Check out this video about the Project!

I posted a new story about a girl on our website! It is inspiring and heart breaking! Check is out

http://paintingforpoverty.com/daisy/

We will have our cards up in with in the next two weeks! If you want to see pictures of the children, read their stories or see their art work, check out our new website (that is where the postcards will be)

www.paintingforpoverty.com

Surprise Art Class

Two days ago I looked out our window and saw half a dozen shy looking boys sitting on our back lawn. When I went out to talk to them, they sheepishly asked if they could come inside to paint. Happily, I invited them all in. Over the course of the next hour more kids showed up and the numbers doubled to about 15. Some of them had been up to paint before and for others this was their first time. They were all laughing and talking as they past around paint. Some of them were discovering painting for the first time. My favorite part of the evening was when one of the boys, little tag along brothers, got a hold of some-ones discarded paint palette and quietly decided to paint his face.

 As I told the new comers about how the project worked and how it would help with school fees their eyes got big and they got really excited. One boy in particular, who had been out of school for a year but desperately wanted to go back, was very eager and painted some of the best art work I have seen so far. I was surprised to find out this was his first time painting. The children here are so talented, the master pieces they create the first time they pick up a brush would amaze you. Their art work is so colorful and happy and depicts vibrantly their surroundings and life! I can not wait until I can put them up so you  can all see them! 

jungwrith

As I sat across from Jungwrith, his answers to my questions where just giving me  more questions. Why had he dropped out at year ten another brother at year 11 and yet another in year 13? He and his brothers had been so close to finishing their education. His Dad was a teacher, yet he didn’t have his children in school? He seemed really smart; I wondered what was going on. He had just finished a very beautiful painting and was eager to do another. His eyes lit up when I explained how I thought the people in Canada would love to see his picture he painted of Mt. Yashur, the Volcano. Volcanos are not something we live with and seeing daily in Canada. He was excited when I told him how I would reproduce his painting with his picture on the back and write a little bit about him. He shyly smiled as l explained the money from the copies I sold would go back to him for school.  He is very smart and spoke english well. Jung said he wanted to be a Pilot, that was still his dream, he told me with a smile. But currently he is not going to school. Year ten had been his last year. When I asked why he quit he simply said “school fees.” His two other brothers who had been in school as well had dropped out at the same time. Only his youngest brother was in school, he was in grade one. His Dad was a teacher. Education was so important to Jung. When I asked where his name came from he said he was named after a Australian teacher that had came to Vanuatu and taught his Dad. All three of these brothers have dreams of what they want to be, dreams that were in their reach. His oldest brother Tom had been in school in Australia on his way to be a doctor, Jungwrith and his other brother had been at the secondary school here doing really well, but then the vatu ran out. Jungwrith and his brothers can not go down into town and get one of the few part time jobs to pay for the school fees; there is no part time jobs to get without at least a high school education, year 13. He was eager to do something about his situation but didn’t know what. My heart felt so tender as I watched Jungwrith excitedly start another painting. When it was getting late and I asked if we could drive him home and he said he wanted to stay until he finished, he must of been painting for at least 3 hours. I promised he could come back tomorrow, he reluctantly came, only after making sure he cleaned up and said thank you, multiple times. This project has given him hope. Through his paintings he is hopeful soon he can go back to school!

