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KEEPS – Soweto, South Africa – Marianne

KEEPS is an amazing concept! It is incredible how something seemingly simple - like painting what is most important to you as a child - can be turned into a complete experience. In an over-crowded, under-ventilated pre-fabricated chronic care clinic in Soweto, South Africa, a group of expectant children were in for some fun! It was heartening and inspiring to be able to bring something unrelated to disease to children who are burdened by being so ill. During the time spent on the KEEPS project the kids were immersed with what was happening and really appreciated the opportunity to throw themselves into the activity.

The play session in the beginning to get to know each other (advised in our 'briefing' session) was definitely a highlight. Finding out who had the longest hair, the biggest feet, the most colourful outfit, etc certainly helped to get everyone feeling comfortable.  Something new for the kids was sitting in a yoga position and stretching before getting into the Art - they loved that - it just worked! The kids seemed to take away more than just colourful fingers, paints and some yummy treats, but also sense of doing something larger than life while simultaneously having the chance to focus on themselves and what is important in their lives. The kids had a fantastic time and so did I!

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GGA-CATO Ridge, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
http://www.godsgoldenacre.org.uk/

Federica Dispenza

When I arrived to God’s Golden Acre for my three-weeks voluntary experience, I thought my only work would have been a building project. Luckily enough I was quite wrong. I has the opportunity to spend a lot of my time with the children who are living there and to look at them realizing those amazing painting. God’s Golden Acre is a centre situated about 40 minutes away from Durban (South Africa) that houses approximately 74 children whose parents, one or both, are dead because of HIV/AID. Kwa-Zulu Natal, the region GGA is in, is the worst affected region in South Africa and, in general terms, a hot spot for the disease. Great part of the adult population is missing and too often the head of a household is a kid of 12.

In GGA children and young people from 0 to 19 are living, as much as possible, a normal life. They live in foster houses whose directors are Zulu women, so that they can grow up in the Zulu culture. They go to school, do their homework and play in the playground. And they are loved. However almost all of them have dreadful stories of sickness and abuse. It is quite amazing how much love they can still give and how much they still trust adults. I’ve been staying at GGA for three week but worked at the KEEPS project one day of the last week only. This is because I wanted to know the kids a bit more before working with them. The conditions were ideal because I knew some of their names already and they were familiar with my presence. However all the kids have been selected by GGA not by me. I definitely think the results can be trusted.

I have to admit I’ve been violating one of KEEPS rules. I’ve been in fact working also with kids older than 10. The main reason for this choice is that I thought the older guys deserved an opportunity to express themselves as the little ones. I knew them as well and, apart from having an amazing talent, they are really able to express their ideas through art. As you might see when the three older guys painted the most important thing in their life, they painted their dreams. While working with the older group wasn’t a big problem with respect to discipline, the work with the younger kids was much more animated. They were so excited about this new game that the all painting session was quite chaotic, but definitely fun.

Before starting painting they had five or ten minutes to think about the most important thing in their life: some of the kids were worried because they couldn’t think to anything that was important enough. But this moment of confusion didn’t last much. All of them were then asked to choose which colours they wanted to paint with and were assigned a seat as far as possible from the others. I cannot guarantee they have not been copying one from another though because they were quite often going through the classroom to chat with their mates. As I said before, discipline is not their cup of tea. But they have an amazing sense of colour, haven’t they? And hearing them laughing and teasing each other has been a great reward for the effort.

In sum KEEPS was a great experience. Somehow a bit confusing but still amazing.
During my stay in South Africa those kids taught to me more than I could teach to them and even though after the end of the painting everything (tables, chairs, kids and so on…) was completely covered with paint the atmosphere was so happy, familiar and fun that I wouldn’t change it with a more ordered and quiet one.

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