Monica
Chizavanae Village, Gaza District, Mozambique
June 15, 2010
In the rural areas of Mozambique where Save the Children works, almost all children have been affected by the AIDS crisis, losing family members and teachers to the disease.Save the Children, through funding from the Charles Engelhard Foundation and the 2007 Idol Gives Back TV fundraising event, began piloting an innovative program using visual arts to help give children a voice to their emotions about difficult events in their every day lives in rural Mozambican preschools or “escolinhas” in 2008.
As part of the “Healing and Education through Art” or HEART program, preschool teachers participated in three training sessions. Monica, a preschool teacher, shares her thoughts about how the training has helped improve her work with children:“Through the training, I learned how to listen to what children say, and how to ask questions about what they draw or paint. I learn a lot from doing this.
For instance, one day this past March during art class, one of my students, Jameson, decided to draw what he had done the previous weekend. He began to draw a cross and flowers, which led to a discussion among his classmates. I heard him tell the other children that his mother had died that weekend and his drawing showed where he had spent his Saturday. While talking, Jameson added sand on his drawing to make the shape of a grave. And, then, one of his classmates picked a flower to place on top of the grave as a memorial.
My training also taught me that it is okay to allow children like Jameson to express sad things in their life and it’s not always bad to draw about sad things.”
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