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Kibera & Mathare
Kibera, originally 'Kibra', meaning forest or jungle, is home to between one and one and a half million people of different ethnic groups, depending on estimates. Most of them are children. This huge district in the south of Nairobi, Kenya's capital, consists of board shacks, mud and corrugated iron huts. It is considered the largest slum in East Africa. It is not unusual for six to eight people to live together in just a few square meters. Most people sleep on the bare floor. Cooking is done on a stove, washing is done in plastic buckets in front of the door. There are few public toilets, nothing but holes in the floor. There is no garbage disposal, no water treatment, no health insurance. Only every second child in Kibera goes to school. The only hope to escape the misery is education. Lucky are those who can find the school fees for their children.
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Mathare does not refer to a non-formal settlement, but rather to a series of shanty towns in which, it is estimated, half a million people live. The core slum is located in the Mathare Valley, a valley about 300 meters wide and two kilometers long. Around 180,000 people live in this area. During the rainy season, Mathare is submerged in dirt and mud. Often, the floods sweep away the meager dwellings, taking with them residents and especially children. The most common causes of death are AIDS and murder. There is a high crime rate. The Valley is dominated by gangs. By collecting and selling garbage, many of the children also contribute to the livelihood here.
THE ONE FINE DAY CREATIVE CLASSES
With the start of the first art class with 50 children in 2009 in a youth center in Kibera, the foundation for ONE FINE DAY was set. Since then, an artistic Kenyan team of trainers have regularly taught over a thousand children and young people painting, drawing, handicrafts, music, singing, dance, ballet, acrobatics, creative writing and acting.
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Over the years, we have developed an alternative educational arts program where children and young adults can continuously explore their artistic abilities and learn to use the variety of the arts as a medium to better understand themselves and the world they live in. Combined creative classes regularly perform at public events or for the community.
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So far, the classes have been taken place in partnering schools in Kibera and Mathare. We are looking forward to be able to host the creative classes in our new art centre by the end of this year. To be able to keep the number of children, we will keep the partnerships with some of the schools.
Art
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In this class, the children are taught how to write and read music. They are given a chance to learn to play musical instruments such as the guitar, marimba, keyboard, flutes etc. With the professional guidance of the music teachers and music masterclasses the children learn how to create lyrics and compose songs that they can sing and record.
Ballett
The ballet classes teach the children the basic steps based on the model of the RAD (Royal Academy of Dance). Together with Kenyan ballet teachers, choreographies are rehearsed and performed at regular intervals. There is the beginners class for ballet which has the younger children and also the advanced ballet students who are able to learn points. The ballet teacher also fuses ballet with contemporary dance and they create choregraphies.
In the past the ballet students have had to perform together with international Ballet dancers at the Alliance Francaise for an annual Ballet Gala Event organised yearly .
Cirkus Acrobatics
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In this popular class, the children and teenagers learn all kinds of circus acrobatics, including juggling, building pyramids, flick-flapping, tightrope dancing and unicycling hoop, silks. The artistic tricks are combined with the ballet and dance performances and successfully incorporated into choreographies.
Dance
The African Dance class teaches both traditional and contemporary modern dance choreographies to the children where they are fused. The children are also able to learn about their different cultural dances from their historical backgrounds.
Music
In this class, the children are taught how to write and read music. They are given a chance to learn to play musical instruments such as the guitar, marimba, keyboard, flutes etc .. With the professional guidance of the music teachers and music masterclasses the children learn how to create lyrics and compose songs that they can sing and record.
Drama
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In the drama class, the children learn basic acting techniques and devote themselves to story-writing and story-telling. They are also taught voice projection, movement, improvisation and given tips on how to audition. The pieces are performed at the end of the school year. Some of the talented children and young adults were casted for acting roles in national and international film productions, such as SUPAMODO, STYX, SUNBURNED & SUPASTAZ.
Creative Writing / Storytelling
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In this special class, the children learn how to write poems and short stories on a wide variety of topics and learn the various techniques of writing and how to tell stories from their own perspective.The class has had a strong positive impact on the children’s school performance.
