Siempre Para los Ninos 2014

MEXICO IN SUMMARY

by Sarah Albinson

I am ecstatic. If I could high five and do a celebratory dance with all of you I would. I want to celebrate the beauty that is pouring from Inverted Arts partnership and Siempre Para los Ninos, with everyone I know.

On a basic level, after this week, we now have not only furthered a deepening friendship, but we have also begun an online class through facebook, for the eldest kids showing great potential. This class will be designed to help them further their technical skills and also generate a professional grade portfolio for applications to art schools in Tijuana.

At the end of the week, we also generated a basic store set up, with items for sale as teams come in. Hopefully this will generate a savings account for the youth who participate so that as they grow older they have funds set aside for themselves. This will also hopefully soon grow to an online store which can allow them to sell works around the world.

All of these steps are so exciting and have potential to grow and become even more empowering to participating students- however even beyond that, there is something deeper that happened during my time there.

In my final meeting with my partners and the directors, we discovered that there is a growing awareness and ownership of the gifts and talents that these kids have.

We affirmed that this program is empowering and of value to everyone involved, including myself, and that we want to further and continue it.

These youth and those around them- they didn’t know that they were talented, or that they had anything to offer the world. (!?!?!?!?!?!?!???!!!!)

When you live in an orphanage, people are quick to assume and to believe that you need and need and need, and there IS need, but there is also a frequently unspoken and I am guessing subconscious assumption, that there is nothing they have to offer.

It is evident that the kids buy into that belief about themselves as well. They have a tendancy to believe that they have nothing of value to offer others. 

When they create works, when they see something that they can achieve, and that it is good beautiful, and have the opportunity to witness it being publicly celebrated, a little bit of this lie about what they can offer is chipped away.

You can see it in their eyes.

The act of creating, it has generated a new kind of energy, and it is giving life.

Their work is incredible and they will bend over backwards to learn and create more.

I am SO proud of my students. They are amazing individuals.

I am so impressed with and grateful for Aracelis and Alejandro, and my partners Monte and Lisa, as well as my other assistants and translators, Ramon and Angelica.

There is life in Siempre, and it is growing, and will continue to grow and generate beauty. I cannot believe I have had the opportunity to be a part of that journey and cannot wait to see where it continues to lead.