Posts Tagged ‘Honduras’

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Marching for the Environment

Allison Havens Monday, December 5th, 2011

ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens and CARE Youth Leaders in Conservation bring environmentalism and creativity to a Honduran community’s traditional parade.

Youth Leaders in Conservation with Snake, Environmental Parade, Honduras, ArtCorps Artist Allison HavensIt was a hot and humid day like normal in La Masica, Honduras and all my 100 kids and their parents were already lined up at the gas station ready to start the parade. My heart dropped a little realizing that they all actually showed up on time, for once.  Meaning that we still had another 2 hours to wait for the beginning of the parade, due to my overestimation of typical Honduran tardiness. But it was just as well considering we still had to feed all 150 people and I realized that most of the kids were still wearing their Sunday best, waiting to change into their costumes. Wow, these kids dressed up to come to La Masica to participate in the parade! OK, this is a big deal for them…

We served them their Wendys hamburgers and fries, graciously provided by CARE. Another point that made my heart drop a little. Here we are marching in a parade for the conservation of the environment and instead of choosing to hire a local group of women to provide the lunch or trying to use as little waste as possible, CARE decided to buy expensive hamburgers from Wendys in La Ceiba, out of a beautiful desire to provide something special for the kids. And all of that money that we spent on those 150 lunches will be now going back into the profits of a rich North American chain restaurant, when that money could have been invested in a local La Masica business. And we just contributed more trash to the environment before our environmental themed parade, in a community that already has a big enough waste management problem. But… anyways, the truth… I was grateful for the specialness of the Wendys hamburgers that day because it made the two hour wait less frustrating and ceased the complaints of the impatient parents who were thrilled that CARE cared enough to provide a special lunch for them and their kids. So anyways, another issue for another day, we can’t solve all the world’s problems in one day… we still had a parade to march in!

Girl in bird costume, Environmental Parade, Honduras, ArtCorps Artist Allison HavensAnd so, we finally sandwiched our two-block long section of 100 kids and youth  marching for the environment in between the beauty queen float and the armed narcotraffickers marching on their pure breed horses. Our environmental-themed exhibit was the first time a group had done something so creative and with a purely social message in the annual La Masica Carnival parade. Normally, it is just beauty queens, business advertisement, lots of punta music, pretty girls and drunk spectators. Oh god, should I have brought these children to this event…? Is this gonna be PG?? Are these parents gonna kill me? But nonetheless, we persevered onward providing a light of positivity and family fun in this annual parade! We were led by the fearless horse crew- leading our horse and buggy carrying the environmental mural the youth from Instituto Gonzalo had painted, next we had our “Water is Life, protect it!” banner painted by the youth working with Junta de Agua, and then the kids from Tripoly in their butterfly and flower costumes, followed by the kids from Tarritos in their paper-mache bird costumes and their giant moving and dancing snake, then came the band from Monte Negro school shakily leading our environmental song and chants, next came the trees walking alongside the river, held in the hands of the girls of Monte Negro in their flowing traditional danza dresses, next were rows of kids from Monte Negro, Naranjal, and Instituto Gonzalo carrying their homemade signs with environmental messages and noise-makers, and finally wrapping up our section were the cars from CARE and the Municipality throwing rambuttan fruit to the crowd and blasting music.

Kids in flower costume singing, Environmental Parade, Honduras, ArtCorps Artist Allison HavensAnd while the march was definitely a bit too long and everyone was exhausted in the end, the kids were proud. Hopefully we inspired others to try something a little more community-focused and a bit more creative in the parade next year.  And hopefully some of them are also now conserving their use of water more, realizing the importance of their forests, and inspired to protect the future quality of life for their children.

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The Ecosystem, Up Close and Personal

Allison Havens Thursday, August 25th, 2011

ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens and 10 Youth Leaders in Conservation pile into a truck to learn firsthand about their ecosystem.

Over the past few months, the sessions with my core group of community service high school students have been devoted to getting to know ourselves better, using art and creative exercises to answer questions like: “Who am I? Where do I come from? What is important to me? Who are we as a group?” We’ve gotten comfortable listening and sharing in a circle, working as a team and learning to encourage everyone to participate. And now…we are ready to get to work on our first project together−a mural!

But first we need to learn a little bit about the topics and issues that we’re going to be addressing in our mural−how the natural environment affects us, our water system and the future of the community. So we are taking a field trip to our water source, the life-blood of our precious ecosystem.

