PhotoVoice Report: Kantaya Experience

PHOTOVOICE A photographic experience with children “BetheChange”- Learning Service

The methodology and final report of this PhotoVoice chapter, were prepared and written by Ela Dámaris Meza Guzmán Nexos Comunitarios Lima, February, 2016 Introduction

The NGO Nexos Comunitarios (NC) held this year the program “BeTheChange, Learning Service 1”, with students of 2 Canadian universities: Saint Francis Xavier (11 students) and Western University (19 students). The aim of this program is for the students to learn about different realities through the process of learning and serving the community. For this years’ experience, NC introduced the students to one of its projects, called “Photovoice”: photography as a participative language for empowerment for impoverished children. This years’ experience was the second chapter of the Photovoice Project, being the previous chapter held in Cusco, where the main programs of NC are developed. The Photovoice Project was particularly introduced in the “Kuychi Wasi Project” 2, a program that aims to reduce malnutrition in rural areas’ children.

Program This year, “BeTheChange” was held simultaneously from 15th until 19th February in two centers: a school in Barranco, (with 11 children) and the NGO Kantaya in Ventanilla (with 30 children). Both student groups (St Francis and Western) went to work to both centers, switching places on day 3.

The purpose of switching places was for the students to have the opportunity to know two different contexts of Lima’s vulnerable and impoverished populations. The program’s methodology and guide for facilitators were designed for both places 3 , nevertheless, the different number of participants, the switching of student groups on day 3, as well as the circumstances of each place and neighborhood, made it necessary to make adjustments in each place. In the particular case of the children of Kantaya, since we were working with a big group (30 children and 19 students), sometimes we had to sacrifice a deeper process for one that was available and understandable for the whole group.

The present report The present report shares the experience of the 5 days program held with the children of the NGO Kantaya, in Ventanilla. This NGO works with educational and tutoring programs that help children to improve and reinforce what they learn in school. 4 Through the narration of each day’s objectives and activities, we go through the main themes that children brought up during the experience, the participation of Canadian students, the main positive aspects and difficulties and how they were solved during the program. It is important to mention that even though all of the Canadian students filled the fieldwork formats about the children’s work, one of the groups did not send this information to us, therefore, we lack the information about 4 children. At the end of the report, we share some comments and suggestions to the NGO Kantaya to take in account in regards to their work with the children.

1 For more information about “BeTheChange” and other programs of NC, visit: http://www.nexos.org.pe/#aboutus 2 For more information about Photovoice in the Kuychi Wasi project, visit: http://es.scribd.com/doc/289839423/Innovative-Solutions-for-Global-Health 3 To see the presentation of the program, visit: https://app.slidebean.com/p/n2SNtYDFAr/PhotoVoice 4 For more information about Kantaya, visit: http://www.kantayaperu.com/index.php

DAY 1

ACTIVITIES

PURPOSE

Initial moment Introduction Games to introduce each other: say hello both in Spanish and English and with different parts of our body, playing with our names.

Know each other and break the ice. Introduce the project and the members of the team.

Agree on the basic rules to work together.

Main activity 1 (Photography): Learning to frame with small cardboard frames as if they were cameras.

“Take pictures”: realistic and imaginary drawings.

Introduce the children to the photographic language: framing/zoom in/zoom out/black and white photography.

Walk through “a museum” of our pictures.

Main activity 2 (Exploring reality):

Mapping our places: making individual maps of the places and activities that are more significant to each one. Share the stories of each map in small groups.

Start learning about the places and features that are most significant for children.

Final moment Invite children to merge every individual map into one and fill it with pictures they can take (during the next days). Say what we loved most of the day, clean up, play, say goodbye.

Have a panoramic idea of the common and the particular spaces and things that are important for the children.

The first part of the day was important to get introduce ourselves and get ready for the 5 days program ahead of us. In this first moment, the Canadian students participated with a great attitude and enthusiasm to play and propose funny and creative movements, which helped a lot to break the ice considering we were 43 people meeting for the first time. After explaining the program, the children showed their enthusiasm about the photographic project.

