Wonders Never End in Museums

Story and photos by Rebecca Musanga and Dorcas Kirwa.

As the old saying goes,’ Old is gold’ and indeed we have now verified this proverb because we also believe that seeing is believing.  So on a cool Saturday morning, on the 8th of December 2012, all roads led to Nairobi National Museum. We went under the supervision and guidance of our art instructor, Mr. Joseph Wanderi ("Wanderer"), who was well armed with two well-trained journalists known as Dorcas Kirwai and Rebecca Musanga (the authors of this blog).

It was a chance for the art program kids to take a day off from their normal routine with the paint brushes and explore what is offered at the Nairobi National Museum. On arrival, a scary gigantic dinosaur welcomed us as we waited to be cleared. We first visited the museum art exhibition where we were totally inspired by people’s professional artwork. I was amazed when I saw one fine art painting costing 350, 000 Kenyan Shillings ($4,120 USD), meaning that if I was to paint or draw three of them, then I could be a millionaire in a few weeks time.



“When drawing or painting a landscape, never start with the people or objects but always start with the sky to give your picture a balance. You can also use boundaries of a picture that contains objects of different localities,” advised Mr. Wanderer.

We were able to see different species of all types of birds, including the owl, which most people associate with bad omen. For the first time, I saw an ostrich’s egg. We also saw an exhibition on cutleries, read Kenya’s history, learned about the Mau Mau generation, saw colonial garments, and learned about older means of transport, including the railway line in which we saw one built at the museum, and learned about media culture, sports and lastly fossils.

Next was a walk to the Snake Park, where it even got scarier.  We viewed live snakes caged in different glass transparent walls and they were as well crawling towards our direction. I guess they were excited to see us. I got very interested when I saw these two types of snakes; one was the Milk Snake that eats insects, eggs and frogs. It’s harmless and lays 10 eggs per clutch. The second one was known as Boom slang, a big fanged venomous tree snake that has deadly slow acting venom that causes a general bleeding and the snake is non aggressive. We also saw some moving turtles, crocodiles and an alligator.



The trip ended with some adventure and funny games as some dancers entertained us. The music carried us too and we joined them in dancing to their tune of the orutu, flute and the drums. Sadly we had to leave all the fun behind and go back home but we remained with great memories stored in our minds. All that has a beginning must have an ending. We entered the bus and left for Uweza Foundation Center where we ended the day with lunch.

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Rebecca Musanga and Dorcas Kirwai are members of the Uweza Journalism Club.

My hands speak for my mind

by Rebecca Musanga

In the hot afternoon of a beautiful Saturday, the Uweza Foundation Art Club was busy speaking more using their hands than their mouths. Their creative colours blend their intelligence with the help of the art work tools which are the paint brushes, different paintings of different colours, and  a canvas among others.

This form of painting brings an inspiration to their daily lives since they are young and vibrant and full of great ideas. They receive the help of their professional artist Mr. Wanderer, who guides them in the best way to lay down their ideas. Their form of art speaks a lot ranging from world life, landscape sceneries, vegetation and human culture. These are just a few of the selected paintings they do.

The art class normally meets every Wednesday and Saturdays for their training which normally lasts for two hours. I spoke to some of them and the said that they really enjoy painting since to them it looks simpler and comes out as an expression of their thoughts, ideas and feelings surrounding them.

A talent is a skill, which if well focused on and nurtured, can do wonders. I was totally amazed by their beautiful work, making me feel like I needed some tuition in drawing. Their creativity was awesome and the output was just the exact visual one can see with the normal eyes. I was so impressed by the way they blended their colours to create a phenomenal output. Their drawing is worth a thousand words and even more. Their talent is original. Bravo Uweza Art club.

You can support the students and the sustainability of the art program by purchasing their paintings every Wednesday on Uweza's Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/uweza) and on the Uweza website: http://www.uweza.org/shop.html. 

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Rebecca Musanga is a  member of the Uweza Journalism Club.

Determined to Excel

by Thomas Bwire

He is just 13 years of age and one can easily think that his paintings are done by an adult. This is not the case, meet the self spoken Wesley Osoro. His seriousness shows all over his face that he’s a young person determined to see that he excels in what he does. Being a member of Uweza Art Club, he never misses classes on Saturday, when not attending school.

Wesley with one of his completed paintings

A first born child in a family of 2 brothers and a sister, he shares with me his sentiments that his passion with the paint brush started while he was 5 years old. “I used to see photos in salons and shops whenever I walked around the neighborhoods. Slowly by slowly I then started small by drawing some houses, cars, and anything that came to my mind,” says Wesley as he works on his most recent painting.

Working on his most recent painting

I take a few minutes to just sit back and watch as his hands move on the painting he’s currently working on of a landscape. The landscape image is taking good shape and one can clearly see the background full of clouds and standing hills neatly done. To find out why Wesley loves painting landscapes, I pose the question to him. “They look nice and are easy to draw,” is his response.

According to his art instructor Joseph Wanderi, Wesley is a boy who has the greatest passion in what he does. “Art is in him, and he’s born artist I must say,” Joseph tells me.  “I am now looking at how I can introduce him to an advanced stage of painting on a canvas which will be more professional and his work can now be showcased in bigger exhibitions to market him out there.”

 

Besides painting, Wesley also plays soccer on the Uweza team. Before parting ways, he tells me that his parents are very supportive of what he does and that is what makes him have the heart to excel in the near future.

Power of the Brush

by Thomas Bwire

Occasionally a walk through Kibera gives a unique opportunity to get to meet young people who are committed to a particular activity like washing cars, collecting garbage, engaging customers at a barber shop and many more.

This is not the only impression that all is well.  If you were a first time visitor, then you could easily see a larger group of young people hanging out in small groups, just chatting the whole day with nothing much to be done.

In today’s blog we feature Noor Ibrahim, aged 27 years, a young person from the Kibera community. He lives in Karanja village. I did meet him at the center this Wednesday on their routine painting sessions with art instructor Joseph Wanderi at the Uweza Center.

Noor Ibrahim

Uweza Art Instructor Joseph Wanderi

As I watch him paint one of the portraits of the Kenyan’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga from one of the local daily news papers, I found myself asking him one big question, “where did your motivation come from?”


Ibrahim tells me how his nurturing talent has come of age. "After finishing high school, I used to watch my big brother who was an artist paint stuff; he could paint portraits of people which in return got quick sells. I also loved to just give long glances at the GADO cartoons in a local newspaper. These cartoons had a clear message everyday and it depends how you interpret them,” notes Ibrahim. 

"Later on, I  moved a notch higher, where I got involved with the local schools, where I did face painting for kids during prize giving days.  Some of the teachers asked me to paint wild animals on manila papers as their a teaching aid tools for their pupils. This gave me some small income by the end of the day. I also attended the yearly international trade fair held in Nairobi, and did lot’s of face painting for kids who came to visit different exhibitions stands.”

Ibrahim shared that his greatest passion is to do painting of landscapes, as they express a sense of belonging and also how to tell how beautiful nature is.

One of Ibrahim's paintings

One of his major challenges comes from his peers who see painting as a waste of time, but this does not deter him from moving on as he hopes for a better today.  His parting words for me are “In five year’s time from now, I want to own an art studio here in Kibera and help teach other young kids with an interest in painting."