The Mayor’s Representative, Don Marcos, graciously drove half of the group and Oscar, the CARE Watershed Coordinator, gave a ride to the rest of us. 10 screaming teenagers in the back of a pickup truck made for a lively start to the trip! Once we arrived at the base of the mountain, we trekked about 30 minutes through the woods to reach the river. Talk about beautiful!

Oscar and Don Santiago, the President of La Masica’s Water Council, explained how the water system operates hand-in-hand with all parts of the ecosystem to ensure a stable and clean supply of water. We often talk about “the environment” in abstract terms, but it’s hard to have a real understanding of what it means to “care for our planet” or “protect our water supply”. That’s why I wanted our group to see up close where and how we get the water that comes to our homes. And to learn why sometimes the water doesn’t reach our houses or we get sick if we drink the water from the tap. And to identify some of the current threats to our natural resources.

The youth also heard why one member of their community, Don Santiago, decided to volunteer his time to improve and protect this water system for the entire community. When the water doesn’t run or there’s a problem with the water supply, its easy for people to complain, but often those same people don’t work to solve the problem, or participate in the water council meetings. Don Santiago inspired us by his stories and example to be part of the solution.

Overall, the youth loved the experience of the hike, the fresh air, the trees, being in the mountains and being together. Without doubt, these are excellent lessons to take away as well.

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Youth Picture the Future of their Ecosystem: Sunny, but Not Bright

Allison Havens Thursday, August 25th, 2011

ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens helps CARE youth groups understand how we are all interconnected in the ecosystem in preparation for creating a mural together.

Youth Leader in Conservation draws animal, ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens, CARE, HondurasI wanted the youth to really feel the purpose that each life has in the natural world. In teams, each group was assigned to draw and cut out one part of the ecosystem (birds, trees, river, flower, bee, sun, etc). With our drawings we constructed our first mural, taping each animal or plant to the chalkboard based on how each one is connected to the others. Like “The tree needs the river, the river also needs the trees and the bird needs the tree to live−but the tree needs the bird to spread seeds, and the flowers need the birds and the insects need the flowers, etc, etc.”

When we had a picture with everyone’s plants and animals, we introduced the humans and constructed a new mural with the scenario if the humans decided to cut down the trees to sell and didn’t plant anymore. One-by-one we removed the animals or plants that would be affected by the loss of the trees. Until finally we were left with the river and the sun which we quickly reduced down to just the lonely sun after we evaporated the river. A pretty lonely future to imagine….

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Leave Your Rulers and Erasers at the Door

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens boycotts rulers and erasers in her art classroom to challenge her students to think outside the box.

The small group of adventurous and well-behaved artists with good listening skills existed only in my dreams. It was time for me to face the reality of facilitating drawing and visioning exercises for a class of 30-40 middle schoolers who have a hard time concentrating for longer then five minutes and whose greatest fear is embarrassment in front of their peers.

Youth laugh in front of their artwork on wall, ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens, CAREMy goal for these art sessions with the San Lorenzo middle school students was to use art and creativity to develop self-confidence and leadership skills and to connect the students to their environment. By sparking interest in their natural environment, we could discuss the ecosystem, how it affects their daily lives, and the importance of conserving these precious natural resources.

After attempting a few group team-building and name games, I divided the students into smaller groups, giving each group a large piece of paper and set of oil pastels. I asked them to draw a picture of their “community” as a group, without talking to each other. I hoped this activity would be fun, bring the group together and hopefully provide some new insights into their individual and collective understanding of “community”…but it turned into a horrifying example for me of the mis-education of “art” in schools in Honduras.

Leave Your Rulers and Erasers at the DoorEven though I had given each group a beautiful collection of colored oil pastels to use, the students in each group immediately pulled out their pencils and rulers and began to carefully and perfectly draw the same rectangle house that they had previously learned in a different art class. Each group was trying to give me the correct answer, the perfectly drawn house that they had been taught was the only way to draw a house, to describe their community. They were drawing for me, for my approval, trying to give me the answer that they assumed I wanted. They assumed that there was only one correct answer. And these houses didn’t even look like their houses! I don’t know whose house it was that had become the model prototype to represent “home,” to represent “community,” but it was an image far from their community and their own experience.

No wonder many of the kids don’t like their art class and don’t see the usefulness of art in their own lives. Like their history and science classes, art is just another subject requiring memorization in order to replicate the lesson for a test and get a good grade.

Part of me doesn’t even want to call these sessions art workshops because the expectation is that I’m coming to teach these kids how to draw straighter lines and more perfect houses. But I want the opposite–I want to see them in their art, I want to see diversity of interpretation, of images, of colors, crooked lines and orange “mis-shaped” houses.

