Hello everyone,
If I could sum up this recap in one sentence, it will be “the pop up art class meetup was a truly rewarding experience”.
The day started out as planned, arrived at the Motherless Babies Home (which is a facility managed by the Lagos State Government) about an hour before the start time and our facilitators/partners (Paint The Night Africa Entertainment) with whom we had organised the Pop Up Art Class had arrived with all the painting gear ready to create fun. It took us some time to set up the tables, the easels, brushes, palettes, etc and by this time other local guides had started arriving and joined in the fun. Many thanks to @MrLabule @AnitaAO @tajmao @Humblemind @esietukeme who joined in helping set up the ‘stage’ for the kids to have their fun. As we were setting up all that was needed for the painting session, we had kids running all over the place, eager to partake of the session, thinking we were setting for a party as some of them asked “are we having a party”. It was just pure joy seeing the looks and smiles on their faces.
As the session formally kicked off, we had about almost thirty (30) kids and a few local guides participate in the session, all of whom where been coached by an instructor, who took them through the process of painting a sunflower (who knew painting a sunflower could be such a hilariously tasking process). As time went on, you could hear the laughter/giggles from the children as they kept comparing ‘notes’ on who had the better drawing. I must say, some of the drawings were pretty odd but highly expressive in some way. Whichever way the drawings ended looking, you needed to be there to experience the happiness of the kids as all of them were elated about their art works.
At the end of the session, the administrators of the home were quite happy and were already asking when next would we be coming around for another painting session with the kids. And this made it clear that we are onto something deeply satisfying in many regards. The thought of leveraging nonprofit to promote an appreciation for art (especially in this part of the world), at first, almost seemed odd but it has turned out to be an experience worth replicating in as many homes orphanages, schools and organisations. Already thinking of another such meetup for sometime in June at another orphanage.
Click HERE to view the meetup album. You wouldn’t see much of the children as we had to follow child protection and privacy rules but you would still get a sense of the fun we had. In addition to all the fun, local guides had a chance to ask questions from the Administrators in clarifying map details for the Motherless Babies Home. It was also a chance to get to know what the needs of the home and draw on support from as many people to ensure the home gets what it needs.
As I round up this post, I would like to thank the Local Guides team for doing such an awesome job in providing the entire world such an amazing platform to connect and share our stories but more importantly for being such an inspiration to me to do what I do. @AlexaAC here’s the recap you have been waiting for, hope you enjoy it. @questkv Hope you enjoy this recap too and how’s planning for something similar in Kenya coming along? @SanyaOdare we missed you and many thanks for sending in your wishes.
Click HERE to view the initial post about this meetup.
See you on the next one.