Creative Writing Classes at Mathare North 2007- completed!
article by Susan Phillips
Trading Fives," an Adventure in Poetry and Art
Thirteen boys and girls from the Mathare North creative writing club and 13 girls from the Girls Art and Leadership group at International School of Kenya worked together over a period of four Saturday afternoons in September and October to write poems, draw pictures, share their ideas, and select their best work to be included in a book.
Two handmade copies of the book, including poetry and artwork from every participant, will be given to the Mathare North and ISK libraries soon, and the participants hope to celebrate their achievements with a book launch party. The book is titled "Trading Fives," because all of the poems are five lines long, and every piece of writing and art included represents an exchange of ideas, words, enthusiasm and support.
The group met at the ISK arts center. The first meeting started off with an ice-breaking game and setting up pairs of students who would work together for the rest of the project. Then everyone took part in a silly drawing exercise called "blind contour drawing." For this, each child drew a picture of his partner. But the rules were strict: You could not look down at what you were drawing, and you could not lift your pen off the paper until you were finished. The results? If you squint, you might think of Picasso.
Finally, the children interviewed each other and used the results to write five-line poems called cinquains. Here is one that will be included in the book, it's by Junior Kimeu, 12, from Mathare North, about his partner Aliya Chaudhry,10, from ISK.
Aliya
Aliya
Tall, funny
Reading, painting, writing
Talking to her friends
Creative
In subsequent meetings, participants wrote more cinquains, sometimes working in pairs, and sometimes individually. The poetry topics were wide-ranging - for instance, one session was devoted to shoes, boots and sandals - and the organizers provided a whole heap of sneakers, booties, flip-flops, high heels etc. to get the children's imaginations going. Before writing, the group talked about how shoes pick up tell-tale signs of the lives their owners lead - scuff marks, worn soles, creases. The writers also brainstormed about how it might feel to be a shoe, and generated a huge list of words having to do with shoes, walking, running, etc.
The final session was a mad rush, as the pairs picked their favorite poems and then set about making plates of their illustrations in order to produce two identical copies of the art for the handmade books. Two extra helpers, printmaker Chris kinanjui and Angela Wangeru gave invaluable support as the children figured out the printmaking process and rushed to complete two good prints before it was time to go.
It was great to see the children work together and gain confidence in their writing and their art. And it would not have been possible without help from four ISK high school students, Laura Hutchinson, Yasmin Azli, Manon Verchot and Bryonny Bidder, who helped set up for each session and then circulated around the room, providing encouragement and the occasional nudge.
Now, it is up to the organizers - Susan Phillips, who has been working with the Mathare North creative writing group, and Jane Elleby, an art teacher at ISK who leads the Girls Art and Leadership group - to sit down with the high school helpers and put the books together in their final form.
