In the offices are 2 murals that were done by the children at 2 of the children's homes that they work with in Kenya and Swaziland...
I asked permission to photograph them so I could show them to you and to people at home... They give you a glimpse into the lives of these children and all that they have lived through...
While my girls are painting butterflies and flowers, children on the opposite side of the world are painting this...
From Kenya...
In the top row, from left to right, you have a representation of life in the streets of Kenya... they live in shacks in the city...sewer runs in the streets...they had a celebration when Heart For Africa built them a long drop... basically a hole in the ground that is their toilet...
The second photo is clearly a funeral... Death surrounds them...notice the other 6 graves to the right...
The third photo is men with guns... I don't know all that these children have seen, but I know that in Kenya, violence is common... The children who live in the streets sniff a mixture of glue and gasoline, that is highly addictive, to escape the reality of their lives...
Below the picture of the shacks is a picture of the children's home... The children have faces...some are smiling...they are playing soccer...
Below the picture of death is a picture of a school... Education is their hope for a way out and one of the best defenses against AIDS...
And the third picture is of the children graduating... The top row is a picture of their desperation...their sadness...their fear...their hopelessness...the bottom row is a picture of life...of someone who cares...of hope...
In Swaziland, some of the children at one of the homes painted this... It was impossible to hold back the tears as I realized all that this represented... This was their life before the children's home...
The father leaves and goes with his girlfriend to the city... He comes home... The mother receives him back... They fight... The child crawls under the bed and then the doctor gives him a diagnosis of AIDS... He dies and then the mother has to scrounge through the garbage for food...
According to HFA's website, Swaziland has one of the highest rates of AIDS in the world... The population is 950,000... HIV/AIDS claims 42.6% of the population... There are over 70,000 orphans in Swaziland alone!!
When I went to Africa the first time, we drove past the city garbage dump... There were families all over it... They were eating and drinking things they found on the garbage dump... It was heart wrenching.
It is just not right that children are painting scenes of adultery... fighting... death... hopelessness and yet they paint them because they've lived them...
If you want to know more about Africa, I highly recommend Janine Maxwell's (she's the VP of HFA) book, It's Not Okay With Me, but be prepared, if you read her book, you might find yourself signing up to go... I did and what I found, wasn't ok with me either...
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