Close Encounters For Kenyan Children

Kenya Fri 08-12-2006

Close Encounters For Kenyan Children
By Emmanuel Mwendwa

Regular school attendance remains a pipe dream for hundreds of children resident in slums dotting Kenya’s capital Nairobi. But a recent art competition opened up new horizons for pupils enrolled in low cost institutions in the city's sprawling ghettos. The contest, a United Nations World Food Program’s Feed the Children initiative, evidently offered many children a first-time encounter with the visual arts.

As many as six winning paintings stand a chance of featuring in WFP’s 2006 calendar. Mobile school-feeding project beneficiaries in nursery and primary schools in slum areas were selected as participants.kids artistic expression

“The pupils were using crayons, water-based acrylic paints, colours, brushes and words to express feelings, how themes Hygiene & Sanitation and School Feeding Program impact in their lives,” says local artist Patrick Mukabi, who assisted the children express their thoughts through art.

Last year, three art pieces by St Catherine’s Primary School pupils in Mukuru Kayaba slums scooped top honours, winning material and monetary awards. They beat arid and semi-arid schools in Machakos, Kajiado, Lokichoggio, Lodwar and even southern Sudan. “This contest is tailored to introduce visual art rudiments to school-going children, promote creativity and inculcate the competitive spirit at an early age,” noted Mukabi, who hopes to achieve better results this year.

The competition attracted over 250 children, and the judges’ panel, led by Mukabi, short-listed 50 entries. Next, they selected 12 pieces from, which a final six are to be submitted next month to WFP’s headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Despite the government of Kenya making primary education free and mandatory in early 2003, truancy cases were still rife as kids stayed out of school to fend for themselves, scavenging for leftovers mainly in garbage dumps feed the children school. As the program guarantees free lunch at school, the future of marginalised children has been transformed. It is these tangible changes that are reflected in their art.

“Before WFP brought in daily meals, most children were not concentrating in class lessons. Now, pupils answer questions and understand teachers instructions,” writes Rebecca Nthenya, 16, a pupil at Kangemi Youth Centre.

Her drawing, and views expressed in her essay, for instance, speak volumes about the experiences of countless other youngsters. “The teachers are happy pupils are busy and their grades have improved.

They say if the project stops, many pupils will drop out of school,” concludes Nthenya. Mukabi notes that participants were comfortable working with minimum supervision - a pointer to how their interest in visual arts was rapidly spurred on.

“The younger ones were enthusiastic. Their imagination flows at will, we learnt a lot from their innocence and sense of creativity,” he adds. Five-year-old Joyce Jackline’s piece, projects promising talent. “Our fruits at home are kept well covered in a big basket,” writes the Red Rose Nursery School pupil.

Nicholas Kinyotu, 11, was disappointed art is rarely taught at school. Yet this hardly stops him from experimenting with colours at home. Kangemi Youth Centre’s art teacher, Evelyn Otsieka, conceded local schools do not rank art as a mainstream subject.

But for Meresia Oyano, 10, of Daima Primary School, mixing and playing with colours is exciting. “I was introduced to art a year ago, but now it is my favourite pastime.”

Perhaps it is imperative that her confidently-uttered words, “I want to be an artist when I grow up”, be a rallying point for the Kenyan government to upgrade art as an examinable subject in local schools.

Posted By: Mercy Ngethe

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