ART
WORKSHOP.
Art workshops are regular activities at our resource and drop-in centre. Because Alfajiri's main focus, mission, and vision revolves around art and creative work to enhance the healing and empowerment of our beneficiaries, we continue to encourage creative drawing and painting within our programs. Daily art workshops range in size from one or two children to upwards of thirty children on more structured and busier days. The diverse range of creativity seen among these young people leads to hundreds of brilliant art masterpieces, some of which are considered professional creations.
Our art workshops are unique in that they provide both a safe place for children to develop their artistic abilities as well as a healthy therapeutic environment for them to express their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and dreams through art creativity. The children are welcome to attend structured art workshop days on Wednesdays and Thursdays or simply drop by the center any other day of the week to craft their artwork. Staff provide a well balanced structure of both guided workshops and free drawing/painting days so that the children can have their own time and use their own powerful minds to create inspiring works of art.
Through Alfajiri's art workshops, children are able to learn about themselves, better express themselves to those around them, and find light and meaning within their difficult lives on the streets. Many children have utilized Alfajiri's art workshops to find their passion and to later obtain a better life free from drugs, hunger, and despair in the streets.
Art is healing. Art is hope. Art is self-awareness. Art is powerful.
Alfajiri art workshops have the ability to create lasting change in the lives of hundreds of African street children and all those who see their work.
BENEFITS OF ART.
Emotional Expression
Art therapy can serve as a means of symbolic speech, which is particularly beneficial for clients who have a good mastery of verbal communication or words but are unable to accurately express their emotions. Utilizing this capacity to access awareness and communicate meaning through art can serve as an alternative to verbal interventions. Additionally, it has been argued that art is a less threatening method to disclose private information about one’s feelings, allowing for a deep, thorough, and yet contained exploration of the self.
