Today I have a box of treasures to carry back to Desert & Delta headquarters in Maun. The children of Khumaga Primary School in the village six kilometers away from the lodge have “done their level best,” as their teachers say, to draw and paint the animals of Botswana.
You’ll see in the photos some of the scenes from the week. Aren’t they marvelous?
The Khumaga Primary School Art Project began on Monday when DDS assistant manager Mpho Ditirelo and I showed up at the school with crayons, magic markers, colored pencils, brushes, tempera paints and the finest paper seen this side of the Makgadikgadi Pans National Park. (One of the park’s entrances is just 4 kilometres from Khumaga Village.)
I asked that any interested student feel free to participate in drawing his or her favorite wild animals of Botswana. Sixty-two children, from ages 7 to 14, squeezed into a classroom on Monday to draw. All of their art would be appreciated, I told them. All of it would be shared with lodge managers, perhaps guests and certainly managers in Maun. Mpho guided them in Setswana in case my English with an American accent (from the American South no less) left them confused.
The students were quiet and serious as they went about their work. They drew intently for about 2 hours. I would remark later how the room was filled with boys. Few girls had decided to participate. When I asked why, I was told that girls thought art and drawing were boys’ work, which, as an art history minor, I found to be an interesting cultural phenomenon in Khumaga.
Mpho and I had brought fancy art paper for painting – 30 sheets. That meant that 30 students would move on to the painting stage: 10 on Tuesday afternoon, 10 on Wednesday and 10 on Thursday. Everyone was an artist, of course. Mpho and I assured the students of that fact. But some would be asked try their hands at painting.
And so they did, under a big tree in the school’s courtyard, when it was 40 degrees Celsius in the shade. No complaints from the students, however. Each day I could see the interest building. Other students pressed in close to the artists to look over the shoulders and exclaim their praise. Some simply wanted to run over and touch my white hand. I watched the painters share their paints and help each other, with advice and sometimes a stroke of a brush. I watched them grow in pride in their work.
Soon I heard them imitating me: “Very nice. Perfect. Excellent!” They said it to me. They said it to each other.
The teachers told me that as the week went on more children wished they had participated. Those who had joined in could be seen practicing their drawings in class. They were proud of their art. Each day I held up finished paintings for children huddled near various doorways across the courtyard to see, and they smiled and waved their approval.
One painter, Seabo, did extra drawings and brought them to me as a gift. (I now have a drawing of a professional wrestler and one “of your cat” causing havoc in the kitchen. (How did he know?) Percy, an especially talented 12 year old, received extra drawing paper to do some sketches at home of Khamaga Village. He came to school on Thursday with four drawings of the Khumaga scene: round houses, the kgotla for village meetings, the welcome sign and the Botswana flag.
The materials we brought were new media for the students. With practice they would be even better, the teachers told me. I think they were wonderful as they were.
We hope to sell their paintings in Desert & Delta curio shops at lodges in Botswana. The money will go to buy traditional dance costumes for Khumaga Primary School, a place of talented dancers as well as painters,
Maria Henson, volunteer,
Desert & Delta Safaris
No comments:
Post a Comment