Arts for a Cause

It was one quiet and tiring evening when we arrived at Kevin’s Beach Resort in Kawit, Medellin Cebu last July 8, 2016. The smell of the sea and humid breeze welcomed us alongside the care takers of the resort. It was the interns’ first time to be there together, with a goal of conducting their main project and activity for the youth under the Women’s Resource Center of Visayas Inc.

The arts and crafts activity of the WRCV has been another way to teach and educate the youth that it all starts within their fingertips; the beginning of every livelihood products that could actually help them earn and achieve all their families’ necessary needs. The interns were tasked in-charge of the 2-day activity through teaching the youth with several artworks, and helping them boost their leadership and companionship skills with one another. It was a difficult task at first because we weren’t positively sure that what we had prepared was enough (i.e. materials, activities, etc.). At the same time, we honestly did not know what to expect. How many of them will arrive? Will they be able to participate? Will they like our activities? How will they behave? To our conclusion, there was nothing we can do but to prepare. We slept late to finish cutting some colored papers, woke up early the next day until they all arrived. There were 18 of them from Mayjo and Gibitngil, to which most of them were elementary to high school students with ages 8-17 years old. We were observing them as they jot down on the attendance sheet and caught glimpses of fragile, shy and fainted smiles. Together with the WRCVstaff, the interns opened the program through a prayer and an introduce yourself portion. A brief orientation followed so as to fill in the curiosity and unanswered questions of the participants. After that, the youth participants were turned over to the interns' care and guidance.

We, the interns, thought that the best way to start the arts and crafts training was to actually turn the tension into a comfortable working place for the youth. So, we started with an ice-breaker game. After forming a circle that fits everyone, the interns gave the instructions. The game was for the participants to think of an adjective that best describes them with the first letter of their name. The goal of this group exercise was for them to self-reflect, know about others, learn some new words and easily remember others names. We also joined them so they would feel comfortable around us. The game took us 3-4 rounds until everyone has already participated and quite memorized the names of their companions. We saw how from shy to expressive and fun the game has become. Sometimes, it takes a lot of effort from everyone so a certain goal can be achieved.

The first arts and crafts activity that the interns introduced was the yarn balloon lantern. It was an easy handicraft project that uses a piece of balloon, one roll of yarn, glue, starch and one’s artistic imagination. The participants were divided into four groups and were given the liberty to choose their groupmates. They all just followed the instructions that were step by step given to them by the interns and successfully finished two balloons for the whole activity. We then hung the finished products for drying. As it dries, the balloon should be popped to reveal the hardened yarn’s round shape. The balloons were by the way popped on the second day since the glue wasn't dry enough to be popped during that same day.

The next activity was a colorful one. It is the lotus flower origami making with which it was an individual work for the youth participants. It tested the ability of each to follow instructions, independence and of course, to practice their liberty as of choosing their color combinations for their individual outputs (colors reflect different personalities). It took us a while to complete the processes of the folding and tying of rubber bands. After finishing the activity, we observed the happy smiling faces of the participants as they posed with their finished outputs with pride and satisfaction. It is as if they were saying “I finished this alone and I’m happy because it turned out just fine and right!”

Lunch was served afterwards while a little bonding with the youth took place by the sea. They bombarded the interns with questions and stories about their life experiences and posed again for another round of picture taking.

In the afternoon, the main activity of placemat/coaster weaving was introduced to the youth. Some of them were already familiar of how this is made, while the others didn’t know how to start with it. Indeed, there are several ways how to weave the product and the interns knew one method which was different from theirs. The interns decided to turn it over to the NAKASAMA members to train the youth participants with placemat weaving. Some of the youth participants were able to finish the activity by finishing a placemat. Whilst the first timers haven’t finished theirs; the good thing was that at least they tried cutting and folding some laminated sack strips.

The day ended with a short and brief assessment of the youth participants by maam Julie. The majority of them said that they’ve learned how to make yarn balloon lanterns and lotus flower origamis that according to them, they would definitely try making again at home and teach their other relatives, friends and classmates about it. On the other hand, the placemat making according to them was the most difficult activity since their small hands and the level of its difficulty is yet to be achieved by young first timers as of now. We have also considered these ourselves. As young adults that are new to this, we realized it was really difficult to do it alone (because we have tried too) but we should always remember that there is always room for trying and improvement; one must only persevere to do so. On the bright side, the first day was fine and definitely one interesting day for the youth to learn- for everyone to learn. We are looking forward for these handicrafts to be able to help them in the grassroots with their livelihood in the future. We, the interns, are positive it would.