Framing The first activity was thought to introduce the children to the photographic language through playing with cardboard frames. . We invited the children to “take a picture” and draw it both in black and white (as the first pictures of analogic cameras) and then in colors (as the pictures taken by digital cameras).

Since the first day we worked inside and near the center, most of the children chose to draw images of the books, and others chose other objects and features of Kantaya center such as: the book shelf, Kantaya’s façade (as seen in the picture on the right), the toilet door, the hills seen from the door of Kantaya and the façade of some houses nearby. When all were finished, some children voluntarily shared with the whole group both their pictures in black & white and in colors.

One of the teenagers showing her picture in black and white of Kantaya’s façade.

The original activity was to draw first a “real picture” and then, an imaginary one so that children could use their imagination to improve reality, but since we were working with a large number of children with a broad range of ages (from 8 to 14), we decided to simplify the activity in order to make it understandable for everyone, so we decided that the second picture would be in colors.

Through this activity, the Canadian students accompanied the children helping them with the framing and drawings.

Before doing the activity of “Mapping our lives”, we learned that the children of Kantaya live in different neighborhoods around Kantaya, the otherwise called: “Human Settlements”, such as: Hijos de mi Perú, Villa Emilia, Villa del Mar, José María Arguedas, Arenales and Prolongación Arenales, etc. We learned as well that the students of Saint Francis live in Nova Scotia, but come from different cities. We joined in groups in order to make a collective human sculpture of a place or feature that makes our neighnorhood unique and different from others.

The first group represented the sports field: the little ones became the grass, the taller ones, the arcs and the lamppost that lightens the field. One of the children shared during the rehearsal:

“In the morning, we play in the sports field, but at night, thieves gather in the corners. So, we need someone to play the thief and someone else to play the policeman to take care of the people” (Children in group 1)

Group 1: The sports field.

When performing, they did not represent people, just the sports field very late at night, were there is no one, not even the thieves.

Group 2: The public bus.

The second group played a “combi� (a small bus on public transportation) that passes by their neighborhood. One of the children played the driver, the other, a money collector and the rest, the passengers. When they played this feature to the others, they narrated that the bus had an accident, crushing a lamppost because the driver fell asleep due to a hangover from the night before.

Group 3: The hill

The third group represented a hill, because all of the members of the group live in the upper area, and every day they walk down to Kantaya center.

Group 4: The fruit trees

The fourth group represented the papaya trees and other fruit trees that their families grow in their houses, sharing with us that they love this features of their house, even if they can not eat the fruits yet, because they are not big enough.

Finally, the Canadian students represented a feature of Nova Scotia: the lobster fishing, which is a typical economic activity. This performance caught children’s attention and curiosity to know more about it, and to see the resemblance to the fishing they know.

Even if it was not previously planned, we considered necessary to introduce this activity, so that children and students could participate as equal, in order to share about their own lives and to learn about the life of others. This game showed, in a funny and artistic way, features of

neighborhoods that have both positive and negative aspects, seen from the eyes of the ones that live in them. We finished the day drawing the maps of the most significant places and activities of our life, and left the sharing for the next day.

DAY 2 ACTIVITIES

PURPOSE

Initial moment Remember the basic rules to work and play together, remember what we did together the day before, Playing time.

Have a bonding time and get ready and focused for the work of the day.

Main activity 1: Learning basic aspects of photography Use toy cameras to learn the different parts of a camera.

Exercises to learn how to use the light/shadow, to capture movement, to use different frames (detail, panoramic, etc.).

Use game to introduce the basic considerations to take care of the cameras, as well as technical aspects of photography. Playing with original ways to take pictures to have in mind what is the real essence of the photographic art.

Pictures with the eyes closed and with our hearts: learning about the essence of photography.

Main activity 2: Photography and ethics Acting/ Role playing of different situations we can deal with when doing the fieldwork (people that get mad, people that ask for money, dangerous places, etc.). Find solutions, write a commitment of a respectful attitude. Show them pictures and how photography can be used to know reality and change it.

Introduce the children about the ethical considerations of photographing other people and difficult aspects of reality, as well as agreeing on the purpose of our project.

Final moment Go over the best parts of the day and organize ourselves for the fieldwork next day.

Sharing the maps of our lives

Close remembering all that we have learned and getting ready for the fieldwork.