jungwrith

As I sat across from Jungwrith, his answers to my questions where just giving me  more questions. Why had he dropped out at year ten another brother at year 11 and yet another in year 13? He and his brothers had been so close to finishing their education. His Dad was a teacher, yet he didn’t have his children in school? He seemed really smart; I wondered what was going on. He had just finished a very beautiful painting and was eager to do another. His eyes lit up when I explained how I thought the people in Canada would love to see his picture he painted of Mt. Yashur, the Volcano. Volcanos are not something we live with and seeing daily in Canada. He was excited when I told him how I would reproduce his painting with his picture on the back and write a little bit about him. He shyly smiled as l explained the money from the copies I sold would go back to him for school.  He is very smart and spoke english well. Jung said he wanted to be a Pilot, that was still his dream, he told me with a smile. But currently he is not going to school. Year ten had been his last year. When I asked why he quit he simply said “school fees.” His two other brothers who had been in school as well had dropped out at the same time. Only his youngest brother was in school, he was in grade one. His Dad was a teacher. Education was so important to Jung. When I asked where his name came from he said he was named after a Australian teacher that had came to Vanuatu and taught his Dad. All three of these brothers have dreams of what they want to be, dreams that were in their reach. His oldest brother Tom had been in school in Australia on his way to be a doctor, Jungwrith and his other brother had been at the secondary school here doing really well, but then the vatu ran out. Jungwrith and his brothers can not go down into town and get one of the few part time jobs to pay for the school fees; there is no part time jobs to get without at least a high school education, year 13. He was eager to do something about his situation but didn’t know what. My heart felt so tender as I watched Jungwrith excitedly start another painting. When it was getting late and I asked if we could drive him home and he said he wanted to stay until he finished, he must of been painting for at least 3 hours. I promised he could come back tomorrow, he reluctantly came, only after making sure he cleaned up and said thank you, multiple times. This project has given him hope. Through his paintings he is hopeful soon he can go back to school!

jungwrith

As I sat across from Jungwrith, his answers to my questions where just giving me  more questions. Why had he dropped out at year ten another brother at year 11 and yet another in year 13? He and his brothers had been so close to finishing their education. His Dad was a teacher, yet he didn’t have his children in school? He seemed really smart; I wondered what was going on. He had just finished a very beautiful painting and was eager to do another. His eyes lit up when I explained how I thought the people in Canada would love to see his picture he painted of Mt. Yashur, the Volcano. Volcanos are not something we live with and seeing daily in Canada. He was excited when I told him how I would reproduce his painting with his picture on the back and write a little bit about him. He shyly smiled as l explained the money from the copies I sold would go back to him for school.  He is very smart and spoke english well. Jung said he wanted to be a Pilot, that was still his dream, he told me with a smile. But currently he is not going to school. Year ten had been his last year. When I asked why he quit he simply said “school fees.” His two other brothers who had been in school as well had dropped out at the same time. Only his youngest brother was in school, he was in grade one. His Dad was a teacher. Education was so important to Jung. When I asked where his name came from he said he was named after a Australian teacher that had came to Vanuatu and taught his Dad. All three of these brothers have dreams of what they want to be, dreams that were in their reach. His oldest brother Tom had been in school in Australia on his way to be a doctor, Jungwrith and his other brother had been at the secondary school here doing really well, but then the vatu ran out. Jungwrith and his brothers can not go down into town and get one of the few part time jobs to pay for the school fees; there is no part time jobs to get without at least a high school education, year 13. He was eager to do something about his situation but didn’t know what. My heart felt so tender as I watched Jungwrith excitedly start another painting. When it was getting late and I asked if we could drive him home and he said he wanted to stay until he finished, he must of been painting for at least 3 hours. I promised he could come back tomorrow, he reluctantly came, only after making sure he cleaned up and said thank you, multiple times. This project has given him hope. Through his paintings he is hopeful soon he can go back to school!

