09 | 2024 Nakivale YTC Artist News
Rain Brought Near Destruction, RainMakers Brought Solutions, We Nearly Lost Our Dear Leader to Typhoid, & Celebrated 16 Young Artists at the "World Through My Eyes" International Young Artist Expo
Welcome to the September installment of Nakivale Young Talent Community (NYTC) Artist News. This post is part of a “month-in-the-life” series about a refugee artist collective called “Nakivale Young Talent Community” in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. This and related content is located on the Refugee Artist Support Circle section of The Creative Convergence.
To catch up, read the June 2024, July 2024, and August 2024 posts!
Subscribe specifically to this section for free (click here to go to your settings for subscribing to The Creative Convergence to toggle on or off subscribing to the the Support Circle). As a subscriber you receive monthly digests full of stories, art, videos and pictures featuring the struggles and successes of 15 talented emerging young refugee artists living in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda. Upgrade to paid and you can become part of the Refugee Support Circle; 100% of your $8 monthly subscription goes directly to NYTC to support their material costs. Plus you receive artful perks! Learn more more about that here.
September is for Moving In!
After the excitement of the August Grand Opening, it was time to move in and prepare for new students.
In Nakivale Refugee Settlement it is true that if you build it they will come. Parents of young children wanting to keep them busy, off the streets, and also in a safe and supportive environment appealed to NYTC to take their children into their art program. The space can only accommodate two sessions per day, one session in the morning for young children ages 5 to 14 and another in the afternoon for ages 15-22. In total, NYTC is now able to serve 80 children. This is in addition to the 15 teacher facilitators.
Naturally, supplies were needed. Specifically sketchbooks! And so the artists were hard at work creating sketchbooks for the new students so they could start learning and practicing their new-found drawing skills.
Furniture, specifically the chairs and tables that the group has accumulated over the years needed to be repaired.
Artist faciliators gathered to prepare for the new students. Here Program Director Krehim Sharon leads the teachers in lesson planning for the coming week.
The next online youth art expo!
The artists had already made their way through the paint that was purchased after the June 1st art expo. They had produced over 30 art pieces! The new Art Education Center’s walls were adorned with those art pieces. But, now there was no paint left to continue creating new work. We returned to the idea of an art expo to raise funds for more supplies. It would soon turn into not only an art expo but an art auction!
With the Expo scheduled for September 28th, we had just a little over one month to prepare. And, it was going to be no easy feat. This time, it would truly be international! We invited three young artists from Kibera Slums Kenya, affiliated with Future Within CBO, and three young artists from Refuge Art School in Lowell, MA.
Antoinette
of Stand Up For Justice and International stepped up to be our primary event sponsors. With her support, we were able to set up an art auction on the GiveButter platform. While the auction is now over, you can see what sold and how much we ultimately raised by visiting the site!
The artists spent the weeks leading up to the event preparing their statements and readying the space for the Expo. There was also time for fun, games, and other exercises to loosen them up and ready them for the big event!
Meanwhile I spent several hours nearly daily producing Tik Tok and other social media shorts highlighting each of the 16 artists who would present on September 28th!
This one by far is my favorite. For all of my artist highlight shorts, visit my YouTube Shorts link!
Stay tuned for a post about our highly successful art expo and auction!
Rainy Season Brings a Flooded Center
September ushers in rainy season. We had not installed a rainwater tank yet due to lack of funds. And, there wasn’t any protection around the entrance to prevent water from flooding the Center. September ushered in rainy season, and threatened to destroy the Center. We had to act.
The only thing we could do was build a retaining wall and then wait for more funds for a rainwater tank and gutter system.
Finally funds were available to purchase a tank and install.
Dear Leader Down
Shortly after the rainwater tank was installed and about a week and half prior to the art expo, we got terrible news. Akon had collapsed at home, was taken to the hospital, and was unresponsivle. While I knew he had suffered from malaria earlier in August and was taking medication and “drips”, it was unclear what had caused his collapse.
And, then we learned that he was also suffering from Typhoid. It had gone undiagnosed and he was in trouble. Rushed to the hospital, his family worried that he would be left to die without treatment. Healthcare is a “pay-to-play” situation in the Settlement. No money? No service. No care? No life.
This was an emergency like no other. I contacted our good friend Elijah at GoGreen Social Initiative to hurry to the hospital and deliver emergency funds to the family. Akon was unconscious, dehydrated and fading fast. As soon as funds were delivered, the doctors began to treat him.
After a day or two of very intensive treatment which included a blood transfusion, Akon returned to consciousness. He was going to be okay. But, the question remained in my mind: how many thousands of others do not share the same fate due to lack of funds? And, how do we prevent this from happening again? I learned later that the water supply in the Settlement is not clean, not safe for drinking. Also, sanitation was lacking. There were no toilets or no place to wash hands at the Art Education Center. This was an urgent problem that needed fixing.
Art Arrived Thanks to Faces Up Uganda!
It was a herculean effort to get our first shipment of art out of the Settlement. Elijah Astute of GoGreen needed to travel to Kampala (9 hour bus ride), deliver the items to Ssekitto Emmanuel of Faces Up Uganda, who then shipped the two pieces I had purchased as well as the piece that
International had purchased back in June!
It arrived 10 days later! Here is my goofy unpacking video! My first ever!
More September Activities
It’s incredible to even imagine that we did all of the above and more in one month. But, we did.
Art education programming continued.
They had their regular Friday on-site art expo complete with singing and art presentations.
And, so much more!
This month was just as active as any other month. There's just not enough space to post it all! If you’d like regular updates on the artists, follow the NYTC Facebook page. Or, upgrade your subscription and you will get weekly updates!
Thank you for reading the September monthly installment of NYTC Art News!
If you prefer to support with a one-time donation, add your tip to the Nakivale Tip Jar here! Managed by me, Emily, of The Creative Convergence. Every penny helps. Funds pooled for the NYTC collective and arts program purchase paints, brushes, paper, canvasses, and fund a food program for the children that attend free art education Monday through Saturday year-round.
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