11 | 2024 Nakivale YTC Artist News
Art Education Center infrastructure improvements bring critical sanitation, clean water, and community Wi-Fi while artists complete Holiday Cards and Illustrated Storybooks
Welcome to the November edition of “Nakivale YTC Artist News”! A “month-in-the-life” series chronicling a young refugee artist collective called “Nakivale Young Talent Community” in the 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, August 2024, September 2024, and October 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.
Holiday Party Fundraiser!
Before we jump into the monthly news, we could definitely use your support to help fund a holiday party for the 80 children and youth served by the NYTC Art Education Center.
Using watercolors I sent back in August, Joz, Josby, Mansur, and Sellemani painted holiday cards just for you!
These blank cards can be purchased individually in quantities of 5, 10 or more. Or you can buy a multi-pack set of 5. These and more prints and merch supporting the refugee artists are all on my Etsy store, RainMaker Design, with 100% of net proceeds going to fund the artist collective.
Latrines, Handwashing, and Community Wi-Fi
This month, we made additional strides in the infrastructure of the NYTC Art Education Center, focusing on sanitation, clean water, and connection. Typhoid is rampant in communities like the Settlement where there is inadequate and insufficient access to clean water.
In September, we nearly lost our dear leader Akon Deograce to Typhoid. Ever since then, we have focused on raising funds to prioritize bathroom facilities, proper sanitation and clean water.
Our first step, was to make sure the water collected in the rainwater tank was safe for drinking. We worked with one of the nurses from the hospital that saved Akon’s life to treat the water in the main rainwater tank to kill all bacteria. This reduces the need to purchase bottled water which also reduces single-use plastic waste in the Settlement.
Latrines were next! As we wrote about in the October newsletter, thanks to a generous donation from Stand Up for Justice, a two-stall latrine structure is finally complete! The latrines also have a handwashing station using a smaller tank that is filled manually from time to time with treated water from the main rainwater tank.
Community Wi-Fi Serves a 50M Radius
Refugees in Nakivale receive a USD$5 allowance monthly from UNHCR. With very few to no sustainable income generating opportunities available, people are barely surviving. Imagine then, if you manage to obtain a phone, how might you afford the exhorbitant data bundles to access the outside world? Many don’t. Some do, but they then have no money left for basic essentials. While safety, security, clothing, food, shelter, education and healthcare are all necessities, many of these come at a high price for refugees. And, they are often faced with difficult choices.
Imagine being faced with needing to pay the hospital to save your child from malaria or typhoid or purchasing basic medicine? Many choose to sell their family cell phone which was acquired often at great expense already. Sell your phone and lose your ability to connect with other community members, family and even receive money transfers.
When the Community Chairman and the NYTC artists discussed the idea of putting a community wi-fi router on the NYTC building, I was interested in hearing more. The Community Chairman’s office is across the road from the Art Education Center. The proposal: the artists and the Chairman could work together to provide free wi-fi with a 50 meter range to the community. With the Chairman offering to pay half of the installation, we raised the funds to pay the other half.
Now, with communiy wi-fi installed, the community can come to the Center to access free wi-fi. There is only one other such free wi-fi location in the community that is a considerable walking distance from Kashojwa B village. This was a win-win!
The only downside is that the wi-fi only works when the electricity is running. Currently, as of this writing, the electricity is out in this part of the Settlement and is not expected to return for another week!
Is solar next? You bet! Why? It’s not only smart and cheaper, but it’s more reliable and it’s renewable!
Loss of electricity is a regular occurrence in the Settlement. Only well-funded organizations and essential services are able to ride the rough wave of blackouts by relying on generators. Even so, fuel is expensive and out of reach of many. And, so many go without electricity. Without electricity, there is no wi-fi and phones run out of charge. People who rely on that technology to stay in touch with each other lose those connections which can produce anxiety, particularly for our artists who rely on connections with each other and the outside world. Stay tuned for developments in December. I think we might be able to get some solar!
Take a 5-Minute Tour of the Center!
Impromptu Visit to UNHCR Headquarters
Artists were invited to visit UNHCR headquarters in Isingiro District. They had met UNHCR staff at World Refugee Day in June, gifting a large artwork on the theme “Solidarity with Refugees” by NYTC Program Director Krehim Sharon to the office. They traveled 2 hours by car with their artworks to offer UNHCR staff an impromptu art exhibit and to tell them how the new NYTC Art Education Center is making meaningful positive impacts in people’s lives at the Settlement.
Illustrated Short Stories: Sharing Pain & Hope
For months now, particularly when acrylic paint was unavailable, the artists have been working on writing and illustrating short stories with watercolors. Towards the end of November, they were able to share their stories online with me. Our plan is to create, at the very least, mini-zines to distribute to children in the Settlement.
Here are some of the cover pages of the stories they presented.
For the full recording of their story share, check out the YouTube video below.
Practice, Practice Practice
Art classes continue to happen daily with 80 children served between the ages of 5 and 25. Fridays are NYTC art expo.
Thank you for reading the November 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.
