Whatever next

I can pinpoint one of the most significant conversations of my life. It was a couple of years ago when someone I respect was asking about my future plans. I was struggling to chose between pursuing a career in the field of development, or in the field of the arts and I shared my frustration at the dilemma. For the first time it was suggested that maybe I shouldn't chose between the two but could think of combining them instead. A new idea to me then, that suggestion led to what I'm doing now and along what has been an adventurous and exciting journey so far!

A fortnight ago I was approached by a friend who runs the small NGO, Family Impact that I've been involved with a bit, and ran some training at last month. I was asked at fairly short notice I could help out with a problem they were facing. Some of the PHHE material I had covered is designed around using animal characters as a tool to teach children about health, hygiene and community. The trainers are meant to have masks to help them with the characters. The problem was that the art department they'd commissioned to produce the masks was quoting $80 (USD) per mask and as they needed ten it was beyond their budget. So, before long, I found myself agreeing to experiment with mask-making to see if I could come up with something that would work instead.

What reminded me of the conversation I'd had 2 years ago, was that I reckon in taking on this project I well and truly combined the two fields of development and arts! As I set off on a path of experimentation which led to a process involving wire frames, paper mache, plaster of paris, acrylic paint and heavy duty varnish to create masks to form part of a PHHE programme, I knew that at a basic, inherent level, it doesn't really get more integrated than that! While surprisingly time-consuming (and hardly fine-art) I really enjoyed getting my hands dirty with paint and other art materials again. I pursuaded the team of volunteers to spend an afternoon doing paper-mache with me, to help out - a novel team-building exercise! The finished results!