Exchange.

The universe -

"All is part of one, while one is always part of all."

What a beautiful experience to take part in a postcard exchange between 9 different countries. I enjoy receiving the variety of artistic postcards from all over the world! 25 postcards were cut out of this image and shared with different art therapists on earth. A nice activity, gaining more conscience about how close we all are.

Movement.

This time I would like to share some impressions of my latest and last activities during my intervention here in Honduras. My work is already coming to an end, while I feel that I have only started to really create a visible effect and impact. Well, this is the way it is many times, I guess. Things never go the way exactly planned and one has to keep up personal and professional flexibility at all times, being satisfied with what there is instead of grieving for the things that haven't been able to achieve.

I never thought I'd be a mother of a one year old child, once I finish this job - nor I imagined to be witness of such a serious political crisis that occurred in this country, reflecting - on a relatively small scale yet very clearly - some of the world's dis-balance all over... The power stays in hands of the powerful - poor people apparently are doomed to stay poor as long as they live and maybe even for several generations...

It's only a matter of perspective that keeps me motivated and optimistically appreciating the efforts and results of my work here, as well as the work of the organization I work for. Knowing that "being poor or rich" can be defined in many ways, I see Arte Acción as a perfect example: Though always struggling on the edge of surviving economically, the members and even the building where the organization is located, radiate joyful happiness, pure sharing, mad creativity and a nice balance between professionalism and informality.

What I hope to have left a little while I was here, is the invitation to all the people I attended at Arte Acción to express themselves, communicate openly and honestly, create with their hands and hearts, using artistic materials, like paint, clay or paper... liberating themselves of pressure and insecurity - gaining hope, clarity and confidence on individual level; trust, relations and communication abilities on social level.

I left some guidelines in an art therapy manual, including about 20 activities and theoretical information, so some of the young people Arte Acción works with, can carry out art therapy's techniques with other youth or children.

La ofrenda a Yaxché

I have not written anything in a long time. But better late than never, I'll try to update you on my and Arte Acción's actual activities a little bit.

The art therapy manual is handed in to the co-direction of Arte Acción for a last revision, before sending it to the editor. It was quite some work to write such a thing, with theoretical and practical information about art therapy, especially the description of the activities that will be carried out by complete unexperienced people in the area of art therapy, but also by interested psychologists or social workers. Now there's about 90 pages that have to be proven to be understandable and applicable for anyone.

The process of validation will take us maybe 4 weeks of hard work with a group of around 8 persons. I am a little nervous about how and when we will realize this process, as my working contract is finishing at the end of February next year. With the Christmas vacation, this means we have only about 2 and a half months left to work here. Our journey back to Europe is planned for the end of march.

I feel that only a part of the goals originally established can be reached upon that date. “Ni modo.” here they say, like “This is the way it is, there's no way back and we have to accept it.”

Right now I am still busy with accompanying a collective therapy for young women, also I have some young men attending an art therapy process. Finally.

On top of that, the co-direction of Arte Acción is receiving some art therapeutic attention. I prefer not to call it therapy itself, it would be more like a coaching or orientation for them. We talk about (and experience creatively) how to discharge certain energies, exploring some interior feelings and how to communicate these.

The 3 members of the co-direction are charged with too much work and preoccupation. They are investing all their time and energy into benefiting the youth that is being supported by the organization, up to the point of being very tired and not spending time with their families. Even the communication between themselves is not flowing well. Sometimes I ask myself how the youth is going to learn, grow and develop within an organization, where the co-direction is exhausted as an example.

All this has to do with different circumstances. They are trying to do the best they can to maintain their work functional and ideal. The main circumstance that hinders an even flow within the organization, is that they must constantly fight to be able to “survive” as an institution. The Honduran government does not support with even one cent, as there's almost no money for any non profit cultural or artistic movement that would benefit only the population. So our organization, as many others in this sector, depend on donations or products that can be sold for a good price. In order to obtain either donations or quality products, as for artistic presentations and community activities, the organization has to work hard and creatively.

