Sunday 22 May - Jugglig Balls Workshop

Last Sunday we held a juggling workshop in Koskuna. Beatriz and Miguel taught the kids how to make juggling balls with sand and rubber balloons. So we stopped by Venao beach on the way to the community to pick up some sand.  We told the kids to put a fistful of sand in the plastic bottles we'd given out, then fill balloons with air about half way and place them around bottle necks. Next, flip the bottles up side down and squeeze the sand into the balloons. It was incredible watching the satisfaction on children's faces when the sand was poring smoothly into  their balloons. Then we formed nice balls out of the sand in the balloons, make it all nice and tight, snap the ends off , tape it, and put another colorful balloon around each ball. Again snap the ends off and juggling balls were ready. 

When everyone finished, Miguel gave a juggling show, and then we proceeded to glue strings and colorful strips of tissue paper to the balls, so kids could spin them, making beautiful circles in the air! The children loved this workshop, even more so because it was a surprise!

15 de Mayo, 2011 - Aniversario de la danza Kuna en Koskuna / Kuna Dance Anniversary in Koskuna

Last Sunday, May 15 we had a pleasure to attend the Kuna Dance Anniversary, organized by the Directiva of Koskuna. The festivities were held in the community building we painted with the kids of Koskuna over the last few months, so the scenery was nice and colorful!
Seven Kuna dance groups participated in the celebration:
1. Koskuna Kalu
2. Kankis
3. Yarbali-Kunkalu
4. Kammu-Kankalu
5. Noga- Kunkalu
6. Sikui Kunkalu
7. Mogir Yala

Here are the pictures of several groups performing traditional Kuna dance:

KOSKUNA KALU

Taller de Graffiti con Jason Ditch, May 5, 2011 / Graffiti Workshop with Jason Ditch

Yesterday, we had a pleasure to guest an awesome graffiti artist Jason Ditch in Koskuna!!

He was completely unmoved be the quantity of children that came to his Graffiti Workshop. What a brave man! So first we split the kids to 3 groups in order for them to come up with 3 different designs for the back wall of the house bordering the Community Center. In the beginning the children had a difficult time forming groups and collaborating on a common project, but with some help they understood the concept. One group drew a sail boat and sea life, the other a turtle and another one a butterfly. The turtle and the butterfly groups were dominated by girls, while the sea group was only boys. Jason asked there kids to help him clean and prepare the wall for painting. Then he used tape to outline three areas that were to be spray-painted. Next the kids painted the backgrounds in solid color. While the base paint was drying Jason trained the first group in how to use spray paint. One by one they learned how to shake, point and shoot paint from a spray can, practicing on large pieces of cardboard. Jason had the largest group, the sea kids (all boys), while Agata trained and worked with the girls. This division was not deliberate; it just happened this way. All kids really enjoyed the experience! With the girls it took some convincing though. At first, they seemed not to believe that they could do it, but with some help and one on one training they were getting bolder and bolder every minute, up to a point when it was difficult to control where the cans were. We've noticed an interesting pattern recurring throughout the workshop. First, the children were not encouraging one another; there were no positive comments on the work of others. The only time they would comment was when they saw that somebody was not doing a good job. Also, the boys were very dismissive about the girls' capability to spraypaint, and they became quite aggressive in offering help with painting the turtle and the butterfly. If we hadn't intervened and told all the boys to leave, none of the girls would bring herself to learn how to spraypaint. Once they started learning the girls also commented only on their friends' lack of immediate spraypainting skills. So only negative comments.
However, the workshop was a great success and a wonderful experience for the kids as well as for us and all of those who were watching the whole process unfold. Many thanks to Jason Ditch for taking his time to lead the workshop!