Making Books and Art With Children in Ethiopia

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Maureen McCauley

If we fail to educate little children, if we fail to put books in their hands, then we fail to create a foundation for them to rise out of poverty and oppression. What will there be to build on?

We were a core group of 8, most of us artists or writers, 6 from the US and 2 from Ethiopia. Just over a month ago, we traveled together from Addis to Maji, a small, rural area about 350 miles southwest of the Ethiopian capital, then back to Addis. We were part of an Ethiopian Odyssey, one goal of which was to create colorful, culturally appropriate books for young children in Ethiopia.

While we were traveling to and from Maji, and during our week there, all of us were writing, sketching, drawing, taking photos, and reflecting on what and who we saw. Ethiopia Reads has been a trailblazer in raising awareness about literacy and libraries for children. Long time Ethiopia Reads leader and prolific author Jane Kurtz, a pivotal Odyssey crew members, spoke at a well-attended public lecture in Addis about the tremendous need for colorful, culturally appropriate books for pre-readers, the toddlers and little kids who can (must) engage with books that start them on the path to reading. The books for these early readers are scarce in Ethiopia, and we are hoping to change that.

Jane Kurtz and Caroline Kurtz, a dynamic duo. © Maureen McCauley Evans

On Saturday February 6, we had an amazing book-making event. Children from the International Community School in Addis attended; they were Ethiopian, Canadian, American, Indian, Chinese, and more. Ethiopian children who are part of one of Ethiopia Reads’ Addis libraries also came for the “field trip” by bus. Some had lots of experience with art; some had none at all.

Our goal was to talk with the kids: How do we write stories? And then: Let’s make illustrations! We worked with a Ethiopian proverbs, including “Turina keessatt killen millaan adeemti. By persevering, the egg walks on legs.” The kids did all kinds of drawings as they figured out how to tell stories.

I worked with dozens of children using tissue paper collage. They used their imaginations and their life experiences to make rockets, flowers, spiders, butterflies, mountains, trees, and more.

Now our task is to take the stories and art of these young people and create books that will be in (we hope) at least two languages, English and Amharic, but also in many of the other languages spoken and read in Ethiopia. We will put the books in the libraries of Ethiopia Reads, and (we hope) in other sites as well. It’s a big, costly project. My fellow travelers on the Ethiopian Odyssey are up for the challenge. The art created and donated by Stephanie Schlatter, Troy Zaushny, Yacob Bizuneh, and Nahosenay Negussie as a result of our time in Maji and on the road will be exhibited and sold this fall.

L-r: Nahosenay Negussie, Stephanie Schlatter, Troy Zaushny, Jacob Bizuneh; in Maji January 2016 © Maureen McCauley Evans

My photographs will also be donated for this fundraising effort to bring books to little children. This is one:

I will post more info about the exhibitions as we nail down dates and venues. On one level, this was a life-changing adventure by artists to create books by children for children in Ethiopia. On another level, it’s a way to create hope. It is, maybe, a way to build a world that is based in literacy and beauty. Small steps, I know. Still.

Heading to Ethiopia for Art, Photos, And Stories

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Maureen McCauley

In just a few weeks, I will be heading to Ethiopia. It will be my fourth trip, my second with some folks from Ethiopia Reads plus some new friends, Ethiopian and American, all of whom are artists and writers.

Here’s what we will be doing:

Creating art and photographs that we will transform into books for Ethiopian children. The books will be fun and colorful; they will also be culturally appropriate and respectful. They will be translated into local languages for Ethiopia Reads’ schools and libraries. Books are a big deal. Books for children in the local language spoken by the children are rare; I am thrilled to be a part of making them more common, and getting them into the hands of children who have no books.

Children reading in the Awassa Library of Ethiopia Reads © Maureen McCauley Evans

Traveling some 500 miles south of Addis Ababa to Maji, a beautiful, remote area with no electricity. Yes, indeed. We writers, artists, and photographers will spend a week in Maji taking pictures, drawing, painting, and listening to the stories of the people there. I and others will be donating our photos and paintings for several 2016 exhibits across the US, to raise funds for Ethiopia Reads’ libraries in southwest Ethiopia.

Beautiful child in Ethiopia © Maureen McCauley Evans

Preserving the stories of marginalized, vulnerable people. In Maji, we will be talking with and listening to people who live without electricity, who are working to hold on to a language that could disappear, and whose stories will become part of books and other materials for the children.

