wire sculptures from project papillon

It was my first time teaching art abroad, but I will say that it was really amazing to see the children's response to the projects I did with them.

With the support of my coworkers and students from my middle school, we were able to raise some money to help L.O.V. E with our work with children from developing countries. We raised enough money for me to buy some art supplies to bring over to Haiti.

The first project I taught the children was wire sculpture. The theme was for them to create a sculpture to show what they do in their free time. We got all sorts of fun sculptures from them that day, but the real fun was seeing what they do with the sculptures afterward. The children realized what they can do with the wires and started dismantling their original sculpture to create something that was uniquely their own. Here are the results:

missing patasca and the other children

It has been three weeks since I have been back home from my trip to Haiti. It felt longer than that because I am now back in the comfort of my own place and have started teaching again last week.

I am missing one of my favorite orphans from Project Papillon. I miss hearing Patasca's little voice as he replies back to my question with a, "je suis bien Samantha." Patasca is one of the seven orphans living in house #4. Every children in that house are HIV positive. John, the director of Project Papillon said the children from other houses have been told that the children living in house #4 are sick, so therefore they were all told to be very careful with each other when they play and have cuts that would bleed.

Here are some of my favorite photos of Patasca and I taken by my other favorite student, Ritchy.

starting over with a new blog...

I am not happy with squarespace so I am switching over to this format for my blogs. I apologize to everyone who has been following my trips for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Once I figure this new format out, I will transfer all of my journal entries from somphonh.squarespace.com to this. I will keep you up to date with my progress.