Co-creation with Anidan students 7

Laura Mwani, a teacher at Andan centre shares a light moment with her students and Ian Kinyua.

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 between 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? Children’s creativity and interest were awakened through understanding the method used and the khanga color coding.

Anidan students 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.