Forwarded:
Copan Pinta
Arte para Niños-Copán Ruinas, Honduras
Newsletter December 2004
Another year gone by!
Copán Pinta has been busier than ever with art workshops, murals,
drama classes, the Childrens Congress and, new this year, the COMVIDA
youth group, an AIDS prevention project.
Art Workshops for Street Kids
One of the main projects still is the Saturday workshop for kids,
sponsored by ACT. Usually we get between 40 and 50 children from the
poorest families in town to draw, paint, listen to stories, to have
fun on the playground or splash around in the pool. We also work a bit
in the garden. This year we have harvested vegetables and corn which
the kids proudly took home.
These art classes form the basics of Copán Pinta's activities. Not
only because they have been going on for five and a half years now
with a growing number of participants, also because it has made Copán
Pinta an important institution in town. It is literally the only place
where children can go and play without having to pay for it. Most of
the children come from low income families and have very little
structure in their lives. Often, the only attention the get from
adults is negative. The children, as young as they are, have many
responsibilities and little time or space to play. So when they come
to Copán Pinta's headquarters, they can forget for a little while
about reality and be the children they have the right to be. They're
not being scolded, they don't have to sit still and they don't have to
be quiet. Quite the contrary, we stimulate them to make as much noise
as they can. Spilling paint isn't a problem either, that's what
cleaning up is for.
Rural Schools
The children who go to the rural schools in the mountains are very
different. They're more timid than their peers in town and it takes a
while for them to loosen up when we're teaching an art or drama class.
But, oh, how they enjoy it!
In the Maya Chortí community La Pintada we've been teaching English to
all students, so they can communicate with the visitors the villages
is trying to attract for its sustainable ecotourism project.
In La Estanzuela we painted a mural with the children with such as
stunning result that the kids (and teachers!) stood afterwards in awe
of their own work.
Childrens Congress
The Third Childrens Congress was held on August 21, the theme this
year being values. About 4,000 children received ten preparing
workshops about communication, childrens rights and of course values:
what are they exactly and how can you apply them in day to day life.
The results of the workshops were put in a book that was brought to
the congress by the one boy or girl elected to represent their
community. The books also contain proposals for small projects, such
as school supplies, paint for the school, a soccer ball or a school
garden.
Together with the Childrens Council, we're working on the development
of these projects. This year we were able to accomplish 127 of them.
For more information on the Childrens Congress or to see some
pictures, please visit:
www.copanhonduras/subsites/cabildo/index.htm
Childrens Day
One of the most important days of the year is, of course, Children's
Day which we celebrated on Saturday September 4th with 92 kids and 7
volunteers. Against the tradition of too much candy and piñatas, we
played games with the kids and served them cookies and juice. Each
child received a "passport" and had to pass all the different stations
in order to get the refreshment. The activities included coloring,
fishing candy out of the pool with a spoon, dropping a nail in a
bottle, carrying a cup of water over the balancing beam and much more.
None of the kids complaint about the fact that we didn't have a
piñata, they had a great day!
Youth & AIDS
With the new COMVIDA (Comunicación-Vida) group we have taught 100 high
school students about sexuality, HIV/ AIDS prevention and how to make
responsible decisions about these issues. The students were very
interested in these themes. About 20 of them have now formed a COMVIDA
youth group. Next year they will receive workshops twice a month about
their own identity, communication, employment, mother/fatherhood and
other themes of their interest. On December 1st the Youth group was in
charge of organizing World AIDS day which they did with a lot of
enthusiasm and even more success.
Volunteers & Mural
So far we have taught 177 workshops this year for a total of 3,628
participants. Thankfully, I was not alone; I had the help of many
volunteers: My mom Matty; Heidi Hilton who helped us to start the
childrens garden; the students and teachers from Huron University
College; Savannah Loker; Audrey Bastings; Hannah from England, and
above all Lise Winters, a Dutch photographer who is now part of Copán
Pinta's staff. She had been teaching most of the Summer Activities (a
series of 50 art workshops for the kids from town) while I was in
Tegucigalpa painting a mural for the Arte Para Todos Project,
organized by the United Nations Volunteer Program .50 Artists from all
over the world made sculptures and murals about the UN Millennium
Goals. It was wonderful to hang out for two weeks with so many artists
and the results are great. If you're interested, have a look at:
www.undp.un.hn/unv/arteparatodosweb/es/acerca.htm (Click on "Galeria"
or "Artistas" to see my work, among others.)
News!
The big news is that from January on, Copán Pinta will change its name
into Arte Acción Copán Ruinas. The reason for this is a fusion with
the Asociación Arte Acción from Tegucigalpa. This organization is run
by a group of artists-friends. They basically have the same objectives
and activities as Copán Pinta, but since they work with a bigger team,
they have a lot more going on. Besides the activities they organize in
their headquarters, they have done photography projects with teenagers
(gang members) from Amarateca, a colony outside Tegucigalpa where
thousands of people who lost their homes during hurricane Mitch were
relocated. Another youth group made a mural for the Arte para Todos-
project in the capital. Children from Amarateca have produced a semi
professional play which they have performed all over the country. In
Santa Lucia they teach art, drama and music to elder people. Just to
name a few things.
The fusion will be convenient for both organizations. It will make the
exchange of volunteers or professionals much easier, and both
organizations will profit from the expanded network of contacts. The
main reason for us to join forces is that by doing so, Copán Pinta (or
rather: Arte Acción Copán Ruinas) will become legal for the Honduran
law. For a long time now I have wanted to legalize the (Dutch) Copán
Pinta Foundation in this country, but the costs are too enormous. This
is for us the easiest and cheapest way to be able to grow and offer
more and better programs. For our students, our volunteers and our
sponsors only the name will change, Arte Acción Copán Ruinas will work
independently and with the same goals it always had as Copán Pinta,
but bigger and better!
Photos
If you'd like to see some pictures of the Copán Pinta activities,
please go to:
http://espanol.photos.yahoo.com/copanpinta/
Clik on "mis fotos" and then on the Copán Pinta album.
Donations
For those who feel generous during the holidays, we can use all the
help we can get. Art supplies are always welcome, especially tempera
paint, markers and construction paper. Stickers, glitters, childrens
books, videos or music (in Spanish) are also very much wanted. If you
have other things to donate that are not directly useful for Copán
Pinta, let me know and I can probably find you a destination (through
the Childrens Congress, local schools, the Red Cross or otherwise). If
you want to send money, you can do so by sending a personal check in
US dollars to the address below. A hundred percent of your donation
will be used for Copán Pinta (art supplies, maintenance, literature,
refreshments, legal fees etc.)
Thanks!
Everybody who has helped Copán Pinta this year, thank you so much!
Your help has been incredibly valuable and it DOES make a difference!
I wish you all a happy Christmas, the very best for the New Year and I
hope to be in touch with you in 2005.
Warm regards,
Carin Steen
December 20, 2004
(PS Soon I'll send out information on Arte Acción, the new website,
change in contact address etc. For now, the information below is still
valid.)
C o p á n P i n t a
A r t e p a r a N i ñ o s
Carin Steen (Project Coordinador)
La Casa de Todo, Barrio El Centro
Copán Ruinas, Copán, Honduras, C.A.
Telefax: 504-651-4185 Cel.990-5866
Web-site: www.projecthonduras.com/copanpinta
www.specialmissions.org
E-mail: copanpinta.....com
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