AVE - Audiovisuales educativas para jóvenes trabajadores

Another organisation doing an amazing job here in Cochabama is AVE Audiovisuales educativas para jóvenes trabajadores (Audiovisuals for working children and adolescents).  Thanks to a friend here in Cochabamba, Raymundo, I was able to meet some of their staff a couple of Fridays ago and see some of the documentaries and short films they have made with their kids.

This Monday I went into their office to run what I thought would be a one-off staff workshop in preparation for work with some of the kids.  What has materialised instead is a more lasting-impact plan to work with the educators so that they all have stop-motion knowledge that they can then take into their work with the kids over the long-term.  So for now we are going to meet regularly on Mondays to do a stop-motion workshop within which we'll aim to create a film from the educators about what AVE is and aims for, that they can show to children who are new to the organisation or considering working with them.

Thank you to Raymundo for introducing me, and to director Cristobal and educator Liseth for being open to the workshop and to the whole staff team for hosting me and being excited about the work - these are the puppets they created from recyclable materials this week.

:-)

Todos Santos

Another important part of this weekend just gone was Todos Santos (All Saints day), which here in Bolivia is the 1st November and is followed by El Día de los Dinfuntos (Day of the Dead) on the 2nd which is a really important holiday day for Bolivians to honour deceased family members.

On the 1st families apparently make tables for their deceased loved ones, laden with tasty food and drink they enjoyed in life, including 'tantawawas' that are sweet breads in the form of a person.  On the previous Thursday Gary, Kory and I had been impressed by the busy crowds in the cancha market, buying their sweet supplies.  Here's a great music video to give you a flavour of the day, made by AVE  with children and teenagers who work in the cemetery (AVE or Audiovisuales Educativos are a group who work with children and teenagers who work here in Cochabamaba, and with whom I have just started collaborating this week thanks to Raymundo introducing us):

On the 2nd families take these offerings to the cemetery and spend the day there, picnicking and singing. Camilla, Gary, Florrie and I went to the cemetery too (this is not considered voyeuristic it seems, cause we were encouraged to go by one of the Bolivia Spanish teachers here at SB).  Like in Mexico, these Day of the Dead festivals are happy celebrations of the dead, and it was really moving to hear young lads playing guitars and singing songs at the tombs of dead relatives.

One of the loveliest things about a day like this, for us too, even as foreigners on this soil, is that it brings up conversations and warm memories about loved ones we've lost.  Thinking especially about all of our family's losses over these last years it makes a welcome space to talk and it definitely made me think I'd like to get Noel to bring his guitar along the next time we visit our folk in the cemetery! (what do you reckon Noely?!)

Big love to all of you back home

:-)

[and Dad would be chuffed about how we celebrated the end of this day -  we headed out for Millie's despedida to the the Urban Fest after party and danced until the sunrise for the third night in a row! There was fire spinning, our amazing DJ mates from [metamorphosis] - Reflector Tropical and San Pedro Musik with Gontech, body suspension, VJ projections, all in a huge warehouse with the feel of a cleaner version of a London squat party!

Happy journeying Millie! :-)

1st Friday K'oa at La Troje

Every first Friday of the month in Bolivia you will find K'oa ceremonies being performed.  The ceremony is about offering thanks to Pachamama (Mother Earth) for what you've received in the previous month and asking for her help in specific areas for the month to come.   

Of the few that I have experienced the ceremonies vary from very simple and calm to pretty elaborate and festive.  This first Friday, 1st November, Gary led a simple ceremony with a few of us here at the SB main house to give thanks and facilitate some personal processing, using a small metal stand and some coals.  Later on the same evening I went with volunteers Florrie and Nicole to the cultural centre La Troje where there were crowds of folk and a large bonfire.  

In both cases the important factors are that the flames of the coals or the bonfire are allowed to burn down to red hot, and then that the K'oa is prepared: this is an arrangement of plant material and small plastic squares that symbolise the different things you are wishing or hoping for with the offering, such as love or health (see the photo at the start of this post - this image of a condor is made from these small square offerings).   This K'oa arrangement is placed on the glowing embers of the fire and allowed to burn slowly over time (apparently in very traditional contexts the leading Shaman will look at the remnant ts the following day to see what has burned and what not and make divinations from this).  

Each participant also selects 2 to 4 coca leaves, the best possible, with no cracks or damage, gives thanks and thinks of their hopes and wishes before placing them into the K'oa.   It seems that this can be done before or after its been placed on the fire depending on who's leading the ceremony.  Another important factor are the four corners of the K'oa, representing the four directions, or four elements.  From what I've experienced it seems these can be marked by pouring a liquid offering like chicha or a plant offering like flour, which is sprinkled at each corned in turn, starting from the . (such as the home-brew chichi we were drinking from urns with a communal scoop  - the custom is that once you've been offered your scoop, pour a little onto the ground for Pachamama, 'salud' the person you're inviting to drink after you, drink the whole scoop, re-fill it and pass it along to the next person, the one you cheers-ed).

A great part of the night was reconnecting again with two of the Craneos Rojos lads - Mauricio and Ismael, who were exhibiting their brilliant oil paintings there and were great company for the night along with owner Jaimie and his painter friend Jon.