We started the day splitting into two big groups to share about our “life maps”. Both children and students participated actively teaching each other how to say some basic words, both in Spanish and English. The places mentioned the most by children were: their houses, their families, the sports field, the school, the hills and Human Settlements where they live, Kantaya center (which they call “little school of Kantaya), the park, the swimming pool (this one is not as close as the other places, and they do not go very often, but it is an important place for amusement). In the case of Canadian students, they mentioned their university, their family and their hobbies.

Learning basic technical aspects for taking pictures In small groups of 5 children each, and with some students in charge, we practiced some exercises to introduce ourselves to some basic photographic techniques, such as the use of zoom, the light and shadow, the caption of movement. In this case, students were in charge of helping the children with the cameras as well as guaranteeing that all members of each group got to do the exercises.

Seeing with our hearts We introduced ourselves to the essence of photography by sharing the story of Evgen Bavcar, a blind photographer who “sees” with his other senses. We practice taking pictures with our eyes closed, following the voices or the wind. This was also worked in the small groups were the students helped as facilitators.

The second day was programmed to also work the ethical aspects of photography, but since it was the last day for the students of Saint Francis, we had a closing time of dance and music, where the children performed Peruvian dances and the students as well, sang some famous songs of Canada.

DAY 3

ACTIVITIES

PURPOSE

Playing with the new students, learning how

Break the ice and get to know the students

Initial moment

to say hello in 8 different languages.

group of Western.

Main activity 1: Fieldwork Work in small groups of children and students.

Take pictures of their significant places and features for both children and students.

Parallel work: making an integrated map

Use all that we previously learned to take pictures of things that are important for each child. Students take pictures as well, in order to contrast and share different perspectives of the same reality.

The ones who stay inside, start to paint a big map with all the places that appear in the individual maps.

Main activity 2: choosing pictures, making stories Choose the favorite picture taken by each kid in order to print them. Write a story about this image.

Final moment Share our experiences during the fieldwork

Deepen in the reasons why this features, places or people are important for the children.

Having a general idea of what the fieldwork was like for each group.

This day we welcomed the students group from Western University and took the first hour of the program to introduce ourselves. We found out that the students had a diverse cultural background and we took the most of it learning how to say “hello” in 8 different languages, which turned out to be very interesting for everyone.

Photography and ethics We looked at the pictures taken by children in a publication called “Through the eyes of children”, a project of photographic research made by children of the NGO World Vision Peru in different areas of the country. We talked about how these children from all over the country had portrayed important aspects of their lives, that made them happy or sad, (such as their games, families, the child work, hunger and violence), showing how photography can help us express ourselves about these themes. We invited children to feel free to choose what was most significant to them, whether it was happy or sad. The program contemplated a role playing of different ethical situations, but due to the lack of time and the amount of people (50 people), we had to adjust and just have a talk about how important it is to ask for permission first if we want to take a picture of someone.

The fieldwork and the map Three groups left, and walked through the most significant places for each member of the group, for approximately one hour. Meanwhile, the three groups that stayed, started painting a big map

of the common places, so that later we could put the pictures on it. After the hour, the groups switched, and the ones that stayed for painting, left to do their fieldwork.

Painting the map of our neighborhood

To finish the day, we asked each group to share with a short phrase and in Doing the fieldwork in small groups an original way, what their fieldwork was like. This was ver very amusing and revealing of the places and features each group portrayed. This exercise was also very interesting because it made both children and students use mimics to explain their phrases. They shared phrases like: “We walked on the hill, we took pictures of the park, the pool, the puppies and the houses” and “We went up the hill and took pictures of the trees”. With this exercise we found out that the groups visited: the children’s houses, the market, the pool, the soccer field, up the hill, the playground, the construction of the main road etc. Since the fieldwork was a rich but exhausting experience, we left the story making for the next day.

DAY 4

ACTIVITIES

PURPOSE

Initial moment Welcoming and playing time

Bonding time. Get ready for the day.

Main activity 1: Pictures and Mad analysis.

Give each child their pictures to place them in the big map. Look at our map and talk about what they are for children.  , to each place, depending on their meanings.

Use easy categories for children to make an analysis of their reality.

