Calheta de São Miguel diary
This is going to be my second challenging trip to Calheta de São Miguel. There will be 38 local children involved in this project, whose ages range from 6 to 13, 16 of which I have already worked with before.
I am overexcited as I always seem to be, whenever I work with African children. I am flying there with a handful of dreams and expectations and I know I won’t fly back home empty-handed.
These children value every moment they are given to hear a story, to colour some pages, to make puzzles, to learn – to learn anything that goes beyond their daily village routine.
12th of February 2010
Lisbon Airport – 13H30
I am once more the first passenger queuing up at the check in counter. I feel rather disappointed that the Cape Verde Airlines - TACV haven’t allowed me to fly on a reduced fare, as I have twice in the past, taking into account the fact that I work for an aeronautical services providing Enterprise. “Not possible over Carnival” they said and I have had to accept their decision. I feel that was an excuse but I am not going to let that interfere in what I am about to be doing in Calheta. Having paid 498, 85 Euros is nothing compared to the happiness I can bring to these children, as well as the opportunity to change their future lives (eventually).
So why am I sad and disappointed? I should know by now that very rarely do people believe or even understand that one might want to work during one’s holidays or even spend one’s money to buy artistic material to work with children who live in the inner part of an African island somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. So why should they contribute towards something which doesn’t mean anything to them?
On board of the flight TP6007 operated by TACV – I have been revising some of the objectives I have defined for one of the workshops and working out the best way to achieve the desired results. These children are mostly encouraged to work on their own, which brings about some difficulties whenever they have to participate in group activities, as I have noticed in the previous workshop. So by the time I meet the new students, who will be joining the previous group tomorrow, I should have already decided on what to do in order to minimize this problem.
I am going to try to take a nap now otherwise I’ll be too exhausted to face whichever problem I may encounter upon my arrival at Praia airport. I just hope the invitation by the Mayor and the strategy of labelling the boxes filled with artistic material, as in accordance with instructions provided by the delegate for the Ministry of Education works, in case of being halted by the Customs officials like last time.
Sillibel Restaurant – Calhetona 23H30
Here I am, fortunately surrounded by the untouched baggage under the rather romantic shining light of the stars with the Schellmann couple and Beat Clerc, who have been waiting for me at the Schellmann’s Sillibel Restaurant esplanade. I feel fortunate enough, privileged and even honoured to have them as my friends and project supporters. I’ll once more count on the Schellmanns to provide me with the meals and accommodation throughout the whole project.
Calhetona - 21H00
I went to the Primary School (Escola Velhinho Rodrigues) this morning, in order to adapt the Library to the activities we shall be involved in, starting Monday morning. Sibylle Schellmann will be working with me this time, once I have decided to further extend the already existing group of 16 to 24 participants.
There was a visible excitement in the air as the school children were being dressed up, by their teachers and a few mothers, in bright coloured satin outfits, so as to be able to participate in the Carnival parade in contrast with the dull looking aspect of the library, which seemed like having been closed ever since I last used it almost a year ago. It has hurt me to find out that only 14 of the 30 children story books and encyclopaedias I offered to the School during the last project were standing in the Library shelves, knowing that children have not been allowed to take any book home.
Where are the missing books, I wonder! I feel like dusting the remaining ones and taking them out for a walk between Calheta and Veneza as in a Carnival parade …, maybe someone, namely those in the educational areas will notice them and realise the importance of what is apparently invisible to the eyes … the knowledge beyond the classroom, the one knowledge children may get by further developing their reading skills.
The new participants came to meet me in the afternoon accompanied by their mothers and/or relatives and like always sat around a long table in Sillibels’ esplanade colouring mandalas. It is quite obvious that some of them have never been involved in any extra-curricula school activities, which is a pity really and irrespective of the fact that I do understand the difficulties some of the teachers have to face by having thirty something students in a classroom, I also believe that teaching with a slightly different approach would undoubtedly have positive results in the long run.
I have also met the 8 young adolescents who will be working with me in the reporters’ project to be carried out every afternoon. They have already organized themselves in groups of 2 elements and by Monday they are expected to provide me with a theme regarding the Municipality of Calheta, which they are to further expand and illustrate with photos taken by them.
It is fairly late and I had better get some sleep because I have a long day ahead tomorrow. We’ll be painting and decorating Carnival masks and half face Venetian masks with a group of 14 children from the Bd sportactive academy.
