work of art…
 |
| Neftali and on the left the Youngest Artist |
A
week later, August 9th, we made it to the shelter despite yet another
tropical downpour. Henry Navarijo and Rudy of the Carpentry Project joined me
to help the kids make thread spinners. The things actually have a name here: chajaleles. Who knew!
There
were some other activities going on so we had a slow start but ended up with
about 25 kids. They all loved the thread spinners and some coloured more than
one. All went smooth and well, very different form the chaos last week.The only short interruption we had was when we heard a funeral march coming by and all the kids ran out "to look at the dead".
And
that was it for now. We’ll see what will happen this week in the transition
shelter.
Thanks
to all of you who made these activities possible!