school fees and sad stories

This problem is so big it breaks my heart! It is so hard, talking to parent after parent, child after child, my dear close friends and people I meet in passing and hearing the same thing. Ask anyone, the biggest worry for the future is vatu (money) for their children's school fees.  A father of a family I know has no other way to get school fees but to leave his family and go away to New Zealand and pick fruit. He is payed $80NZ for seventy hours a week. His pikininis are still in primary school and they are having and hard time paying. This year his oldest son had to repeat grade six, not because he was not smart and did not pass his exams, on the contrary he is so bright and smart, I know, I taught him. He repeated because they didn’t have enough money to pay for year seven so they paid for him to go to year six again. The difference in price between year 6 and 7 is only $30 a term.  Another women I know cooks food all day long over her fire to sell at her little road stand at night. She sells it all for 20 cents piece, that is barely high enough to pay for the ingredients, but if she raises the price people will not be able to afford it so her food wont sell. She says it is hard because some times she makes “fulup(lots)” food and no one comes. She said, if she doesn’t make enough she just prays and hopes and tries again. One family had to take out a loan against his small cinderblock home to put their two daughters through high-school, not even college but high-school. He is fortunate to have the option of taking out a loan because he is a police officer, has a home and one of the few paying jobs on Tanna. He still can not afford it. Everyone I talk to has a story, these are just a few examples. To these people education is so important yet most times an unreachable goal.  

The beautiful simple island life, where you work in the garden to get enough food to survive for the next day is changing. Life is changing with Tannas exploding population, clean water sources are running out. It is becoming harder to live off the grid in a world where everywhere around them is changing. They know the only way to solve this problem is through education. Yet their education program that the government has made is so expensive making it unreachable to most.  Earning vatu is not a part of daily life here, for the most part it is not needed until it comes to school fees. You can’t just go down to the grocery store and get a job (there is no grocery store), the people have to work so hard to find ways to make vatu and even then so many times at the end of the day they don’t have enough.  After working so hard and not making it one year they pray and hope for next year and then work some more. 

         The kids need to be educated so they can rise up, be the leaders and make changes. The problem may seem so big but we can make a difference, one dollar, one child at a time. 

The children in Isini village are excited and hopeful that their art work will help change their future by brightening others lives with their colorful depictions of the beautiful surroundings that they live in. The small vatu that I have brought down and will be leaving with them is giving them hope. Even a little bit makes a difference, any donors during this time will receive a beautiful card set made by the pikininis of Isini Village on Tanna Island. The art work will be available for purchase June 1, 2012. 

The children's hearts are touched that you care and they have asked me to say thank you to all their friends in Canada and United States.

The First WorkShop

The first Workshop went so great! We had 18 kids come. I explained that I would be taking the art they created back home to reprduce it to card, post card, print ect. to help with their school fees. They were all excited but alot of them said they had never painted before. They were shy at first but it didn't take to long for them to relax. There were so creative and where mixing colors and passing pictures back and forth helping eachother paint! I was so amazed at the talent of these kids they were natural artisit. All their painting were bright vibrant colors just like there world here on Tanna! I was so happy about how well it went and how much the kids like it!

Meeting with the Minister of Education

I have met with an officer in the Ministry of Education and talked with many other people about the biggest problems facing the children here. What is really going on here with the education is a lot differnet from what the differnet goverment reports are saying. Despite reports they are NOT helping with the vatu (money) for the education. The fees are very high and most are never able to even get to elementary school. The people here are not dumb. They know that there is a world out there and if their children are to have any chance at any life other than gardening they must get an education. It is such a quaint way of life here, but many of the parents want their kids to get an education. They understand how many of the customs are very dangerous and detrimental to the health and well being. The Population on Tanna is exploding, and there is only so much natural supplies like water. Although it would be beautiful if the people could garden forever and live how they do the people can see they live in a change world and need education to survive. You can see this well even walking through a tiny village, that seems to be virtually untouched by the outside world, though it seems magical it also has another side to it.

They Minister of Education told us that there is so many problems going on in the goverment that the only way to really make a differnce is to start small just working with one village. So right now we are working with Isini Village. Let me tell you a little bit about Isini village. It is one of the prettiest villages I have been to. You walk it to the village and there is neet little gardens on both side. They have gorgoues veggtable gardends lined with little sapplings and arbors coverd in passion fruit vines. The little kids run around in packs laughind and teasing eachother. They sing so beauifully and love to share food with us. Every one is the village is realted it is like one big extanded family.