14th of February 2010
Calhetona - 19H00
A group of very enthusiastic children have today painted and decorated Carnival masks and although their main goal seemed to have their masks ready to be worn within the minimum time possible I managed to have them listen to me, particularly in regards to matching the acrylic colour paint with the stickers they had selected to use, in order to further decorate the masks. A few things called my attention throughout the day, amongst which I would refer the eagerness these children felt to learn and touch unknown things to them (the masks and the puzzles); the “fear” of selecting different decorative motifs from a wide variety of stickers, decorative pebbles, as well as animal and flower shaped forms (once the first child selected a butterfly sticker, all the remaining children followed suit); the profound look in their eyes when they started realizing what their final work was going to look like and the thrill of finding out that there would be a winning prize.
I strongly believe children should be exposed to different types of artistic activities – colouring, puzzle making, toy construction, as well as a wide variety of assembling games, otherwise they will end up having thoughtless and almost irrational reactions, such as forcing puzzle pieces where they clearly don’t fit in or being so excited at the sight of things they have never seen, they simply won’t follow the instructions nor will listen in.
14th of February 2010
Escola Velhinho Rodrigues, Calheta -13H30It has been great having Sibylle with me in the classroom, because this way we have been able to accept more children whilst each of us is in charge of different tasks within the same space. Apart from the daily story book reading and interpretation of the underlying message, different puzzles were brought in this time, thus allowing the newcomers to make those already made in the previous workshop and challenging the old students to make the new 100 and 200 piece puzzles.
Both activities have fascinated them – Elizabeth Shaw’s book because the whole scenario isn’t too different from their daily school life of behavioural acceptance and rejection and the Djeco puzzles because of being appealing in every way, from the design to the complexity of the putting of the pieces together (in groups of 2, which further enhance the team work spirit).
Some of the 3D wooden constructions I have brought for the boys to assemble seem too difficult to do, particularly because of having to give directions to 12 children individually, whose construction is not the same. Amongst the ones which were assembled today are: the penholder, the snake and the dining room set of tables and chairs.
The girls were given velvet photo frames with various designs to be coloured with felt tip pens. Some of those final works are tremendously well coloured and what a sense of colour choice these girls have?
Calhetona – 19H30
I wandered around the village and the surrounding area with the youngsters who are participating in the reporters’ project all afternoon, so as to have them take photos (each of them is entitled to taking two photos to illustrate their team work reporting issue – they have used a disposable camera which will be sent to a photo studio in Praia in time to have the most appropriate ones chosen).
I am exhausted, as we have walked uphill to photograph examples of barren land type of cultivation (so common around here) and downhill to the trash dumps by the coastline. The four themes have been chosen and once the “journalist reporters” have completed what they have already started to write, the written texts will either be handed back to their authors for sentence re-structuring or to be corrected and re-written.
17th of February 2010
Calhetona – 22H00
I was thrilled about the prospect of watching the Carnival festivity in the village, once the only visible thing was a giant threatening papier maché mosquito looking down on the village dwellers to remind them of Dengue, but as I wandered with my “reporters to be” for endless hours yesterday evening awaiting its official opening realised that it was not going to happen but fairly late, against what had been programmed, so I guess I’ll have to wait for another year.
We have today carried on with the art and craft activities initiated yesterday, by having the girl participants make mosaic pictures of all sorts of colours, whilst the boys were busy assembling paper vehicles. They got a lot of enjoyment out of doing those. One could just see it in their faces. The mosaic pictures are adorable and so are the vehicles.
They have listened to the third story “The girl who hated books” with illustrations by Leanne Franson, which (I am personally convinced) have further enhanced the real power of this story. Yesterday’s “What’s cooking Jamela” was also vibrantly illustrated by Niki Daly and although stories should go well beyond the physical traits of their main characters, I know that whenever these are coloured kids, they get a lot more enthusiastic, as if they were to identify themselves with whatever these leading characters do. That was the case regarding Jamela’s book, as most of these children have domestic animals they easily grow fond of.
They know most books I bring are written in English, they also know that the English/American language plays an important role in their community, as most emigrants - those who have some of the biggest houses in the village- have headed towards the United States of America in search of a better life, and the fact is that these children are keen on learning English words and simple structures they proudly copy onto note books or loose sheets of paper. The 30 minute English Language learning is one of the “magic” moments of the every day workshop activities.