I am also planning to continue a project dear to my heart: collecting, preserving, and sharing the stories of Ethiopian first mothers, those who gave their children up for adoption. Theirs are among the most silent and silenced voices in the adoption community, and their stories deserve to be told.

I look forward to visiting with dear friends in Ethiopia, and once again enjoying the vibrancy and beauty of the country. There is great upheaval there as well: economic, environmental, and political. I am not ignoring that reality. Children and women are often among those who suffer most in times of strife. Literacy (including books in local languages) can make a difference. So can electricity, and, I’d argue, art.

Original art © Maureen McCauley Evans

For more information about this adventure, please take a look at Ethiopian Odyssey.

East African Artists: “Crossing” Memories, Art, and (Forced?) Migration

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Maureen McCauley

We all struggle at times with “crossing,” the movement from one place to another, from what we know to what we don’t, from displacement of bodies, minds, and hearts. Sometimes, crossing means moving from life to death. Sometimes, it means traveling far from “home,” however we define it. Sometimes, memories cross our minds.

Last night I attended the Artist Reception for a show called Crossing: East African Artists and Social Change, held at the M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery at Seattle Central Community College. All three artists had roots in and work focused on Ethiopia and/or Eritrea. Their individual pieces of art also provided broader views around longing, loss, searching, and migrating, both literally and metaphorically. Each artist had a theme of “crossing” in the art. Each spoke briefly about his/her work. It was wonderful.

Selam Bekele’s art included photography, collage, mixed media, and a short film. She referred to her art as “Tizita,” an Amharic word which has the sense of memory, or longing, or nostalgia in English. Having written about the fascinating, poignant story of Prince Alemayehu: The First Ethiopian Adoptee?, I looked forward to seeing Selam’s film “The Prince of Nowhere” at last night’s reception. It was a dynamic, evocative film.

In 1868, Alemayehu arrived at age 7 in England, far from his homeland of Ethiopia. The film, an exercise in crossing time and space, shows him as a handsome young man (he died at 18 years of age in 1879), in contemporary western clothing, on modern streets, in a modern classroom. His voice in the film has a British accent. Sometimes the images are blurred, and the light distorted, all reflecting Alemayehu’s life in an exile about which he had no voice. The brief film, like Alemayehu’s brief life, is poetic and sorrowful, a story of resilience and despair.

My friend Yadesa Bojia had several powerful pieces of art at the gallery, most with bright colors and passionate exhortation for the power of literacy and family. A brand new piece, exhibited for the first time, was titled “Hanna,” a heartfelt tribute to Hanna Alemu, also known as Hanna Williams. Hanna was an Ethiopian girl adopted in 2008 by a family in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. She died in May 2011, and her adoptive parents were found guilty of homicide by abuse in September 2013. Hanna died from malnutrition and hypothermia, according to the coroner, alone outside her home on a 40 degree night.

The painting has Ethiopia’s traditional colors of red, yellow, and green, with the image of Hanna in black outside behind the family home, beneath a stark bare tree branch. It’s wrenching to see in simplicity and vibrancy. I’ve written extensively about Hanna, and attended nearly all of the trial in the summer of 2013. Ethiopians all around in Yaddi, who is the designer of the current African Union flag, is also a singer and songwriter, and wrote about Hanna. His album information is available here.

The third East African artist was Yegizaw “Yeggy” Michael. His work included vibrant acrylic paintings about crossing the desert, and crossing the sea, from the perspective of migration and loss. He also had an amazing installation piece that depicted the tragedies of immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

Some 3,000 people in 2014 are estimated to have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean en route to Europe, according to this report. Yeggy’s art, about 8 feet long on the floor, had rocks and sand around a blue plastic sheet that held blue scarves and blue face masks. There was one black scarf, with peace symbols. Yeggy talked about how the journey these immigrants has an echo in the slave ships of the African slave trade, and how these “crossings” are terrifying and heartbreaking. We all make crossings, he noted. Some of us do not succeed.

The art will be on display at the Hunter Gallery in Seattle until February 13.

Light of Day Stories

Category Archives: art

Making Books and Art With Children in Ethiopia

Heading to Ethiopia for Art, Photos, And Stories

East African Artists: “Crossing” Memories, Art, and (Forced?) Migration