Tropical Corner

I LOVED today.  Wendy (coordinator of Senior Companions) walked me into the building and said, "Do whatever you want wherever you want."  I chose to work in a nook in the backroom -- a place where the senior congregate to play pool, dominoes, cards, eat meals, socialize, and watch movies.  No one sat at the table in this corner and you can probably guess why: (hint: it's ugly!)

 

 

What better to paint on a sweltering day in the city but a tropical paradise. "I feel cool already" said one gentleman, tipping his hat.  This mural went over especially well with the residents - most of whom spoke Spanish and hailed from Puerto Rico.  One woman said proudly, "You paint my island!"  Another man stood in silence and watched me paint for over an hour in the same position leaning on his cane.  As the mural progressed, I heard increasingly excited Spanish in the background: "Parece Puerto Rico! Es la isla de verde! Mira! La pintura!"  Though they had not been to their island in over 50 years, the sight of their homeland lit up their eyes and encouraged them to talk to me.  "You know what would make this perfect?" one man stated, "Pelicans.  Add a couple Pelicans and then it will be like home."  So I did.  He was happy, and the mural looks better too. 

 

 The attention I received was extremely gratifying to any artist's ego.  The women came up to me praising the bathroom and the men asked me, "hey, what about equal rights?" I think that means they want one in theirs.  Still have the front room to do too!  We'll see what comes of everyone's requests tomorrow!

Haiti

With two vaccinations in my left arm (Hepatitis A covered with a plain band-aid and Typhoid protected by pink Snoopys), I can officially begin my series of "foreign" posts.  As the Princeton motto suggests, I cannot simply stay in the United States - I must bring my project to the service of other nations.  First stop: Haiti.  With five team members from Princeton's PFA (princeton faith and action) and Carine Toussaint from Westerly Road Church, we leave August 25th and leave September 5th to complete necessary disaster relief work in Font Parisian, a rural town approximately 2 hours from the capital city Port-au-Prince. 

Six months after the earthquake, the country is still struggling to recover: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38185239/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/.  On June 28 the US Embassy issued a Haiti travel advisory cautioning Americans traveling to Haiti to exercise caution after four US Citizens were killed in separate robberies near Port-au-Prince airport.  Will this stop us?  Nope, especially since the Foundation for Peace (with whom we will be working) does not feel it is a danger for Americans or any other group to travel to Haiti.  Time to rock on.

Below you can see a picture of my "Haiti Survival Kit" otherwise known as "Mother Placation Kit" which includes Malaria meds for anticipated Malaria Mondays, inhaler, diarrhea prevention meds, and hardcore mosquito deterring solutions.  Missing are several chocolate-peanut butter powerbars: which taste so good they MUST be the food of choice for every cartoon superhero.  Oddles of thanks to Passport Health for giving me a discount on the appointment (anyone doing disaster relief in foreign countries should go there!)

THE PROJECT:

The entire team will be working on building new schools for the kids.  I specifically will be working with refugee kids and a local Pastor Michel Valentin who is our coordinator for the upcoming mission trip to Haiti. According to  Carine, "He was SOOOO excited when I shared with him that I have an artist who is interested in painting a mural  or teaching art and/or working with students.  He says it’s an answer to prayer as they have been wanting to paint  in the school that they just built in the community where we will be working."

Can't wait!  I'm hoping to plan out a big painting (with advice of pastor and kids on what subject matter they want) before I go, grid it, and have any kid wanting to paint complete a section in their own style.  Getting the supplies down there should be another adventure and a half.  For now, I will practice for the 100 degree plus weather by walking to my vaccination appointments (total of an hour walk today), avoiding use of subways in the cities, and doing all of my marathon training outside...  

Stay tuned for more and keep your figures crossed that the next foreign post will be on South Africa...

Country Bathroom...in the City

A quick before and after:

Today I conquered the women's bathroom of HSS's elderly center. I had six hours (1100-1700) to complete the project since residents would be using the facilities the next day. This project posed several, particular challenges: 1) the high ceilings combined with a narrow floor space, endowing the room with a "beam-me-up, Scotty"vacuum tube feel 2) dusty pipes crisscross the ceiling, blocking my mobility and ability to access parts of the walls 3) the cinder block walls with redundant layers of paints create poor surface texture with drips, pock marks etc 4) a super ugly dark window is the first thing you see when entering. 

 

Thank goodness a tall (if slightly unstable) ladder was to be found around the corner, resting there as though awaiting my hands! This handy tool allowed me to access the upper regions of the walls.

To combat the constraining feel of the room, I took inspiration from my recent trip to a gorgeous Texas ranch in Paint Creek - where expanse and freedom are the only knowns. I filled in a light, bright blue sky peppered with fluffy clouds.  This added depth and color without further cluttering the space.

Next came layers of greens -- endless plains of various grasses and bushes with wildflowers blooming over every knoll.  The greenery easily disguised the poor surface texture.

To make the scene more homey, I added a bird house, flower pots, and wheelbarrow on walls not already inhabited by bathroom appliances.  I painted more flowers and some butterflies to activate the sky.  All elements were carried onto the black window frame to minimize its bad impact and disguise it into the scene as much as possible.

A little surprise was the success of the mirror of the room, reflecting the wheelbarrow on the back wall.  Looking in, your face is framed by flowers and color!

I wish more time could have been spent making the scene a little more realistic, but the overall transformation is HUGE: from scary and institutional to a little bit like home.