One artist, new to the project, had some
frustrations with the NGO and the project. He wrote to ArtCorps, and
Carlos replied with some advice.
Andrew’s e-mail
I've felt a bit frustrated with my work the past
couple of days. Sometimes it's wonderful, and the engagement and
enthusiasm of my students fills me with gratitude and inspiration.
Other times, however, I just feel frustrated, and as if I'm getting
nothing done. For example, yesterday I gave two drawing workshops, in
two communities. One went fine, but the other was less than wonderful.
Far too many kids showed up, many of them were very young and
unfocused. Juan, mi companero, says he thinks that many come just to
get free notebooks, or to play around, or because there's nothing else
to do. Many groups of kids want to receive all the workshops: poetry,
drawing, theater, puppets, and murals. I've decided that it doesn't
make much sense for a group to take only one day of poetry, because
they won't emerge as poets, and there will be no seguimiento to the
workshops. so, I'm going to insist that each group in each community
choose one of three themes: poetry, theater (which can include puppets
if the kids so choose), and drawing and murals. Thus, I will work in
each community on only one of these things for the rest of my time here
(I can't believe i'm approaching three months in Ixcan!). Because Juan
is in charge of educating them about children's rights, I feel the best
use of my time, talent, and energy is to help them refine their ability
to express themselves, be it through words (poetry), images (drawing),
or their bodies (theater).
Sounds great, right? But, today, in one community,
after finishing a drawing workshop, I told them I wanted them to choose
one art to work on from now until October. Well, they were evenly
divided between poetry and drawing. So, next week we're going to try
out poetry and then take another vote. Towards the end of the workshop,
they all started playing and stopped paying attention. This gets very
frustrating. My most gratifying work is at the Instituto Maya Guillermo
woods in Pueblo Nuevo, where the students are all in their late teens
or early twenties. Most are focused and passionate. Perhaps because of
their maturity level, I find the work there more gratifying. I already
have established relationships with the other instructors and the
students, and the four or five days I spend there each month is never
enough. But, in the other communities, the work feels like it's still
just starting, and I doubt I'll form meaningful relationships with many
of those students.
A big part of the problem is that I'm going from
place to place all the time, and the NGO seems to insist that I work in
all 21 communities. The better teaching and learning will take place
when I have more time with fewer students. I can't very well teach how
to write a nuanced poem, or draw even a simple still life, in only two
or three hours. Artistic development takes time, and I'm beginning to
feel like the setup here is stretching me too thin.
So, that's the latest. Any comments, advice, or
insights and lessons from previous artists will be most appreciated.
un abrazo, Andres
Carlos’ reply
Andres,
Greetings from New York City.
TIME: Like clouds, TIME does seem to banish, does
it not?And many of times it evaporates without leaving a trace.
In my experience time was indeed a crucial
element; one of utmost importance, for all seemed to evolve around
TIME.
But time is just that TIME, and accordingly you
must use it to your advantage.The way I did that was by using my
absence from a particular ALDEA,by assigning individual tasks to be
evaluated upon my return-Homework if you will-: It worked.
GOING PLACES: Going places was indeed—at
least for me—something to reckon with. I felt that the time it
took to GETTING to and from an aldea was more extraneous than being
there.But getting there was, of course, getting to the place that I
would engage in what I was there TO DO in the first place.So, I
accepted the inconveniences of getting to and from the given
destinations.
It was of course a disadvantage, for unlike other
volunteers, I was not stationed in one single place. I had to migrate
from one ALDEA to the other, which took far more time than I wished.
BUT IN RETROSPECT, I cherish that. For each aldea
was a world within a world, and because of it, I was able to get deeper
into the cultural fabric of Uspantan, if not Guatemala.
JUST GO and do what you can, for it is better and
perhaps worthier than not going at all.
Hopefully the NGO is providing you with adequate
transportation; but if they are not, go by yourself, WALK, like I had
to at times; or better yet, go around town and find out who is going
where and simply go with them - with discretion of course - but go,
just go, for once you are in the community and welcomed - they will
take care of you.On the other hand, be very cautious, for it might seem
as if you are on your own, and that might create conflict at the
office. And that is the one thing you do not want or need.
But GO, And if you find yourself stranded at the
OFFICE, USE the time to do independent projects.
But always consult your intentions with the NGO
and most importantly your working partner.
There are many things you can do. What you do
depends on who you are and what you hope to achieve. And definitely,
what you can do depends on your relationship to the community.
I was fortunate in this aspect, for the people of
Uspantan were indeed so very wonderful to me personally, that at times
my only concern was making sure that they saw me as an extension of the
NGO. SO, USE THE TIME and the town productively. The way I did that was
by when in town I became fully engaged in the day-to-day life of
Uspantan.
Here are some examples of some of the things you
can do:
CYBER WORLD: Arrange some sort of a deal with the
internet locale, and conduct a series of some sort of
cyber-seminars.Train those who wish on basic COMPUTER USE AND INTERNET
TECHNOLOGY. This turned out to be very useful, since in Uspantan, there
are now MAYAN kids who can use the internet to do research and improve
their homework. And on top of that, if you train your co-workers, you
can actually keep in touch with them. Teach them how to open an E-MAIL
account and how to do research in the internet. I did that with some of
my co-workers. In turn, I can now keep in touch with them.
DEATH and PAINT BRUSHES: As you probably know by
now, paint brushes are relatively expensive in the eternal spring.What
you should do is SIMPLY MAKE THEM. Develop a relationship with the
MUTILATORS at the meat market. Every week they mutilate cows and pigs,
and the hair goes to waste. Ask for it, and tell them what the purpose
is.The mutilators might think this is wild and crazy, but do not be
concerned with their DRAMA, just take the animal hair and make PAINT
BRUSHES out of it. Or better yet, have the kids make the brushes, their
own brushes.
