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!