This week they presented a spectacular new drama, called La ofrenda a Yaxché. It counts with gigantic puppets, amazing costumes and a profound story, as an adaption of the Popol Vuh, the Mayan Quiché book of creation. The drama reflects the creation of animals, spirits and humans - and finally tells us about the corruption of men, making the topic fit well into the context of the country and its situation.

Here are some pictures, taken during and after their last presentation.

Some art therapy impressions

Here's some artwork that clients made during individual and group's therapy. I gladly received the permission to publish these images on my blog.

1. A flower of emotions. Each petal represents a different emotion. The opposite petal represents the opposite emotion. Here's to say that there's no standard opposite. For some people love opposites hate, for other's love contrasts with indifference, the third makes love and hardheartedness a pair. So everyone's flower (star or circle) of emotion, is a very personal one:

2. Another circle of emotions:

3. Here's what somebody had on his mind, thinking about his personal dreams (left) and his day to day reality (right):

3. This is the reflection of a non-verbal communication between two people. One person painted brown and the other orange. Afterwards they painted light and dark green to create the frame:

4. The following three images for a triptych - the artist gave it the name: Cosas de la vida (Things of life):

5. This is one of the results of monotyping - an introduction activity for art therapy.

6. Here's how somebody expresses her fury:

7. Mi corazón de rencor (My heart full of anger):8. Some wishes for the future:

Campamento

Here are some pictures of our weekend action at the beginning of august. We organized a camp in order to stimulate and strengthen Arte Acción's teamwork. There were about 40 participants. Mostly, they enjoyed the pool and the place in nature - everyone relaxed and played all they could between the activities. All the activities, in order to enhance self- and group's reflection, were based on art therapy methods - or a general training methods, learned at ICCO's preperation course last year.

More Inauguration impressions

Santos juggling with appleballs...

Practicing and showing Batucada know-how...

Circus activities waiting to be executed!

My new colleague Sharon during the inauguration.

Arte Acción's new location

Yesterday was the inauguration of the new working space. There were interactive demonstrations of all creativity taking place in Arte Acción... Visitors could learn how to recycle bottles and other material that usually ends up as garbage. They could paint, drum and join the radio group. They could take home their own puppet, made of a paper-bag. Also, juggling techniques were introduced and people could experience how to walk on stilts. I offered a short session, presenting a common art-therapy method: painting on music.

It was a nice, colourful day - with not as many visitors as expected - yet we had a successful inauguration of the new space and a enjoyable meeting with friends and family of Arte Acción. The day was closed by a short but impressive parade in front of the office, followed by a nice acoustic concert, given by nationally well-known musicians. I think, thanks to this beautiful, refreshing day, next week, we'll work even more motivated and as a strong team.
Of course I hope the energy at work stays positive for longer! Maybe I can contribute to that by a retreat that we will soon organize to strengthen team-spirit and -function. I hope we can stay a night close to a national park, near the capital city, to breathe some fresh air and experience our team's abilities and weaknesses - outside our usual working location.
I will try to make a plan for this retreat together with my new colleague: Sharon. She's psychologist and will work as my direct counterpart. I am sure she will attribute lots of important actions to Arte Acción. For a long time, they've been looking for psychological support - for the target group and the team. Now she is finally there! Right now we are still in introduction phase, but I already feel relieved to finally find personal support in establishing the psychosocial component of Arte Acción.

Back in Honduras

We came back to Honduras as a family on april 23rd. Finally.

Now we are getting used to our old, new space - in new constellation, with new challenges, new hopes and motivation.
Arte Acción has also moved to a new place. Now there is a special room for art therapy only, providing space to work and privacy - at last!
My contract for ICCO has been prolonged another 6 months. I am preparing for 10 months of intensive work, as it is not so much time to complete all the aims that were sat up in the beginning of my contract.
This week, I will finish the installation of our new local. I will discuss my schedule with my colleagues and our target group... I'm looking forward to attend therapeutic processes again. Some of my old "clients" already expressed their need to go on with the experience that was never concluded last year, due to our evacuation.