Florrie and I headed with them again on the Saturday to an art collector's huge country house near Tiquipaya to see this sculpture garden and (slightly surprisingly) to watch a projection of an opera.

Thanks for a fun weekend lads! 

:-)

Infante week 2: Drawn designs

Week 2 at Infante: Drawing personal designs in preparation for a group canvas painting exercise to reflect community, where the design on each canvas will pass onto both its neighbours.  Each girl drew her design thinking about her likes and dislikes, what her favourite colours and forms are and what they represent for her, and if there were any words or phrases that she would like to include.  

Here are three of the girl's designs:

Daniela

 Gimena

Roberta (and the feet of her wee baby Jhonny!)

:-)

CAICC Week 2: Storyboarding

Week 2 with the Tuesday afternoon group at CAICC:  Storyboarding the kids stories about their experiences with the organisation, working towards creating an animation short film about CAICC.

STEP 1: using colourful post-it notes to decorate the 4 sides of a cardboard house with the kids personal answers to 4 questions:

1. Who am I and how did I get to know CAICC? Kids shared their name, age and a little of how they came to know of CAICC.  Answers to this ranged from being told by a friend, a parent hearing of it, or 'accidentally' coming across it one morning on the way to school!

2. When and how do I get to CAICC? Kids come either in the morning before afternoon school or in the afternoon after school.  The majority come by the colourful CAICC bus, but other answers included cycling, running, walking... one little lad René included the detail that he passes a spider every day that he's not scared of but that makes him nervous!

3. What do I like to do at CAICC and what do I not like?  The kids like playing with their friends, sports, football, volleyball, laughing, drawing, and many like the homework sessions (this somehow surprised me!).  One older teenager's answer was that he likes helping out the littler kids.  'I don't like' answers included being quiet, eating, playing with the boys (one little girl's answer)... one sweet answer was "I don't like.... nah,I like everything!"

4. What do I hope for the future?  Answers to this included: to be a lawyer, a footballer, a P.E. teacher, scientist, vet, engineer

STEP 2: Taking the information that they have shared on the 4 sides of the house each child drew a personal 4-panel storyboard, illustrating the same information - who are they, how do they get to CAICC, what they enjoy there or not, and what they hope for the future:

 René Eduardo got to know of CAICC 2 years ago, he comes to bike by bike and every time passes a spider that makes him feel nervous.  He likes to kill spiders and to do his homework, but doesn't like to be quiet.  His dream for the future is to have a dog called Firelais.

Alexander comes to CAICC in their bus, he like playing football with friends and when he grows up he wants to be a lawyer.

Gabriela Pholet Red got to know about CAICC through her Mum, she only comes on Tuesdays and Fridays.  She likes to hit the boys and doesn't like not winning.  She wants to be a P.E. teacher.

 Alejandra got to know CAICC when she was a little girl, she comes to CAICC with Victoria and like to play, study, laugh and have fun, she likes the food but doesn't like to eat!  She is hoping for her boyfriend and companion.

Leonardo is a boy who got to know CAICC the 2nd August, he comes to learn and likes to play.

The most touching thing about this exercise was the number of kids that really early in the process were writing about how much they love CAICC, how great it is: 

CAICC es hermosa, linda, me gusta mucho el CAICC!

Here is a documentary style short film about CAICC that will give you more of an understanding of the kids and the organisation and if it moves you to want to support the organisation's work you can donate online here:

TAFA and Warmayllu

Two brilliant videos from Taller Ambulante de Formación Audiovisual in partnership with Warmayllu:

KOSHOSKA from Warmayllu on Vimeo.

A video made by Amazonian university students about the imact of deforestation in the Amazon - keep an eye out for the Ayahuasca patterns of texture.

Memoria Shipiba - a documentary about and including a stop motion animation made by Amazonian children living in Lima.  A project whose purpose was to facilitate the kids telling their stories about their Amazonian culture and in doing so, preserving their memories of it whilst they live so far from it, in the city of Lima, Peru.

Thanks to Helder Solari Pita for sharing these (he's the educator explaining this project in the video (and a mate of the friend Raymundo who connected me to Ave)!

:-)

[metamorphosis] 31.10.2013

Thanks to everyone that came along, danced your hearts out and made [metamorphosis] 31.10.13 such a damn BRILLIANT unforgettable night!! :-)

Art installation from Camilla Brendon, UV face painting with MeXist, live-drawing with Olivia Barron and a mysterious friend-of-the-moment, and amazing music from Reflector Tropical, Gontech and San Pedro Musik that had folk dancing til the wee hours of the morning again! :-)

'los recuerdos' that remained after the event... 
(left) on the actual night between Olivia, Jhosseline and me, and (right) on the practice run through between Olivia and me.

Thanks to brilliant graffiti and body paint artist MeXist for sharing his ace UV face-paints with me so we could both paint folk!

Lovely SB flatmate Gary posing with the MORE+YO magazine that came by to cover the event!

Keep an eye out here for an update with the video from Jonathan McCarthy.
:-)