Paint your face the color of hope!

We are halfway through summer already!  Due to the fact that I was down for 6 weeks after having some minor surgery, this is coming a little late.  I am pleased to announce, however, that we have started up the mural project in El Callejon again and are having great results!  Our first art team of the summer was lead by Nate Slabach, our staff pastor here at SI in the DR.  Because I needed to stay at home and let my foot heal, he jumped right in and supported our artists who came from the east coast.  One of the crew, Benjamin, decided to take on the challenge of addressing the prevalent issue of 'missing fathers'-- a reality many of the children of El Callejon deal with.  Below you will see his depiction of a family with the space where a father should be whited out.  To the right in the background is an image of Jesus, pointing towards the family, directing the father back to where he needs to be.  Below that you see the father bringing food to the kids.

11 yr. old Mikael, who has been silently watching us paint for the last year, finally approached Benjamin while he was painting and asked him what the painting meant.  Mikael's father left when he was very little and has not maintained contact with him.  Nate shares the story of how Mikael responded to this mural and to us on his blog.   You can go here  to read the story. Anyway, ever since then, Mikael hangs out with us every day and gets as many hugs as he can.

Check out the rest of these beauties!!

Springity-Ding-Ding!

Just a quick update to let you know what's been goin' on with us here at the art site.  We had 4 successful outreaches this Spring, each coming from different parts of the country: Jupiter Christian School in Florida, James Madison University in Virginia, Wintonbury Church in Connecticut, Front Porch Ministry from SLO California and a high school youth group from Chowchilla, California. Whew!  In all, we painted murals at the new Los Higos preschool and did an art activity with the students there, we painted signs for the same preschool and for our new social work site in Los Higos, spent 3 days at our special ed school, Genesis, doing activities centered around the rainbow of God's promise, painted tables and  benches for the Mata Gorda preschool, kick-started the next phase of mural paintings in El Callejon, did art in the park, art by the river, and art at the art school.  Needless to say I was covered in paint for over a month!! I had a fantastic time getting to know each individual and know that each site we contributed art to is very thankful!

Back in the Swing

Thanks for checking back in! I realize it's been months since I've updated this site-- most of that due to the fact that I, personally, had a very long winter break spent back in the States and have been ill off and on every since I got back!

I am glad to report that things are still going really well with us at the Escuela d'Arte. We have a few new students this year, which is always fun, as well as many returning students. One student in particular I want to share about.
Gary started coming to our school about a year and a half ago. He is an 18 yr. old from Haiti who came over to the DR to study Masters in Construction. I have asked him several times what this exactly means, but I am still unclear. He is learning construction and all the elements involved, but not actually DOING construction. I don't know. Anyhow, he is living with an ex-patriot English woman who is sponsoring him. She has sent many students to our school over the years and is one of our most avid local supporters.
When Gary first started coming, he could barely draw a straight line. For months Francisco and I literally thought he had vision problems because he just couldn't draw for the life of him. Yet, he persisted. Just yesterday he finished his first every Acrylic painting and I almost cried. I have learned much from this young man, who, through every kind of adversity thrown at him (growing up in the poorest nation in the world, being the only Christian in his entire VooDoo family, immigrating to a nation that is extremely racist against Haitians...) persists and endures. He speaks four languages. He openly worships Christ through constant singing. And he is becoming a great artist.
Often times when I think about giving up, I think of Gary. He is always the first student to show up in the afternoons and the last one to leave-- and always reluctantly. He comes every single day, often asking for suggestions on how he could do better and always thanking us with a sincere heart for teaching him. This is the kind of heart I wish to have before God and others: humble, thankful, perseverant and joyful.
I wish I had photos of some of Gary's first drawings (hmmm, I should ask him to bring some!) to post today, but here are a couple of him (one of him learning from Francisco and the other of him standing with the beginnings of his first painting):

November Outreach

Is it really November? I can't believe how quickly this fall has flown by! After a couple of months of reintegrating myself back in the art school and getting to know our new students, suddenly I had another group of Americans visiting to work with me! Flying in from Connecticut were Big Dave, Dave Jr. (not related) and Rebekah. We had a blast.
During the last couple of months, I have been going into El Callejon once a week to teach art classes both at the Social Work site and at the preschool. Because I had two guys with me and the Social Work site is for 'girls only', I decided to take these 3 along with me to the preschool. We also decided to try the same activity the following day at our Special Ed site, Genesis. The lesson was: God is our Rock. The activity involved each child taking a rock (which we Americans had gathered from down by the river) and painting two solid colors on it and then painting a cross over that. It just turned into painting chaos, but they all had fun and many of the kids thought the idea of God being a rock pretty darn hilarious.


