Pujehun Youth Center for Peace and Wellness

Pujehun Youth Center for Peace and Wellness

Submitted by esnowak on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 16:11.
Last updated on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 16:32.

Vital Stats

Project Type: ongoing project

Start Date: 06/01/2008

People Impacted: 20

Money Raised: $10,000 (for renovation)

The Problem

The community of Pujehun, Sierra Leone has been greatly affected by the country's ten-year civil war. One of the groups most impacted has been the youth in the area. School dropouts, teenage pregnancies, violence, and sexually transmitted diseases are just some of the issues with which we are working. At the same time, there are countless cultural and traditional elements of the community that reveal its beauty and strength in the face of these challenges. We will engage youth in community building and enrichment through several projects to take place while the youth center is being constructed.

Why It's Important

The Pujehun Youth Center for Peace and Wellness will aid in the process of applying the wisdom, knowledge, and abilities of the youth to improve the community at large. The project will be initiated over ten weeks during the summer of 2008, with a team from Saving Lives through Alternative Options (SLAO), an NGO based in Sierra Leone. After its construction and initial programming, the center will be run entirely by community members with the help of community health workers, the government hospital and SLAO.

The Art and Wellness Project will engage youth in community building and enrichment through the photography while the youth center is being constructed. Working with a small group of students on a weekly basis, we will teach basic photography skills, and discuss the importance of photos in capturing the world around us. These workshops will also include conversations about the strengths and issues the community Gobaru faces.

The youth will work in pairs to practice their photography skills on manual, single-lens reflex film cameras. Students will be asked to take pictures of subjects in Gobaru that demonstrate wellness. The photographs will be developed in Bo Town (a nearby city) on a weekly basis. We will analyze each other's work, and discuss the elements that comprise effective photographs. In addition to talking about technique, we will have weekly reflections on the content of the artwork, and the subjects students choose to capture. During these conversations, students will be able to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the community, issues surrounding wellness, and how to go about changing problems discussed.

The final element of the Art and Wellness project will be an art show held for the grand opening of the completed youth center. This will be a time for the students to discuss their work with the rest of the community, and will open a dialogue on what youth in the community see as issues that should be addressed, and triumphs that should be praised. It will be an opportunity for individuals of all ages to come together and discuss, celebrate, and problem solve together.

The Plan Of Action

We will engage youth in community building and enrichment through several projects to take place while the youth center is being constructed.

The Pujehun Center for Peace and Wellness was designed out of a community expressed desire to have a space and productive space for youth, especially young women, to spend time, grow, and learn.

Once funding for the center was attained, one of the most difficult elements of implementation was the many partnerships with which the center is working, including community members in Gobaru, students at a local Sierra Leonean University, the NGO Saving Lives through Alternative Options, and students at Harvard University. Communication is rendered difficult through all of these entities, however all the partnerships are important and necessary for the success of the center.

The issue that gave rise to the Art and Wellness Project is problem of programming for the center. Although we have funds and a team of workers to build the physical structure of the center, there is much less available to equip it with necessary elements for the enrichment and growth of the youth. Our biggest challenge is not only to provide a space, but to ensure that it is nurturing, helpful, and inspirational.

How Can Others Get Involved?

Website:

Please contact me if you are interested in helping my project in any way (username=esnowak)

Project Updates

10/17/08

Update:

Great news on our project! The Art and Wellness Project was a unique opportunity for students in Pujehun to learn photography, document their lives, and share their work with the community. We initiated the project by visiting schools in the area and informing students that they could sign up for photography classes at the Youth Center (a new organization implemented by the same initiative which planned the Art and Wellness Project).

Classes were designed to teach basic photographic skills, including shutter speed, aperture, focus, subject composition, and light, and students ranged from age 12 to age 23. Part of every class was spent discussing a specific skill, part, in discussing work from the previous week, part in discussing community change and activism through art, and the last part was spent in the community shooting the next roll. Students worked in pairs, sharing a camera and a roll of film, to foster team-work and development.

On the weekends, I traveled to the nearest city (approx. 3 hours away) to develop the film. The students' work was displayed on the walls of the Youth Center for the grand opening of the center, and they were able to speak at the celebration about the meaning and purposes of their work. This allowed the community to engage with the youth about their perceptions of Pujehun, and actively vocalize concerns for change.

This project simply would not have happened without dosomething.org. These funds have touched so many lives in a very special and unique way. This was about much more than taking photographs; it enabled students to critically analyze the world around them, and learn how to convey their messages in a compelling way.

This project has allowed students, organization members, and community members to make meaningful connections. Students would go out into the field to capture images of their neighbors and friends, and actually give the gift of a photograph to them (if they so desired). There is an amazing bond that comes out of such an interaction- people taking a sincere interest in each others lives, and making an effort to reach out.

The Plum Grant is what allowed all of this to happen!

Final Grant Update

10/14/08

Elizabeth Nowak

Number of people in the organization: 3 teachers, 1 project coordinator, 1 facilities coordinator
Number of people impacted: 17 students, 300+ community members
Describe the impact the grant had: This project simply would not have happened without dosomething.com. These funds have touched so many lives in a very special and unique way. This was about much more than taking photographs; it enabled students to critically analyze the world around them, and learn how to convey their messages in a compelling way. This project has allowed students, organization members, and community members to make meaningful connections. Students would go out into the field to capture images of their neighbors and friends, and actually give the gift of a photograph to them (if they so desired). There is an amazing bond that comes out of such an interaction- people taking a sincere interest in each others lives, and making an effort to reach out. The Plumb Grant is what allowed all of this to happen!
Project highlights: 1. The Art and Wellness Project was hands-on and collaborative, so many students, for the first time, were "learning by doing in the classroom," and more importantly, learning as a team effort. 2. For the final project, each student was able to shoot their own roll of film. Every picture taken during the class was returned to the photographer, which meant that students could distribute their work to loved ones or friends they had captured. It was the first time, for example, that many mothers had received photographs of their children. 3. Students were given the opportunity to speak to their community through the arts. The presentation of their work, which took place at the grand opening of the Youth Center, had over three hundred individuals in attendance.
How did the project unfold and develop? The Art and Wellness Project was a unique opportunity for students in Pujehun, Sierra Leone, to learn photography, document their lives, and share their work with the community. We initiated the project by visiting schools in the area and informing students that they could sign up for photography classes at the Youth Center (a new organization implemented by the same initiative which planned the Art and Wellness Project). Classes were designed to teach basic photographic skills, including shutter speed, aperture, focus, subject composition, and light, and students ranged from age 12 to age 23. Part of every class was spent discussing a specific skill, part, in discussing work from the previous week, part in discussing community change and activism through art, and the last part was spent in the community shooting the next roll. Students worked in pairs, sharing a camera and a roll of film, to foster team-work and development. On the weekends, I would travel to the nearest city (approx. 3 hours away) to develop the film. The students' work was displayed on the walls of the Youth Center for the grand opening of the center, and they were able to speak at the celebration about the meaning and purposes of their work. This allowed the community to engage with the youth about their perceptions of Pujehun, and actively vocalize concerns for change.

Location

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