Co-creation with Anidan students 2

Teacher ...in preparation to the lesson "Is life Art, Science, or Both?" at the Anidan Centre for Children.

Anidan Shelter for Children is part of Lamu Town and its cultural topography. It has been providing shelter, warmth and additional meanings in life for generations of underprivileged children of the Lamu Island. EAMAN through its “Listening to the Rift Valley” project collaborated with Anidan in the production of the performative piece SINA SIRI NINA JIBU ("I Have No Secrets But I Have an Answer").

Artists and scientists from the EAMAN/”Listening to the Rift Valley” project invited the children of Anidan to co-create a dialogue with a baobab. A lesson on the interactions of art and science was prepared by the artists and scientists of the project and taught to the Anidan students. It explored various natural phenomena from scientific and artistic perspectives: are sunsets poetry or the length of the sun rays? How can we communicate with trees using scientific methods? What do they say to us? How can we read their messages? The children’s creativity and interest were awakened through understanding the method used and the khanga color coding.

The children produced their own drawings of imagined communications with a tree and then practiced interpretations of the baobab “message” with the strips of khanga brought by the EAMAN team and the Lamu donkeys to Anidan. Through their dedicated engagement and creativity the students became co-creators of the project. Their new gaze at the baobabs of the island and their awakened curiosity will enrich their experience of listening to the nature around them. The instances of the travel of khangas - the alphabet of communication with the baobab, the lesson, the drawings of the Anidan children, and the rehearsal show the steps of learning and co-creation.