I want them to discover art as a tool for all of us–whether or not we can draw straight lines–to learn, to collaborate with others, to explore and connect ideas. So for the next session, I’m prohibiting rulers, erasers and pencils. Things might just get a little crazy….

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Dejen Fuera las Reglas y las Gomas de Borrar

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

La Artista ArtCorps Allison Havens boicotea a las reglas y a las gomas de borrar en su clase de dibujo para obligar a los estudiantes a ir más allá de las normas.

El grupito de artistas aventureros que se portaban bien y sabían escuchar existió sólo en mis sueños. Había llegado la hora de enfrentarme a la realidad de la facilitación de ejercicios de dibujo y visualización ante una clase de 30-40 alumnos de enseñanza media incapaces de estar concentrados más de cinco minutos seguidos y cuyo mayor miedo es que les dejen en ridículo delante de sus compañeros.

Youth laugh in front of their artwork on wall, ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens, CAREMi objetivo en estas sesiones artísticas con los niños de la escuela de San Lorenzo era usar el arte y la creatividad para desarrollar la confianza en uno mismo y el liderazgo, y vincular a los estudiantes con su medio ambiente. Al atraer su interés hacia el entorno natural podríamos debatir sobre el ecosistema, cómo afecta a sus vidas diarias y la importancia de conservar los preciosos recursos naturales.

Tras probar varios juegos de nombres y de desarrollo del espíritu de equipo, separé a los estudiantes en grupos pequeños, y le di un papel grande y un juego de pinturas pastel a cada grupo. Les dije que hicieran un dibujo de su comunidad en grupo, sin hablar entre ellos. Esperaba que esta actividad fuera divertida, que uniera al grupo y que, con suerte, aportara nuevas visiones a su percepción individual y colectiva de la comunidad…pero se convirtió en un ejemplo terrorífico para mí del tipo de “antieducación” artística ofrecida en las escuelas de Honduras.

Aunque le había dado a cada grupo un bonito juego de pinturas pastel al óleo para que lo usaran, los estudiantes inmediatamente sacaron sus lápices y reglas y empezaron a dibujar con cuidado y perfección la típica casa rectangular que les habían enseñado en otra clase de dibujo. Cada grupo trataba de describir su comunidad dándome la respuesta correcta, la perfecta casita que le habían enseñado como única forma de dibujar una casa. Estaban dibujando para mí, para que aprobara su dibujo, intentando darme lo que ellos habían asumido que yo quería. Habían asumido que sólo había una respuesta buena. Y aquellas casas ni siquiera se parecían a las suyas.… No sé qué casa había sido el modelo usado para representar “casa”, “comunidad”, pero era claramente un prototipo distante de su comunidad y de su propia experiencia.

Está claro por qué a muchos de los niños no les gusta la clase de pintura y no ven la utilidad del arte en sus propias vidas. Como la clase de historia o de ciencia, el arte no es más que otra materia que memorizar para hacer un examen y conseguir una buena nota.

Una parte de mí ni siquiera quiere denominar estas sesiones como talleres de arte, porque lo que se espera es que venga a enseñar a estos niños cómo hacer líneas muy rectas y casitas muy perfectas. Pero yo aspiro a lo contrario, quiero verlos en su propio arte, quiero ver diversidad en las interpretaciones, en las imágenes, en los colores, líneas torcidas y casas imperfectas.

Quiero que descubran que, sepamos o no dibujar líneas rectas, el arte es una herramienta para todos, para aprender, para colaborar con los demás, para explorar y unir ideas. Así que la próxima vez, voy a prohibir las reglas, los lápices y las gomas de borrar. Puede que las cosas se descontrolen un poco….

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Middle Schoolers Begin to See Themselves as Changemakers

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

As ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens entered her first workshop with Honduran middle schoolers, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect from such a young age group.

I wondered, “Would the activities be too hard, boring, too long for middle school students?” But after the first icebreaker flopped (lining up in order of birth dates), we persevered to end up having a great workshop together!

We discussed what art is, who is an artist and who can be one, and determined that we are each artists in our own unique ways. We proceeded with group map drawings of their community–listing the things they liked about their communities (such as the soccer fields, the school, church, the friendly people) and what they’d like to change or improve in their community (such as the violence and alcohol abuse). We took turns sharing, listening and applauding.

The children began learning how to work in groups and how to be inclusive of everyone’s participation. And they began developing the confidence to create and share with one another. These are some of the foundational lessons as the students begin to view themselves as active members of their communities and participants of change in Tripoli, Atlantida!

