The Artistic thrills at Chez Kristo Home

This week was a busy one for us at our Mwanza Project.  We have been sending our children back to school for them to begin their term two studies as other school going children around the republic.

It has been an exciting week too as we make our immediate envrionment beautiful by giving our estblishements an identity that identity by fixing visibility plaques at various points.

To cap the week, we e were honoured as an organization by the Muslim Community in Mwanza during a charity Iftar dinner was hosted for us with the Mwanza Mayor Hon Stansilus Mwaboya in attendance. Children from Chez Kristo entertatined the guests through acrobatics and yoga stunts as part of the fete.

Of course for us the most involving one was the back to school activities because most of the children at Chez Kristo were going back to school while we still hoped for a breakthrough in achieving 100% attendance for all the children. Apart from the first 5 at Joyland School, we have another 2 and 3 boys, who have joined Mnarani and Bwiru schools respectively.

Among those at Joyland Primary School is Daniel Nchambi who is currently in class one and one of the outstanding children at the Chez Kristo homes managed by Voices of Africa in Mwanza.Born among Four siblings in Ilemela area of Mwanza town, At 13, Nchambi a last born in his family has already experienced the harsh realities of life in the streets of Mwanza after he left home for the streets after domestic strife which saw him dropping from school altogether.

 

Nchambi who by then was in class four was reduced to a beggar at the infamous street lights (‘kwenye mataa’) along Nyerere Road where he was adopted by a street family until one day when he was brought to Chez Kristo Home where he experienced love again and started schooling again. Since he had lost close to two years of schooling he had to go back to class one to pick-up learning. Since returning to school he has been a top student and his desire to excel academically is in no doubt.

“Coming to the Chez Kristo home has made my life peaceful, life in the streets is full of struggles, we fight over everything and that is how we survive there. Here we have a family and friends and we can even go to school to prepare our future,” he says.

Nchambi wants to serve in the army when he grows up despite his interests in art. He has been making his own compilation of artwork ranging from beaches, animals, Aircraft and landscape which he is building on as he grows his skill. He employs pens, pencils and crayons in his work during his free time after school and is currently drawing an artwork of the Voices of Africa main base in Mwanza.

Here are some of his works:

“I love guns and jets, I hope to fly one though now I can only draw them,” he says as he displays one of the artwork of a jet he has done.

For the first time we share some of the works Nchambi he has done and he is benefitting from the mentorship of the art tutors at the Voices of Africa to shape his work for an external audience and maybe in a matter of months we may host an art exhibition in Mwanza hosted by our children. Currently, we are producing hand bands with an East African identity modeled on the colours of the flags of these countries. The proceeds from the sales go directly to supporting the activities at the Chez Kristo Home. A band retails for $2.

He says he is a big fan of Simba football club of Tanzania.

Talking to Nchambi was very insightful to me in understanding the impact of the work done by Voices of Africa under immense pressure due to meagre resources at their disposal yet the needs are ever increasing. The children need education and mentorship as well as their daily well being and we can only join hands to make this happen and make our society a better place than we found it.

Guest Post by Dennis Okore