Learning About Art

I have gotten to see several interesting art making workshops around Nairobi.  My favorite is Amani Ya Juu.  They were using huge wooden stamps with interesting designs that they dipped into wax to create designs on fabric.  There are about 80 women working here making all kinds of bags, purses, and wall hangings out of fabric.  I purchased a wall hanging of Africa that I will show you when I come back to school.  I also went to see another place where they make paper bags for companies.  This place was in another slum called Kawangware.  They use huge rolls of brown paper and print company logos on the bag.  Then they glue the bags together and send them to various companies.  Have you ever looked at your paper grocery bag from Stracks and wondered how it was printed?  I'm sure those bags are probably made in big factories.  But it was very interesting to see this process happening by hand.

I also visited another place called Beacon of Hope, and they train people to create beautiful weavings.  They use huge looms to weave on.  They even dye their own wool there to use for weaving.

Tomorrow I am going to Naivasha for most of the week.  I will take a matatu to get there.  A matatu is a 14 passenger van that is usually stuffed past capacity with people.  Naivasha is in the Rift Valley of Kenya.  There is a huge lake there with many birds.  I will staying at Life Beads Kenya and volunteering my time there.  They are an organization that creates bags and jewelry and helps to give people jobs.  I am excited because I think I am going to get to help them make items, which means I get to spend time making art.  I am looking forward to telling you about my time there.

Delivering the Letters

I have delivered the letters that you wrote to the kids in Kenya.  They were so excited to read them!  They kept looking at your pictures and reading each other's cards.  They have written some letters back to you as well.  It was a great opportunity for them to practice their English.  They were very happy to get to draw with markers and crayons.  Most kids here in the slums rarely use any kind of art supplies, so they really enjoyed being able to draw.  Yesterday I painted with the kids too.  We did a lesson from the book Only One You.  The book is about being a good friend.  The kids painted rocks that looked like fish (called samaki in Swahili).  I am also going to read this book to all of you during Character Ed. when we start back to school in August.  Isn't it pretty sweet that the kids in Africa are doing the same thing that you'll be doing?

My Swahili is improving.  Ninajaribu (I am trying).  This is my last week of Swahili class, so I am trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible.  On Thursday, I am going to visit a place called Amani Ya Juu. At this place they create bags, purses, and other artwork from beautiful fabric.  They also stamp and decorate the fabric using  the process of batik.  If you were in 4th grade this past year, you may remember when we also made batik.  I am very excited to go see what everyone is making there.

Last week I learned to make samosa.  Samosa is an Indian food that is triangular shaped dough stuffed with meat or lentils and spices.  They were delicious.  I often buy them from a lady who sells them on the side of the road near where I stay.  As a treat, I also sometimes have a purple Fanta...the flavor is called black currant.  It tastes like grape Kool-Aid.  In Kenya, much of the soda comes in glass bottles.  You have to pay a small deposit of money for the bottle and then when you return the bottle they give you your money back.  This is how they get people to recycle.  It is kind of like how you pay a quarter for your cart at Aldi and then get the quarter back when you return the cart.