Colors of Connection

• 2013-04-13

  An important change to Visions of Hope - you’ll now see us on our blog  going by our new name: Colors of Connection!

• 2013-04-08

  Coming up: we will soon be going by our new name Colors of Connection!   Stay tuned for a new beautiful website as well.

• 2013-02-07

  REVITALIZING A REFUGEE COMMUNITY THROUGH ART: Little Wlebo Refugee Camp Southeastern Liberia

  Visions of Hope mobilized 27 out-of-school youth to transform two walls of their distribution center into expressions of their hopes and dreams through murals. 

  For many of the out-of-school youth this was the first time since their arrival in the camp that they were given the opportunity to engage in an organized social structure, receive peer and adult support, have an outlet to express emotions and age appropriate concerns, practice gender and age equality and exercise civic responsibility. Over the course of the project, they learned art techniques, participated in psychosocial arts activities, and created two murals for their camp.  

  In addition, 30 Adults in the community were brought together in a community arts council to guide and advise the project.  As refugees they experienced displacement, cultural bereavement, the disruption of community and social support networks. They had little role in the governance, design and organization of the space and activities in their community, and little opportunity for self-representation.  This project worked to contribute to a more vibrant civil society, sense of place, culture, and self-representation for residents. 

  One mural on education expressed the importance of education for the Ivorian refugee youth to give them a brighter future and to help develop Côte d’Ivoire. The other mural was themed on peace, and expressed the importance of peace within the refugee community and in Côte d’Ivoire. 

  Little Wlebo Refugee Camp in Southern Liberia was established in 2011 to assist the thousands of refugees fleeing from the civil war in Côte d’Ivoire. The camp hosts approx. 8.500 refugees.  

  This project was commissioned by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Created and implemented by Visions of Hope July 12^th – September 5^th 2012

• 2012-09-11

  Just Finished:

  Little Wlebo Refugee Camp Project  2012 Commissioned by DRC:  27 out-of-school teenagers graduated from our program on Sep. 5^th 2012, where we unveiled two large paintings on the distribution center.  

• 2012-09-04

• 2012-08-30

• 2012-08-28

  

  Celebrating Ivorian independence day in the camp - our mural wall is behind

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  Mondesir, younger and smaller than the rest ,  came to the class without being invited and stood in the doorway and quietly observed even though I told him to go away several times because lots of smaller children distract the class.   I discovered his talent after I stepped outside during the break  directly onto a giant drawing he had made with a stick in the dirt of a man.  Then I realized he was very talented, invited him in and felt like a fool. 

• 2012-08-16

  Bottom:  Meeting with the Child Welfare Committee to discuss which themes the paintings should take.  They decided that education for their children and peace within the camp and in the Ivory Coast were the most important messages for the camp.  

  Top: Preliminary drawings by the students for the two themes: Peace and Education

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  The one day that stood out from the rest was when one student was having trouble copying a drawing of a few basic lines.  It was an exercise that was supposed to be an easy approachable way to learn how to draw a bird.   I found out from her that she doesn’t know how to write and stopped school in the 2rd grade.  She’s fifteen now and has a child, and she has trouble controlling the pencil to make shapes.  She has had so little time in her life to learn and gain skills.  And she probably has spent the majority of her life doing cleaning, and cooking and now being a mother.   It makes me think of how under stimulated she is and how little opportunity she has had.  Her parents must have not seen any value in sending her to school.  I wanted this to be a chance for her to learn something new as well as get used to being in a classroom.  Unfortunately she dropped out of the class in the second week. 

  During this program the issue of girls and women participating has been big.  A majority of the girls dropped out, and we struggled to find replacements to get a gender balanced class.  For all our recruiting efforts, we now have 20 boys and 10 girls.  Most of the girls– except a few look completely bored and disconnected during the times I’m instructing.  Even in the times when they are free to draw, they usually don’t engage and get into the activity.  I don’t think it’s because they don’t want to – I think it’s because they aren’t used to participating.  The boys are used to filling up all the space and will speak and take on every activity and the girls are used to just observing.  Making them active one of my goals – to draw them into feeling like they are part of the class as much as the boys and to get them to realize that it is their right, and in their interest, to learn too.   Doui Benedict (above) is one of the girls who acts equal to the boys in terms of showing interest and participation in the class. 

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  The 30 out of school youth who I meet with 2-3 times a week in groups of 15 has been a smooth program so far. These youth have nothing else to do but show up, or work for their parents so they are open to participating in the project and there isn’t much else that is competing for their attention. I have two great assistants –19 year old Ivorians who are always together and both artists. They are very capable of helping to instruct and light hearted as well as forceful with the students in getting the main points accross and organizing “les enfants”. I also have a translator which is an added step in the whole process of teaching – it’s like losing the power of speech, I always have to think before I speak and find him before I can say anything. We use a large tent inside a fenced area of what has been designated a “Child Friendly Space.” Right now we are the only program active there.

• 2012-07-09

  

  This week I will start to work in Little Wlebo Refugee Camp - a short drive from Harper where 4,000 Ivorian Refugee’s have been living for the past year.  I’m working in partnership with the Danish Refugee Council who manage the camp.  The exciting part about this project is the level of impact we can have. The camp is, as all refugee camps, an extreme example of a “total institution”  - cut off from other communities and regulated by a higher power.  Of course, nothing more is expected of refugee camps, and they are the lucky option when people have to suddenly flee their countries, but the result of this environment is that inhabitants become depersonalized, and humans become numbers… . Refugees face many adversities, and while humanitarian agencies focus on lifesaving activities and protection, we want to address the psychological impact:  cultural bereavement, uncertainty and anxiety about their future, post-traumatic stress, and feelings of grief, and loss.  

  The participants are 30 teenagers who aren’t able to go to school because there is no secondary school set up in the camp as of yet.  I will work with them to paint two large murals on a distribution center that is visible from many areas of the camp.  They will start brainstorming next week on the type of images they feel are most encouraging to their community.  Reminders of their culture, and their future will be important to bring a sense of comfort, and hopefulness to the camp - things that can help combat stress, and help with adapting to the environment.  Creating a project for the community will help strengthen the youth’s social supports and sense of belonging in the community.  It will also boost their self esteem as they will achieve something the whole camp can appreciate.  And through the benefits of the arts, it should help to combat feelings of depression, anger, grief anxiety that upset their sense of well-being.  

  More to come … . 

• 2012-06-30

  Murals as Voice filming the stories behind our murals May 2012

• 2012-04-14

  Documentary Team Travels to Harper to Film Visions of Hope Murals

  Director Gayle Embrey is travelling the world to document murals and as she describes, “ … to explore the histories, the life experiences, and the hopes and dreams communicated through murals on the walls of neighborhood communities throughout the world.” She reached out to find a mural project in Liberia and found our work. In her documentary, Murals as Voice, Harper, Liberia will have the opportunity to share the screen with other communities making murals including El Salvador, Northern Ireland, Slovenia, Israel and Palestine.

  Embrey explains that they chose Harper Liberia as one of their film locations  “because of the courage and strength of the people of Liberia to continue the difficult process of rebuilding their country after the destruction and devastation of many years of civil war.”

  When the documentary team travels to Harper in May, their documentation will include the making of a community mural at W.V.S. Tubman University being directed by Christina Mallie.  

  We look forward to welcoming Embrey and her filmmaking team to Harper and grateful that the community members and youth who created the murals will have the opportunity to share their experiences and accomplishments with a larger audience.

  Stay tuned for updates on her work in Harper end of May!

  

  To find out more about the film go to: www.muralsasvoice.com. 

• 2012-04-03

  Market Mural Time Lapse