drawchange's haps

Reason 5694 why we do what we do!
An autistic child speaks throughout the whole theater production when his teachers didn’t even know he could talk! Art helps children express themselves and heal. Children need art!

You may click on the photo above to view a larger version.

Tags: Autism, Autistic, Autistic child speaks his first words

Is showing sad faces of children more powerful to you guys than faces of happy children? Is that more prone to make you help them? I had this conversation with a Fundraising Consultant yesterday. Personally, I don’t agree with drawchange making others feel guilty by showing sad children. I’ve seen the poor of the poor and have been out there to help them. Yes, they are are hungry, but they are still happy and having fun! It’s all children know to do. Please stop me if you guys ever see me going the route of showing sad children. Quite frankly, what do people do?, make sure they tell the children, “look sad” when shooting a photo? Children will be children, they’ll always try to smile at the camera if at all possible. I don’t know, maybe I haven’t been around the poverty that would make a child look so sad.

Drawchange aims at showing the innate, happy qualities of a child. Not sadness.

Bhutanese/Nepalese children creating Pinwheels of Hope

Try to tell me the children pictured here aren’t happy with what we bring them; the beautiful gift of an expressed moment in time of sheer creativity. These children were born in refugee camps in Nepal. They are Bhutanese, lived all their lives, up until now, in a refugee camp in Nepal. I could easily try to stage a photo of their sadness when I told them to draw pictures of what they remember of their homeland-Bhutan. They looked at me like I was crazy. They wanted to remember Bhutan because after all, they’re parents tell them they are Bhutanese, but all they knew is Nepal. Is that sad? In my opinion, YES. But I choose to create an art project to help them see the positive side of their new homes while still remembering their old homes. And I chose to show the positive side of that with my photo album. Our project helped them heal by helping them acknowledge what they love about their current home-life in America.*
(Click here to see our photos from this event.)

K, off my soap box now. Thanks for reading. Advice is welcomed!
Jennie

*It’s important to note that this is my personal opinion, I am appreciative of everything and anything organizations do to help children-regardless of what they do to get there.

Tags: Art of Living Foundation, Barbara Huffman, Huffman House, Pinwheels of Hope

We are so excited to present you with our October 2012 trip! (Oct. 12-21) We are going to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to help empower the children of Kolfe Boys’ Orphanage! [More details in flyer link below]. We are starting  a proposed 6-year relationship with the boys there. I am very excited about teaching them a trade (jewelry making) that can help them survive once they age out of the orphanage. We will be bringing all the supplies necessary to teach them. The boys are in school until 2pm so this will be a weekly afternoon workshop for them. We are very pleased to know that other non-profit organizations from around the world have stepped up to help the boys as well with musical instruments. How wonderful!

Said a team member of one of our last trips, This has been a soul-lifting experience for me in way more ways than I anticipated. We think we’re going there to bless the children, all the while we return home uplifted and full of joy. I can’t wait to return.

Please click here to view the flyer.
Please click here to apply today for free.

We help you fundraise if you choose to do so for the cost of the trip.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at trips@drawchange.org shall you have any questions about joining us OR supporting our trip in any way.

Tags: Ethiopia trip flyer

Our third, and newly expanded issue of “Let’s Create!” is out! We wanted to share one of the exciting art projects with you from our current issue.

All projects are catered towards 5-10 year old children. We encourage you to bond with your child as you create the project together. The following art project, created by volunteer, Tatiana Dengo, will make a great holiday gift.

We’d love to see photos of your finished projects! Please post on our facebook, or email them to ArtAndPinta@drawchange.org for a chance at making it in our next issue.

You may draw your own children or use ours. Found here.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy for your child and/or stocking stuffers, please visit us here.

Tags: Greeting Card, Tatiana Dengo

Below is a conversation I recently had via instant messenger with a friend.

JENNIE: So u asked me a few times if I’m happy w/what I do [drawchange] and those type of questions, right?
Well this is when it is affirmed, and reaffirmed to me that I am…
I’m printing a 2013 calendar called “The Angels of the Dique Community, Cartago, Costa Rica”. -or something like that.
So what I’ve been doing for the past few hours is going through photos of my trips there and picking the photos that are most descriptive, or poignant. And I’m Photoshop some of them to make them more effective in terms of lighting, taking out unnecessary background elements, etc. Well, it literally makes me sick to my stomach to think of what these kids are going through while I’m sitting here at my computer working with all this technology around me, looking at my brand new flat screen TV and having just enjoyed a delicious hot and healthy dinner. And it makes me want to get on a plane and just go “be” with them.
It’s almost as if it pushes me into action–but the sick feeling doesnt go away until I’m physically over there.

I know what I’m doing from home is just as (if not more) important than when I’m physically there, but these children truly are Angels. They’re the Forgotten Angels of the Dique Community.

I thought I’d blog about this because I get asked that same question all the time. Concerned friends that know about me living on a shoestring budget and running the organization the same way often wonder, “Are you truly happy?” Only today was I able to put my sentiments into words. It’s that gut feeling you get when you know you’re doing something either right or wrong. I can’t deny that feeling. I must be doing something right! )

Thanks for reading!
Jennie

PS. The calendar [serving as a fundraiser] will be available for purchase December 5, 2012.

I’m sick to my stomach.

