Be The Hero In Your Own Story

There are many ways to get involved with the work of Vision Africa and to help the children supported by the projects that we partner with. We have come up with the slogan “Be The Hero In Your Own Story” and would like to bring you the story of one of our heroes, Romeo Lisege, who came across our work on Twitter and decided to take action and get involved.

“ The little things that make life worth living are the same things that make us happy and define who we become eventually. For me, that thing has always been art.

Growing up, I can’t recall a single piece of paper/book that came my way that I didn’t do some scribbling on. Obviously, that landed me in trouble enough times but the feeling I got every time I did the ‘scribbling’ was one I was not willing to give up anytime soon. A fine piece of art, whether it was a painting or a sculpture, had a way of taking me to a different world, thereby helping me escape some of the pressures that come with life. It was more than a passion or a talent.

Come to think of it, almost everything in our planet is defined through art. Be it your phone or a piece of furniture, manufacturers
know that they have to employ some creativity and artistic abilities to appeal to you. A clear demonstration that art is not just anything but everything. This is why when Vision Africa presented an opportunity for me to develop artistic talent in some of the kids they sponsor in Kibera I quickly jumped on board.

Albeit grudgingly, I’ll have to admit the art classes made my first visit to the famous kibera possible. On the first day, my orientation
guide being a friendly guy called Vincent who took me around and in less than 30 minutes, I had been assigned my class and introduced to my students. 

Every Saturday, I would hop into a bus to Kibera for my art classes with a group of six kids. I must say the zeal with which my students approached their art classes gave new meaning to passion. Their innocent faces, amazing display of attention and dedication to their classes made me realize just how much this meant to them. It also hit me that I was not just an art teacher but also a mentor – someone they could look up to. To some extent that changed the way I behaved in public, I always asked myself  “if one of my students was around, is this something I would like them to pick?” In a way, I must point out, using your talent to develop others actually makes you a better person. Something that also struck me is how they would love to change their society using their talent. One student told me how he would love to capture the 2007/2008 PEV (Post Election Violence) on canvas so as to preach peace in Kibera. Quite the inspiration, don’t you think?

As I look forward to completing the art classes with the first lot and hopefully take up another lot later this year, I can only imagine
the amount of impact this will have in their lives.

Thank you Vision Africa for this opportunity “

And what did his students think of the classes?? Here’s what Arnold had to say…

“I want to say that this was one of my most enjoyed classes. One reason which made it enjoyable was that the teacher was good and besides I had a talent in art. Art class is one of the best ways of utilising my free time.

In art class we were taught the definition of art, the professions that could come out of it and the different states of colour, shading, sketching, drawing and lastly we were to be taught painting.

I want to appreciate the teachers who took part in the facilitation so that we could have the art classes. Thank you.”

So it seems that this has been a win, win situation for both teacher and student. We look forward to seeing more examples of this kind of collaboration in future.

In the meantime….we hope this inspires YOU to Be The Hero In Your Own Story and do something to help brighten the future for a disadvantaged child.

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook for more updates or visit our website for more information. If you are inspired to get involved with our work please contact us.

Tags: africa, charity, child, children, Disadvantaged, education, Empowerment, kenya, Kibera, Nairobi, NGO, nonprofit, social media, twitter, Vision Africa, volunteer