The Raphael Centre has joined forces with The Johan Carinus Art Centre for some more ‘Art reach’.
The Raphael Centre has joined forces with The Johan Carinus Art Centre for some more ‘Art reach’.
'Art reach' forms part of the Life-Skills and Wellness Programme for Children and Youth.
Coordinated and facilitated by Madelize van der Merwe, ‘The city I live in’ project is currently under way with a group of 10 to 20 children from township schools in Extension 9.
This is the third in a series. ‘Ingaphakathi’ was an introduction to exploring artistic expression reflecting on the self and environment with photography, and ‘Environment days’ included workshops on upcycling, or turning waste such as plastic bottles into art.
'The city I live in’ is run in cooperation with Emthonjeni Trust in Cheltenham, Britain. The project will culminate with an exhibition of the children’s artistic depictions of their home environments, displayed alongside nine canvases from a similar project in the UK.
“Working with these children is the main reason I am doing this,” said student volunteer Kelly Bernard. Bernard spends two hours a week assisting Van der Merwe with running the classes and attending to the children on an individual level. Also assisting is Henry Michaels, who drives the children to and from class.
“Michaels also helps with translation,” said Bernard, bridging the language barrier between the facilitators and the children aged seven to 10 years old.
Van der Merwe said that in the beginning of the art programmes she noticed how the language barrier impacted on the learning environment, but said she soon realised the “emotional barrier” as well.
“For children who have never been encouraged to express themselves so openly in art, to now have someone watch them do it was a bit daunting,” Van der Merwe said.
Through these projects, the Raphael Centre aims to ignite care in individuals and communities. Care and respect for the self, care for the family and care for the community. They believe that this is a more powerful route to HIV prevention, progressing from talking at length about condoms and safe practice, Raphael Centre Director Mary Humphreys said in a video interview with Michelle Cunliffe in July. (see the interview)
Anne Loeffler, Raphael project coordinator, said in a report that their intentions were "to shape pro-environmental consciousness and competence on the one hand, as well as inspire a sense of community engagement and activism”.
The idea is that if people care about themselves, respect themselves and have hope, they are far more likely to protect themselves from risky behaviour.
As well as fostering a healthy community, the report said these projects aim to develop artistic skills, a sense of self-competence and the cognitive skills involved in fantasy and creativity.