Main activity 2: Imagining

With drawing and paint, create features that could improve the pictures that have a sad face.

Inspire the children to propose creative ideas to improve the negative aspects of reality and to strengthen the positive ones, so that they can start thinking about how to transform their own reality.

Final moment Revise all the work and make suggestions of what the mural should be about.

Arrive at a collective proposal for the mural: a theme that gathers all the learning experience of the week,.

This day we brought the printed pictures and we started to write the short stories. We asked the Canadian students to draw and write the story of their pictures as well. We all shared our pictures and stories, both in English and Spanish, and placed them in the painted map.

One of the groups had to redo their fieldwork, because the printed pictures did not match the ones they chose the day before (due to a technical problem with the camera), so, while the others worked on their stories, they went quickly to take the picture they had chosen.

These are some of the pictures and stories the children shared: 1)

My sister’s house “We are very happy, even though sometimes we feel sad because we don’t have enough money, but we are happy” - Girl

2) The struggling family “For a while, there’s a very humble family that works a lot to survive and when the daughter finished her career, she helped her mom” - Boy

3) My loving cat “We found this cat last year. She lost her babies and we didn´t know what was happening. Then we thought she was ill and we made a house for her. It turned out that she was pregnant again and now she is very happy with her babies” - Boy

4) The construction of the main road

“We are happy that we will have a main road” - Boy

5) My house

“In my house, sometimes I do the laundry, and sometimes, my sister does. I took this picture because the colors of the clothes are beautiful and my house is beautiful” Girl

6) The vegetables store

“The vegetables store is very beautiful because they sell a lot of vegetables and that is why I took this picture” - Girl

7) The haunted house

“There’s a haunted house. One day some people went in to see if there was anyone inside but they got trapped and could never escape” – (fictional story) Boy

8) My sister’s baby

“He is very beautiful and when he sleeps, he laughs and that is funny. He is my nephew and I love him very much”- Girl

9) My beloved dog “Many years ago, I was coming back from the store with my dog. When I was about to get inside my house, a thief wanted to take my money. My dog barked and the thief shot him. My dog gave his life for me”- Boy

10) My happy neighborhood “When I go to my house, I have to walk a lot and I go with my cousins and friends. The little school (Kantaya) is the best for me and I love to learn”- Girl

As it can be seen in the following chart, the themes portrayed by the children were varied, as well as the pictures taken by the students. The most common themes for the kids were their houses, their families, their pets and the public places they amuse themselves (like the sports field).

Groups

Group 1

Group 2

Children / Age

Theme

Story

Mia (8)

My big sister’s baby

She loves the baby very much

Almendra (8)

My mommy’s house

Her family doesn’t usually have enough money but they are happy

Jasmin (10)

My big sister’s house

She likes to spend time in her sister’s house and eventhough they don’t have enough money, they have a lot of love to give.

Antony (11)

My puppy

Once a thief tried to steal money from him and his dog defended him and the thief shot him. He said that his puppy saved him.

Josue (?)

The court

sports

His mother told him to go to the park because he makes many friends there and now he goes very often

Silvia (?)

The vegetables store in the market

She took this picture because she liked the varied colors of the market

Javier (9)

My loving cat

His family found a cat that lost her babies, but then got pregnant again and now she loves her kittens very much.

Daniele (9)

The fieldwork team

He took a picture of the children and students that went to do the fieldwork

Luz (?)

My happy neighborhood

She took a picture of her house on the hill, and said that she loves to go to the little school (Kantaya).

Erika (11)

My house

She took this picture because I like

Students’ pictures

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The houses in the hills

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The houses sitting in the immediate foreground and hills in the background

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Election campaign posters and murals

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The hidden market

-The landscape with the shape and size of the houses.

-Panoramic picture of the hill.

the colors. Sometimes she washes the clothes, and sometimes, her sister does.

Flor (?)

My rabbit

Her rabbit’s name y Clober and she loves to play with him. His mother has recently gave birth to other bunnies.

Nataly (12)

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Estrella

The playground

She took this picture because she always goes there with her friends.

Carlos

The struggling family

His picture was about a very poor family that works very hard to survive out of poverty.