The rest of the week found us in barrio La Colonia, one of the oldest neighborhoods here in Jarabacoa. My friend Elizabeth (who worked at the art site before me) and I have been prayer walking this area for a couple of months as she co-leads a cell group there. The owner of the house where the group meets, still a fairly new believer, found out what I did and asked if I'd be willing to bring a team to paint a mural on the outside front wall that borders his house. I said, "Of course! What would you like us to paint?" After prayer, he decided he wanted us to paint a landscape scene with some animals and a huge message that said "La Colonia, Cristo Te Ama" (Christ Loves You). We spent one whole morning hand scrubbing that wall (which was quite a feat since the town power went off right as we began, causing a water shortage, but Ray, the owner of the house, sent buckets down into his cistern to pull up water for us to use). The rest of the day and the next morning were spent painting away. Dave, Dave and Bekah all learned some artsy techniques, got to interact with a bunch of local kids who came out to watch us and also helped me clean up and scrub the back of my jeep where a gallon of white paint had spilled over. Yikes!


We spent several of our mornings with Francisco who, like always, blew our minds with the deep theological discussion and who, like always, ignited passion. What an incredible blessing our time was!
Thanks to my awesome team for coming and bringing refreshment and joy!

First Festival

On October 18th, hundreds of people came out to see Jarabacoa's first festival of "Art and the Environment", put on by the Touristic Cluster. Even the U.S. ambassador to the DR came and bought three paintings. This year's theme was 'Native Birds of the Dominican Republic' and more than 30 local artists had works entered, including Francisco, our art student Luis Miguel Perez and me, Amy Babb. Below are some photos from that night.

Priscila and Rembrandt Natanael, dressed to the nines checking out the art


Me in front of my common barn owl


Me with our prodigy art student, Oliver


One of Fran's paintings

Part of our challenge at the art site, working with the ultimate goal of community development, is finding venues for our accomplished students to sell their work so that they can see the viability of their God-given talent. There are not many opportunities in Jarabacoa and so having something like this art show that our students can enter and show their work is an answer to prayer. Pray with us for more opportunities like it!

These Days

Wow, about two months have gone by. Time to update!
Fall is a slower season for us here at the art site. It gives Francisco and I a time to paint, read the Word and spend more time with the students who are coming to our school. Especially for me, I enjoy having this time to reconnect with our students after the busy summer months I spent working out in El Callejon. Lately, Francisco, I and one of our art students, Luis Miguel, have been working on paintings that will be in a local exhibition here next week. The theme is 'Native Birds of the Dominican Republic'. Fran and I have both been in shows before, but for 16 year old Luis Miguel, this is quite the opportunity. He is the youngest artist to be featured and his work will show alongside several famous Dominican artists. To have this kind of exposure this young is something beyond what Francisco and I could have ever imagined for this young man, who just two years ago was living with his single mom and 4 siblings in a one-room, dirt floor, partially rooved house.
Luis Miguel started coming to our site after his mom was introduced to Francisco one day. She told Fran about this son of hers who seemed to like to draw, so Fran invited him to come and start taking classes. Luis Miguel would come every morning and work all day. It wasn't long before Fran noticed this young man would go without eating lunch and when he finally asked him if he ate breakfast, he shyly admitted that, no, they didn't have food. Fran immediately got involved with the family, helping them to find a better place to live and ministering the gospel to them. Luis Miguel and his mom both accepted Christ just over a year ago and the transformation has been incredible to witness. In the Spring, Students International offered him the opportunity to paint a bunch of small-sized landscapes that would be offered for sale at the new base. He painted around 40 paintings in a month and with what he earned was able to help out his mom with rent and food for the family. Luis Miguel is an incredibly talented young man who we are honored to have as a fellow 'colleague'. He is not longer our student, but comes every morning to sit and paint away the hours. Needless to say, he has been busy painting birds, birds and more birds!
Francisco's family is doing really well. Ysmayar, the oldest daughter, just turned 9 on Friday. She is in 3rd grade at Doulos Discovery Christian School. It is a bilingual school and she is one of the top of her class in English! I enjoyed listening to her speak English with many of our visiting teams this summer.
Priscila, now 7, just started at Doulos as well and is also doing very well. I have missed spending all the time with her that I used to have, but now when I do see her, she enjoys 'teaching' me things. It is evident that her time in school is paying off.
Natan, 4, has also started school! He is going to the Students International preschool in El Callejon. He seems to like it. He's been drawing up a storm, the theme always being a bridge with water and lots of people. Very interesting. He is a pretty normal 4 year old, still asking me for candy and trying to tickle me when I'm not paying attention.
Fran's wife, Yeimi, let go of the store she had in town for so long and is now spending her time taking care of the kids and their home. She is going to begin taking classes in the University to get her teaching degree.
And, Francisco, like I said, has been painting as well as doing deep Bible Study and extensive writing as he is preparing to write a small book. It has been fun having theological discussions with him as he searches the Scripture and wants to discuss what he's discovering. I have learned a lot from it myself and am continually blessed by his passion for God, the Word and for life.
I, too, have some other projects going on, but I will leave that until next time...
Blessings!

