Hi Everyone!
This week has been a very special one. My mom has been here visiting to help me with a pet project that is near to my heart. To learn more about it, check out
this website that I built to explain the project. But overall, it's this:
PROJECT M.A.H.I.T.A. (Murals Aiding Health Information To All):
"MAHITA (verb) means "to see" in the Malagasy language, spoken on the island nation of Madagascar. American students (grades 3+) can help people in Madagascar by creating a mural on cloth, with an important health message. The mural they create will be shipped to Madagascar, and installed by Malagasy health educators in a rural village. Murals convey information visually, which is important where literacy rates are low. The American students gain a global perspective, while making a meaningful connection and artistic and helpful contribution to a rural community in Madagascar."
The idea for this project came to me in 2012, after I had returned from the Peace Corps in Madagascar, and was working as an intern at the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. I learned a technique in Philly, that allows you to paint a mural on special cloth, and then install it. My "aha" moment was when I realized this meant you could paint a mural anywhere in the world, and then install it anywhere ELSE in the world. Murals can teach things because they are PUBLIC and pictures can teach as well as written words. The idea for MAHITA solidified.
I made the first "pilot" Project MAHITA in 2012 with a group of 4th graders in Eugene. It was written up in the local paper! The kids had a blast and learned a lot about Madagascar. They created a mural about Malaria prevention - specifically, the care and use of mosquito nets. The mural was sent to a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in a rural village, who installed it on the wall of a local clinic where mothers could see it while waiting in line to get their babies vaccinated. That was all well and good, but the new model of MAHITA will have us sending murals to the director of a branch of Population Services International, in Madagascar (instead of to Peace Corps Volunteers). The PSI Director will have the Malagasy PSI Health Workers bring the mural along when they go out to rural villages to teach about Malaria, family planning, and other health topics. After the mural is explained, it will be installed, and left permanently somewhere in the village, as a reminder of what they taught. This model feels better because it's just an add-on to something that is already happening, Malagasy to Malagasy.
So this week, was MAHITA project #2! My mom and I worked with an afterschool group at the school where I work. Overall, it went well and I think the kids enjoyed painting and learning.
This coming week, my mom and I are teaching a seminar about Project MAHITA, to a group of about 40 teachers. We are hoping to gain some interest from teachers who may want to do this project in their classrooms. It's maybe a tough sell, in the current climate in education. BUT, we are hoping they see the value in, and find the time for, cultural exchange, community service projects, visual art practice, and instilling a global perspective in their students. Wish us luck! We are hoping to grow this project to the point where neither I, nor my mom, will need to be present for anyone to do this project. We are working on developing all the materials so that this can happen.
It moves me so much that people I love are helping me on this project, in all different wonderful ways - sharing their knowledge and skills, to sharing their dollars. My good friend from Peace Corps, who is studying international development, will be researching the impact that murals have on impoverished communities abroad where literacy rates are low. My mom is making this her retirement project. My good family friend/mentor person is donating the money needed to buy a ton of the specialized mural fabric that we can provide to teachers doing the project. I truly have an incredibly supportive, caring, and smarty-pants network of friends and family.
I am so happy to see my idea actually happening!! Here are some pics of the kids in action this week:
