November, 2011
A Kids’ Guernica painting was successfully created in Costa Rica, one of the most pacifist countries in the world. ESL teacher,Ricardo Rojas coordinate the workshop at New Way High School and reported about it;
We read about Wangari Maathai, the woman that created the Green Belt in Kenya and that got a Peace award also based on preserving the natural resources in Kenya and by changing the mentality about planting trees. When we read about her she had recently died, so my students wanted to make the Guernica as a tribute to her and what she represented.
Costa Rica is known for its peace and the efforts on preservation of the natural resources and since we are little children we are taught to preserve nature and live in peace. This was a perfect combination of topics for the kids to paint. The only problem we had was that we didn’t have a space big enough where to make such project.
We had to cut the fabric in sections and then sewed it together, but still it worked out pretty well. It was made in 4 sections and 4 kids worked on each section, but they all worked with the same theme. They painted things that are very common in Costa Rica like the Arenal Volcano (very active), fruit trees, rivers with rafting, bungee jumping, canopies, and a lot of sun. They wanted to show the world that nature was created for us to enjoy it and not to destroy it, and by keeping it untouched we can enjoy peace, which was Wangari’s dream too. They placed Wangari in the heart of the tree where she belongs. They had such a nice time even though the school they are in is not a big or spacious one, they felt free and relaxed. They all worked hard at designing, drawing, painting and cleaning. All I did was to sew it together. Then they put it as the backdrop of the stage for the Family Day and they explained the project to all the parents. Parents were impressed by it and they took a lot of pictures with their families. My kids were so proud of their effort and final outcome, and so was I.