The entire afternoon was spent working with the “reporters to be”. I have now been handed in the final handwritten working paper versions (Sanitation in Calheta de São Miguel; What should be done to protect the environment in Calheta de São Miguel; The Agriculture in Calheta de São Miguel and The emigrants and the Carnival in Calheta de São Miguel). I am particularly happy some of them have written on issues which naturally affect the area they live in, because this clearly shows they are aware of the problems and committed to wanting to change them by giving opinions on what they feel should be done.
Their range of vocabulary is slightly restrictive, backed up by a rather basic sentence structuring and not as creative as I would have expected from 13 year old youngsters. Knowing the educational system they are used to, which is mostly theoretical and memorizing focussed, I feel extremely proud of what they have achieved.
The Portuguese language mistakes (because of the similarity with the Creole) may be corrected in the future. The fact that they have been able to discuss certain issues in pairs and express their opinions in written form is what has got to be praised.
The disposable camera will be sent to Praia tomorrow in order to have the pictures developed and sent back to us by the end of the day. We might be able to select the photos to illustrate the essays Friday afternoon, just in time to have them exhibited on Saturday’s closing ceremony. They don’t know they each of them will be rewarded with a disposable camera, but I already anticipate what their reactions are going to be like.
19th of February 2010
Calhetona – 21H00
These last two days have been almost entirely dedicated to having the children make coloured sand pictures, following a rather complicated scheme, which implies the use of several skills, amongst which are patience and meticulous attention.
The pre-adhesive pictures are of varying degrees of difficulty. Children have to peel off the indicated portions of the pictures, cover them with the numbered colour sand and shake off the excess. The whole process re-starts with different colour sands, until the picture is completed.
There is no doubt that these construction activities, whether they are traditional puzzles, 3D wooden constructions, mosaic pictures and any others implying the use of different sized brushes, such as the painting of pictures/objects or masks, do develop children’s fine motor skills.
I have got the pictures, “the reporters to be” had taken, back from Praia and must say I am astound with their quality. Apart from one which is slightly blurred we have decided to display all of them.
The activities closing ceremony day will be held tomorrow afternoon and I am fairly nervous as we still have, that is Sibylle and I, to organize the room and display all the works, as if in a Museum exhibition room. I feel these children deserve to be looked at as “young” artists and be adequately praised for the “art pieces” they have made and the commitment they have had all week long.
21th of February 2010
Calhetona – 16H00
I’ll be leaving at 01H10 tomorrow morning. Upon arrival I’ll head straight to my daily working routine at the Air Navigation Training Centre. Nothing will be same, because I am carrying with me those bright shining eyes (as they were given English Language learning books, school bags, other school material and even some small gifts) and with it the hope that these workshops might influence the way they look at school activities and who knows their future life.
Yesterday’s closing ceremony was something I’ll never forget. The children’s pride was soon extended to the parents and relatives gathered in the library room, as they heard them answering in English to some of my prompts in Portuguese and later saw what had been done during the week. Some of the parents felt the need to touch the sand pictures and the 3D constructions, as if to make sure they were real and I overheard a few of them (still incredulous) asking their children how those had been done.
Children were allowed to take home everything they had done during the week and by looking at the way they carried those things, I once more realized how precious they were to them. Soon after having been given a present on behalf of the teachers I got one of the most meaningful presents ever granted me - the heartfelt thankfulness of one of the “reporters to be” on behalf of every child who had attended the workshops.
My gratitude goes out to those who have made this possible. I owe my special thanks to the Mayor José Duarte for once more having seen to my transportation from and to the airport of Praia; the Schellmanns for having provided me with the accommodation and food throughout the whole period in which the workshops were carried out; an additional thanks to Sibylle Schellmann for having worked with me, side by side, in the morning activities; Beat Clerc for having allowed me the privilege to work with the children of the bd sport active in one of the projects; Carlos Santos for having bought one of the books used in the project; Almerinda Meireles for having given me 20 Euros to help provide for the morning “coffee-break” of the children; my boyfriend, who contributed with all the masks used in the masks’ project and my daughter Mia are amongst those I owe the most to, as they have supported me all the way through the conceiving process of this project, and last but certainly not least to my daughter Faye, whose memory I want to honour with this volunteering projects today and as long as my inner strength will allow me to.
5 video films of the last day ceremony :
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