Wednesday was the third and final day for the ladies of Off the Mat, Into the World, on site,helping to build the school with Building Tomorrow. It was my second day with them and indeed a pleasure to be able to share the joys and excitement of their amazing experience.
We were in the rural district of Mpigi Villiage, about an hour west of Kampala and the locals were all out for this final day with this group of Westerners. The ladies had brought a number of gifts for the kids: balls, stickers, frisbees, books and other fun things to share. They also were enthusiastically engaging the hundred or so kids in numerous fun activities….drumming with them, doing yoga, movement play in a large circle, and extending their hands to continue supporting the ground work on this six room school.
Around 1pm I laid out a small tapestry as the central art space and almost immediately the kids started swarming. I think there were around 120. Kids of all ages, the majority between 10 and 15 years of age. They were so excited and super curious about what I was doing they kept crowding closer and closer to the center. Thank fully our friend Jimmy, one of the site coordinators and community leaders for this project, stepped in to translate and assisted in creating a touch more space.
Having borrowed 35 art boards from In Movement, and carrying enough supplies for 20 kids to work, it was quite the intimidating sitting there on the ground, surrounded by hungry eyes, curious to what was going to happen, trapped behind a language and cultural barrier, but committed to the craft I had laid out before me.
To gift these kids postcards created by students in the U.S. and have them create their own to be delivered to students in our next destination…..INDIA….later this year.
I was fortunate to have the support of a few of the ladies. Megan and Seane quickly came into the middle to help orchestrate and our friend Suzanne brought her drum to calm and connect the students to the collective experience being created.
After explaining the project and what we were going to do, showing them a map of the world and explaining where the cards they were going to get came from and where their art work was going, I asked them to close their eyes. Like most young people this can be a challenge. But from the looks of the group, many were able to drop in. I asked them to breathe deeply, to feel the excitement, to feel their hearts, and notice their breath. Breathing quietly for about a minute felt like a long time and then we chanted the sound of OM. This was a magical moment and it lasted for more than a couple minutes as we repeated the sound of OM continuously.
I felt deeply moved by this and was quickly aware of the tears in a few kids eyes, the depth of connection and passion shared by many. This was the perfect transition into the art making.
There on the dirt, students in the front spread out. We asked the crowding group to back up, to create some space, and the kids took turns. They had boards laid out before them and about 20 or so were able to get into the art making at a time. Having instructed them to draw things that made them feel happy, or represented Uganda to them, they had no time picking up any of the variety of supplies and drawing on their Peace Pals postcard.
The process lasted for about 90 minutes. It was totally intense. Cramped in a tight little space on the earth. Students gathered closely around eager to get involved, to draw and express themselves, and excitedly awaiting their US postcard.
I am going to continue to watch and listen to the behavior of the Ugandan youth in relation to art supplies and the act of being creative and report back on my observations. But for a first experience, in a spontaneous and organic way in this rural setting on the ground, I had a magical time and I am pretty certain the kids did too.
What an amazing experience. Sounds like the activity created great excitement and had an impact on the kids. Well done.