I just transcribed the children’s dreams for our sponsorship project. On our last trip to Fatima School in Cartago, Costa Rica, we took photos of the children and asked them a few questions about themselves. Amongst those questions was, “What do you want to be when you grow up” or in Spanish, “Cual es tu sueño” which directly translates to “What is your dream?”

Jessica's dream is to be a lawyer and have a family to love.

Brandon's dream is to 'read things & to love'.

Some of them had answers like ‘Construction Worker, Ballerina, Doctor, or Scientist’. Others had answers such as, ‘Become a mom, I want to love, I want to be loved, have a family’, or ‘find a family that loves me’. -Those are the answers that made me sick to my stomach.  Can I explain why I feel that way? Other than the obvious, no. Is that the universe’s “nudge” to do something about it? Obviously feeling that way doesn’t feel good so I’m going to do something to feel better. Hmm, how’s that for a theory?

Well, I’m tryyyying to do something about it. Let’s hope it takes off and these children are helped as soon as possible! Most live in tin hand-made huts with no running water or food.

All I can say is, “Thanks for the nudge!”
,
Jennie

Robert E. Gard writes in The Arts in the Small Community:

The contribution of the small community to American life is immeasurable. The farmland, mountains, shore, and the open spaces in relation to which American small communities are located, like the small communities themselves, are the heartland of our way of life. Because American literature depicts these home places, and American painters portray them, American localities are a part of the furniture of the human imagination throughout the world. It is our conviction that the development of high quality art activity in these communities may well lead to a new phase of renaissance in the arts.

Mondern art activity can provide a new birth and new creative directions of usefulness for such a community. As art activity is developed, the community is re-created. The vital roots of every phase or life are touched. As the community is awakened to its opportunity in the arts, it becomes a laboratory through which the vision of the the region reformulated and extended. And as the small community discovers its role, as the small community generates freshness of aesthetic response across the changing American scene, American art and life are enhanced.*

I came across this excerpt yesterday and couldn’t help but posting it. the argument above on how much the arts can change and help whole communities is undeniable. Drawchange helps from the ground-level with the communities’ children. As above, is also drawchange’s “conviction” that the “development of art activity in these communities may very well lead to great strides within!”

Thanks for reading!
Jennie

*The Arts in the Small Community-A National Plan, Robert E. Gard, 1966. First published by the Office of Community Arts Development, University Extension, the UW-Madison in association with the National Endowment of the Arts.

Tags: American life, American small communities, Robert E. Gard, Robert Gard, The Arts in the Small Community

An article in the the Education section of the New York Times caught my attention today; “What if the Secret to Success Is Failure?” Paul Tough writes on a new push on some public schools that are teaching character instead of only for test scores. Dominic Randolph, headmaster of Riverdale Country School in New York City says, “This push on tests is missing out on some serious parts of what it means to be a successful human.” He realized this after learning that the children that excelled in character were the ones to graduate college. To me, this is where art comes in-as an aid to teach character.

Angela Duckworth, who helped developed The True Grit test to evaluate students’ character quotes, “To help chronically low-performing but intelligent students, educators and parents must first recognize that character is at least as important as intellect.” The test claims; Specifically, it’s a kind of cognitive behavioral therapy, the very practical, nuts-and-bolts psychological technique that provides the theoretical underpinning for the whole positive psychology field. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or C.B.T., involves using the conscious mind to understand and overcome unconscious fears and self-destructive habits, using techniques like “self-talk” — putting an immediate crisis in perspective by reminding yourself of the larger context.

What are some vehicles that we have in our arsenal to teach character? If you ask me, teaching art skills is one of them! Let’s get on it folks!
Jennie

The article is a lengthy, but great read if you’re interested. Click here.

Guest contributor Marci Sanders-Arnett writes on her devotion to creating global change through art:

“The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps … Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.”
-Carl Sagan

It’s a proven fact that children who have regular exposure to the arts score higher in subjects like math and science and have a better sense of well-being than those who don’t. I’ve been volunteering for drawchange since February — I live in Washington state, quite a way from Atlanta, but I’ve felt the effect it has all the way from here. It is so inspiring to see what these kids are capable of creating, knowing that some of them have never had the opportunity to indulge in the wonder of making beautiful things out of their emotions, their hopes, their dreams. They endure struggles that some of us could never imagine. Drawchange lights the end of the tunnel and helps them realize that better things are out there and that they deserve them; that they are capable of obtaining them just like the rest of us. If it weren’t for organizations like this, they would be suffering far more than they already do — I’m proud to say that I’m a part of this wonderful organization, even if my role is behind the scenes.

I would love the chance to be a part of the amazing activities drawchange brings abroad and within its own community. Right now I am distributing drawchange materials to libraries and community centers throughout the greater Seattle area to get the word out, and I’ve started a FirstGiving page with the intent of raising funds for art supplies for the children as well as possibly helping me with the expenses of joining drawchange in a future international trip. An artist myself, I realize how vital art and expression are to one’s overall happiness and I would be honored to share this understanding with those who need it most. Helping children break the cycle of poverty and envision better lives by supporting drawchange’s mission has become a very important goal for me.

If you’re able, any help would be wonderful on the behalf of the children and drawchange. You can visit my FirstGiving page at www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/marcisanders-arnett/drawchangeinc, and can always donate to drawchange directly — we need more people like you to help us and children everywhere succeed. I know that our strength, determination, and capacity to open our hearts and minds is powerful enough to change the world, one child at a time.

Tags: FirstGiving, Marci Sanders-Arnett