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Zimbabwe, South Eastern Africa
Artist in Action Keith Biele shares his volunteer journey From my arrival on Jan 18 through Feb 21 I spent getting to know Julia and Ed Kunzekwenyika, their staff, and 15 orphans (ages 3 to 20) while staying with them at Julia’s Home of Happy Colors for orphaned children in Homestead Village of Park Meadowlands, Harare, Zimbabwe. During this time, it rained almost every day with lots of heavy showers. A few days after arriving, the electricity for the neighborhood was out for 5 days in a row. The morning after the electricity came back, the water was off for 7 days in a row. From then until I left, both were on and off every other day for a day or two. The water well in the front yard was not good enough for drinking – mainly for certain cleaning and toilet water. Drinking water came from the closest neighbors with running water and was brought home with 10 gallon jugs carried on the heads of the kids and Julia’s Home maid, Munyasha. The running water is drinkable, however when it’s gone for more than three days, the orphanage reserve runs out. Hot water came from a pot on an electric hot plate over fire. The orphans did everything from cooking the meals – even when there was no water or electricity and it was pouring down rain – to lawn and garden maintenance, house cleaning, and hand washing and ironing the laundry. Meals consisted of peanut butter and bread for breakfast - sometimes with an ear of corn, sadza (cornmeal) with vegetables from their garden along with a little chicken, beef, goat, cow stomach, skinny small fish, or worms. While it was depressing to see what the economy was doing, it was incredibly inspiring to see the efforts of the orphans and their community in dealing with their situations. I did a few art projects and workshops with the orphans – all of them are artistic and enjoy doing art projects together, some show the desire and capabilities to do more drawing and painting on a higher level. Harare had a very limited choice of art supplies – luckily my parents offered to buy and send a few things from Florida. Feb 14, 15, and 16, I did art workshops at 3 rural area primary schools. All together there were 112 students from 15 different primary and secondary schools that came together. All the students were extremely well behaved and paid complete attention to me and the translator that each school provided. Each one of the Zimbabwean students received a piece of artwork from students at Ocean City Elementary school in Ft Walton Bch, Florida. They, in turn, did drawings that I will be delivering personally to the students back in Florida within the next week. Feb 17 and 18 I worked on a painting from 9am – 5pm in the waiting area of the emergency room at Parirenyatwiya hospital, in Harare, Zimbabwe. Feb 19 local artist Lovemore Kambudzi worked on a painting in the same area. The response from the doctors, guards, administration, and the people in the waiting area was one of great appreciation. The public relations officer at the hospital, Mrs. Jane Dadzie, is working to get long-term areas set up for artists to work at the Children’s ward and AIDS Care Center. Feb 20 Julia and I met with the director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, their head of artist inquiries, and one of their administrators. They are now planning and will be starting programs to get artists to set up in several appropriate venues where people’s jobs are stressful. This will lead to a show in Zimbabwe as well as New York and Los Angeles. Empowerment Works is currently providing art supplies and a small stipend to cover transportation and food for the local artists working on this project with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. I’m working on putting together a budget to see how much fundraising it will take to support this. It’s amazing what can be done with very little money, the key is having the right people spending it. Advice, ideas, and financial support are always welcome.
To help lift spirits through art in a major Harare Hospital and inspire local artists to apply thier talent in new ways, Keith painted the following:
Contact Us to help sell prints to raise funds for EW Zimbabwe Community Based Orphan Care & Education. CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT EW ZIMBABWE PROGRAMS Read EW Advisor David C. Jamali (Zimbabwe, Australia) report on local conditions: The visit to my land of birth May 2007
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Zimbabwe
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