Diego

The tractor

He chose the tractor in construction of the main road

Franco

The haunted house

He created a fictional scary story about a family that could not escape from and abandoned house.

Yesenia

A car

She chose a car.

Eibrahan

The field

football

He took this picture because he likes to play football

Eder (15)

My leades and my friends

He took a picture of the members of his fieldwork to remember the kids.

Isai (12)

Looking at the landscape

The picture was of the houses on the hill. He wrote that some visitors came to Kantaya, they played with the children and they fell in love with them.

Jean Franco

The sports field

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Layza

My leaders

She took the picture of the Canadian students to keep them close to her heart

Zamira

My leader friends

She took this picture to remember the Canadian students

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

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The stray and malnourished dogs in the park

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The playground area in the park that was still wrapped in plastic in a highlighting contrast to the area.

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A billboard advertising a candidate running for presidential elections

the

(4 children) - No information available

On the other side, one of the features that caught most of the Canadian students’ attention was the very unique landscape of the area: sand hills with many colorful houses.

Drawings and stories made by the Canadian students

Photographic Map (with two parts) with all the pictures and stories made by the children and students.

According to the program, the day 4 we had to categorize the image and places according to how they make us feel, and to propose ideas of how making this aspects of reality better. But due to the fact that 50 people shared their stories and it was the hottest day of the week, we considered better to use the time left to play together, according to each one’s possibilities. We wrapped the experience by playing a round game saying in one word what was the most significant thing we remembered from all the photographic experience, so that we could include it in the mural painting of the last day. The words said by children and students were: moto taxis, hills, houses, trees, dogs, cats, sports field, school, smiles, hands, sun, cameras, all of us, etc.

DAY 5

Activities

Main activity : Mural painting Painting the mural board with the pictures.

Purpose

Synthetize all the experience of the week in a collective mural painting that can remind the children about what they experience through the Photovoice Project.

Final moment Give the children the portfolio/books with all the pictures, frames and drawings they made.

Say goodbye.

This day we finished sharing the stories about the pictures taken by the group that had to redo their fieldwork. Then we went all up the hill to the second center of Kantaya, to paint the mural.

Everyone participated taking turns, while the rest played the different games we learned during the week.

Finally, the children shared with the students a dance presentation, and the students shared as well a musical presentation they prepared showing all the cultural diversity of their group, that is very representative of Canada as well.

The mural painting with some of the features that were photographed: the trees, the houses in the hill, the sports field, the park and the hands of the students and children.

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

We would like to share some conclusions and suggestions with Kantaya members, based on this learning experience.

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Through the children’s pictures we have learned that they value and cherish a lot the love and unity that their families give them, and that includes the love that their pets provide for them. We have learned as well that they have the poverty issue very present, not only within their families, but within their neighborhood, and they recognize the cases of people that struggle even more that their own families. Nevertheless, they are very expressive about their appreciation of many positive aspects of their public places, such as the sports field, even though they recognize it is not the safest place. We also realized that the experience with the Canadian students was significant for them as well, because some of them wanted their pictures to be about their fieldwork teams.

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We have learned that Kantaya is a safe and dear place for the children. For some of them, it is the only place, apart from their homes, where they can amuse themselves and learn.

That is why, when taking the pictures, many children felt free to share not only nice and happy stories, but also sad or difficult personal stories, such as the death of their pets, the difficult economic moments of their families, the health problems of their beloved relatives, etc. We invite Kantaya members to embrace these difficult themes through artistic work that can accompany the children to express themselves in this safe place. This whole short but intense experience has shown us that they are willing to open and share about those aspects of their lives. It would be also recommendable that they continue to explore different expressive languages in connection not only to their feelings, but to their educational process and contents, because they are both deeply connected.

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It is highly recommendable to do this kind of artistic and expressive processes considering the age range, so that the activities can be age appropriate, as well as appealing and challenging for every member of the group. We noticed that the oldest ones felt a little bit shy to participate in activities were the youngest ones were involved, but deep inside, they did want to live the experience; they just needed to find a space of their own. As important as the age range, is the number of participants. If Kantaya wants to develop processes that can be more profound for each kid, it would be better to work with smaller groups.