LANGUAGE: Set up an English tutoring seminar.They
love learning English; perhaps you can teach them English and they can
in turn teach you Quiche, or whatever they happen to speak in your
region.Incorporate ART into it.
ILLUSTRATED STORY BOOKS: Organize workshops which
outcome would be illustrated short stories.As I found out, when two
kids collaborate on one story, the outcome is more dynamic.Have them
make the books.
GEOGRAPHY: Not to my surprise, the children and
adults of Uspantan have an incredible limited knowledge of geography.
Instruct them on GEOGRAPHY; and perhaps have them create a LARGE
beautifully illustrated book of MAPS.Each kid could create one page or
spread.Making sure, of course, that in the process they learn their own
geographical position within the world map.
ENVIRONMENTAL DAY: Organize CLEAN DAYS; in the
aldeas where a river runs through, the rivers are usually polluted with
all kind of trash.This is not surprising, since everyone simply
discards trash all over the place.This is very unfortunate, but when
you make them understand the detrimental effect to themselves of their
actions, they start becoming more aware of their surroundings. Organize
cleaning days in which you all go to the river, and literally clean up
the river. Make it a lot of fun and stress the importance of keeping it
that way.
LITERARY DAYS: Read to them.Organize book
readings; this can be a lot of fun for all. Without making it too
literary, you can conduct book-readings on all kinds of subjects
including the short stories they themselves created.
GRAPHICS: Have them all create visually striking
graphic POSTERS, on all kinds of subjects, especially on the rights of
the child. They can be a beautiful series on the environment. The
posters should be as large and a visually astonishing as possible; with
simple but profound messages, they should combine both images and text;
the posters should also be in Spanish and the local Mayan language if
any.Then have a sort of exhibit and discuss the posters and display
them around town.
DIARY: Keep a visual and a written personal
diary.It is fun and worthwhile.
FILMS / MOVIES: If possible, have a film
festival.Everyone loves movies or films.Perhaps there is a VCR or a
film projector around town. (the churches usually have one) If you do
show movies, talk about them for to my surprise, most people both
children and adults kept asking me if certain images from certain
movies, were REAL; I suppose this became more of a problem after all
saw images of the collapse of the twin towers in New York City.
BANNERS AND BILLBOARDS: Organize group creation of
banners and billboard around town.You will be surprised as how willing
the hardware store and the book store are to donate materials. Like
everything else, it all depends on the circumstances, so, improvise.
NOTEBOOKS: The NGO should be glad that the kids
want NOTEBOOKS;for is it not wonderful that they want notebooks and
that you can offer them? I think it is. For too long these kids have
been denied a simple notebook.Just give it to them, as many as they
want and as many as you can,And use the opportunity to make sure they
do something worthwhile with the notebooks.Or better yet, have the kids
make their own like I did.It is cheap and easy. Supply them with paper
(or index cards), fold them and bind it together, and there it is, A
NOTEBOOK: their own.
DROWNING BY NUMBERS: too many kids and too little
time is logically a problem, and a huge problem it is.I myself
confronted it many times.But to conquer it you must develop strategies
that would narrow down the number of participants.Each situation
demands its own strategy, but it must be done, for if not, you would
feel as if you are drowning in a pool of numbers. Of all the
situations, this is by far the most DELICATE, for it must be done with
extreme caution, for you MUST make sure that none of the kids feel left
out or neglected. On top of that you must make sure that the
participants are EQUALLY DIVIDED; males and females should and must be
equally represented. This is CRUCIAL. Once, I found myself with 400
hundred kids in one room, and 40 spaces to work on. Now what!, I
thought. And it threatened to be a disaster; but miraculously it was
not. What my partner and I did was IMPROVISE a sort of lecture or
seminar -to all- on the rights of the child.Once they were very clear
on the subject they illustrated a RIGHT of their choice on a piece of
paper. We then displayed the artworks and discussed them.Then the kids
selected a committee of judges amongst themselves. 12 judges in all: 6
girls and 6 boys.Those 12 kids selected 40 drawings they thought better
expressed the rights of the child.Then the selections were singled out
and discussed with all the kids. Once everyone agreed that the
selections were indeed the best, the only task left was to execute the
murals. It worked beautifully, but to this day it is a mystery how the
final selections ended up equally divided between boys and girls.No one
knows how it happened for the drawings had the names on the back.By
accident perhaps - but a glorious accident it was. Then there were the
rest of the kids to deal with.What we did was ask for volunteers to
help with execution of the final murals.And to keep them occupied, the
rest voluntarily created little books with which they stated their own
interpretations of the rights of the child. The final books were
beautiful, for some created illustrated narratives that are indeed very
striking. You can also divide the rest of the kids into small groups
and organize them so they choose a leader amongst themselves - and that
leader would then guide the rest into creating a sort of MINI-SEMINAR.
Creating leadership perhaps. You must be VERY CAREFUL; the entire
process can not -AND MUST NOT- be perceived as a competition, the last
thing you want is to end up with winners and losers. All the kids must
at the end feel that they contributed to a JOINT EFFORT, that too is of
utmost importance.
THE TYRANNY OF ART: As you probably know I hope,
great poets, writers and painters are not made: THEY ARE BORN. ART is
like glamour, you have it or you don't. Do not waste time trying to
create ARTISTS, just use creativity - YOURS AND THEIRS- to help them
understand their RIGHTS.Then —perhaps, your efforts will endure.
CHEERS,
Carlos Reynoso