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Do as I Say, Not as I Do….

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

After her first session with Honduran middle school students, ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens asked the principal if there was an area near the school with some trees where she could give the next workshop.

I wanted to immerse the students of Tripoli, Atlantida in their natural environment because I planned to focus the session around the importance of trees and the role they play in the nature and in our lives. The principal took me around the schoolyard and pointed to the stumps of what used to be a shady glen of trees. He told me that the former principal had stood in front of this same grove the year before to give a talk to the students about the importance of protecting the trees–and that several months later, he and other community members cut all of the trees down, without explanation.

It was such a tragically ironic story that we both had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. From the students’ informal education experience, there is much to unlearn! I am just beginning to understand the size of the task ahead of me, the students and my partner organization, CARE.

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Shaping the Path of the Community Service Sector

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens is training a special group of Honduran high school students who have chosen to pursue careers in community service.

Community Service students present to class, ArtCorps Artist Alison Havens, CAREThe Gonzalo Rodriguez high school in Masica, Honduras is the only school in the entire department of Atlantida that offers a community service career track, preparing future community and social workers in the region. I feel privileged to be able to work with this group of motivated and interested students and to collaborate with the enthusiastic program director to shape the path of the community service sector in Honduras.

This group of youth will be the future community leaders and agents of change–giving workshops and organizing and educating communities will encompass much of their work. They are the ideal target group because they understand the importance of innovative communication and leadership methods. And they are eager to learn the creative facilitation and arts-based participatory practices that will help them to work more effectively for social change when they begin their community-based field practice next month.

Community Service students draw poster, ArtCorps Artist Alison Havens, CAREWe will continue meeting as a group during the coming school year, and when the second- and third-year students begin their practicums, they will begin assisting me with the middle school groups in Tripoli and Tarritos. They have been an absolute pleasure to work with so far and I expect great things to blossom in the next few months of the new CARE partnership!

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Haz lo que digo, no lo que hago…

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

Tras la primera sesión con estudiantes de enseñanza media hondureños, la Artista ArtCorps Allison Havens preguntó al director si había alguna zona con árboles cerca de la escuela donde hacer el siguiente taller.

Quería que los estudiantes de Trípoli (Atlántida) se sumergieran en su medio natural porque había pensado dirigir la atención de la sesión hacia la importancia de los árboles y el papel que desempeñan en la naturaleza y en nuestras vidas. El director me guió por el patio de la escuela y me señaló los restos de lo que solía ser una cañada boscosa. Me contó que el anterior director había ido justo a aquella arboleda el año anterior para dar un discurso a los estudiantes sobre la importancia de proteger los árboles y que, varios meses después, él y otros miembros de la comunidad talaron todos los árboles sin explicación alguna.

Fue una historia tan trágica e irónica que ambos nos reímos de lo ridículo de la situación. Hay mucho que cambiar en la experiencia extraoficial educativa de los alumnos. Estoy empezando a darme cuenta de la profundidad de la labor que tenemos ante nosotros yo misma, los estudiantes y mi organización socia CARE.

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Youth Make Trash Cans from Recycled Bottles to Clean Up their Community

Allison Havens Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

ArtCorps Artist Allison Havens and the AJAASSPIB Youth Leaders in Conservation transform trash into trash cans as part of their ongoing efforts to keep their community clean.

Honduran Girl making trash can from recycled bottles, ArtCorps Artist Alison Havens, AJAASSPIBWhen I first met the youth group in El Nance started by the previous ArtCorps Artist Monica Gutierrez, I asked them to brainstorm the topics and activities they were interested in working on this year. Out of this first session, we came up with the idea to make trashcans for the community to help combat the problem of waste in the streets.

The original idea was to use wood for these trash cans but after a chance encounter with Art3 D-Barrios, an amazing collective of artists from Tegucigalpa who are using recycled trash to make mosaics and murals around Honduras, I realized that we needed to figure out how to re-purpose trash ourselves to make these trash cans. The problem with plastic trash in these communities, and around the world in general, is daunting. Plastic doesn’t decompose and when burned, it is extremely toxic to the environment and is linked to cancer and various lung and skin problems. In places like Honduras that lack an organized trash collection system, it is still too common for houses to burn their trash, including plastics.

For our trash can, we ended up using about 45 plastic three-liter soda bottles, wire and rocks to make our prototype. The process took a little longer then expected but we did it! And that’s 45 plastic bottles that we won’t end up breathing in the air. And 45 plastic bottles that might go on to inspire other trashy ideas.

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