Los Ultimos

Sadly, the summer has ended. No more mystery meat sandwiches, no more adventurous rides in my jeep, no more drawing at the river's edge, swinging kids around in El Callejon or listening to Francisco's wonderfully probing questions. Wait a minute... I still get to do those things... just not with awesome and zany teams from the States!

The second to the last outreach brought Brelle de Groot and Matias Mora from Tulare, CA, with Gerred Wilkie from upstate New York. A smaller team, but with larger than life personalities! This group took quickly to teasing each other like siblings, as well as engaging the community of El Callejon at a deeper level. One of the students, a fluent Spanish speaker, really spent time getting to know the ladies that gathered out in front of our portion of wall. In fact, the area where we were painting the community calls "El Parque de Francia", which means Francia's Park (since the gathering place is right in front of Francia's house)and everyone gathers there because a huge shade tree grows behind the wall, providing some respite during the hot midday sun. Women will meet there mid-morning to style one another's hair, gossip about the neighbors and sort of keep an eye on all the naked and half-naked kids running around. After 5 outreaches, the town was more than comfortable making friends with this new group. Some of the kids even tried teaching us a sort of Spanish pig latin they'd come up with using the word 'chi' in front of every syllable of every word: Chi-bue, chi-nos, chi-di, chi-as (Buenos Dias: Good Morning) They speak it so fast, I don't know how they understand one another. Even some of the moms have picked it up and when they wanted to say something so we wouldn't understand, we'd here this round of what sounded like clucking hens and then laughter. It was delightful.



My very last group (*sniff*) were deigned the 'Calibraskans' (3 from California- Amy Wright, Hannah Larson, Maria Fandl; 1 from Nebraska- Alexandra Heller) and, as I said about them at the banquet, they were girls I would have hand-picked to be my very best friends in high school. Artsy, dramatic, gentle, hilarious, loyal and caring, these four ladies learned the true meaning of 'Today is my BEST day'. During the last few outreaches, Francisco really focused on this statement, a phrase he says to himself when he wakes up every morning. For some reason, with this group, he reminded them of it everyday. And truly, after two weeks of art labor, on their very last day, the very last day we would be painting murals in El Callejon, it was the BEST DAY. All the children we had been playing with, talking with, hugging and chasing around, crawled out of the woodwork, canvased the entire community and brought us flowers from every bush that could be found. We were covered in flowers!! It felt like it was coronation day with God saying, 'Well done, good and faithful servants!' I will never forget it, and I'm sure they won't either.



31 murals in all. Wow. Ready to do it again next summer?? To all the teams who came down and loved the community of El Callejon, THANK YOU. I hope many of you come back next year. Yeimi, Franklin, Tule, Yoemi, Noelia, Yenny, Yensy, Yuliani, Gabriel,Loreini, Estefani, Oscarina, Paula, Luz Maria and all the others will be waiting!

Thanks, also, to my wonderful friend and part-time intern, Brianne Hofsommer, who helped make my summer a royal affair.

Stay tuned for upcoming reports on: So, what goes on at the art site when summer teams are NOT there??

Blessings!