Politically, the situation seems to have calmed down superficially. But in the end there are still many people who ask for a reform, who finally want their human rights to be respected. Repression and violence is also still going on. Especially where people are actively fighting for their rights, police and private security forces fight back violently. Several people, active in resistant groups, have been persecuted, tortured and even murdered.

Here are some links (alternative to the mainstream media) to follow the actual situation in the country, all in Spanish:
http://www.tercerainformacion.es
http://voselsoberano.com
http://ellibertador.hn/Nacional/3895.html

I hope to soon write more about my personal/professional advance with Arte Acción!

Evacuation & Maternity leave

Me and my little family (My husband Omar and a big belly by now) came back to Europe in october 2009.
At the end of december, my maternity-leave started officially. Now I am round, waiting for my first child to be born! We will hopefully be back in Honduras around the beginning of april, catching up with work and life on the other side of the big ocean. I am looking forward to carry on with my work as an art therapist. I think the young people who Arte Acción are working with, deserve more attention than ever in nower days. Things in Honduras seem to go on as usual, although last year has been an exceptional one - looking at the political situation. I am not sure if the political crisis is solved now... I'd hope that people get the chance to participate more actively in the democracy, in order to escape the deep poverty most of them live in. I hope there will not be any ongoing violence from any side - neither from the powerful militair nor from the poor rebels. We'll see.

How some artists deal with the tension in the country...

"In the battalion, they teach us about democracy from behind."



Instruments of repression. "Always have been the same shit"


THESE CARICATURES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE ANY OFFENSE -
- THEY ONLY REFLECT PERSONAL CATHARSIS OF THE ARTIST!

One month or Two

Finally I find the muse to write some lines again. First of all, I wanted to share some pictures – the last time I wrote too much text. So see below for some impressions of our last visit in San Rafael, which was in July.

And about the past month or two, what do I have to tell you?

Although the situation in Honduras keeps tense and the democratic orden has not been reestablished yet, we try to live our lives as usual...

We attended some concerts of resistance - where lots of artists, national and international, sing, act, play, present poetry or other works – to animate the people and to give a good example of how to peacefully defeat and defend ourselves against the military- / elite- regime that is ruling this country. You can see some impressions of the last cultural events with a clear message: “Voces contra el golpe” (Voices against the Coup)

Right at this moment, the military is celebrating on one side of the city – while the resistant folks is manifesting on the other side. Since yesterday we hear bombs going off every once in awhile. The military seems to be very proud of some old cannons they have – they fired them even in the middle of the night, I woke up by their sounds. It's supposed to be tradition... There's constant helicopter-sound in the air and a little while ago some war-jets circled above the city, showing off their speed and irritating with their deafening noise.

Today, the fifteenth of september, is Honduran “independence day” - usually the military is accompanied by many curious spectators, today they seem to be rather by themselves, most of the people attend the anti-military-manifestation in the center of the city. Arte Acción and its Batucada (Brazilian Drums) is taking position with the people today.

Arte Acción is trying to make this city at least a little more colourful by stimulating the youth to create beautiful arts – and to create themselves in a different way.

Regarding my work, I feel that the ongoing therapeutic activities have a profound effect by now and that my position within Arte Acción is being appreciated more and more. For example, I am given more space and time for various actions – to work with a bigger group of young people, to acquire a better working place with more privacy etc.

Above you see some girls during a latest group activity. Beneath you see some of the girls at their final exposition to reflect on a succesfull art therapy proces:

I am happy about another change in my working atmosphere: Finally we found a Honduran psychologist who works as my direct counterpart since the first of september. Together we will develop groupactivities to treat basic human values and behavior. We'll explain the human development from a psychosocial point of view, making use of creative activities in order to experiment the meaning and importance of having a self-concept and self-confidence; of real communication and reconciliation among other topics...

The psychologist is a motivated young, yet experienced, woman whom I really like to work with. She complements my practical ideas with theoretical, psychological background information and gives the final “Honduran” touch to our common activities, so its content is really understandable for the young people we work with.

I was surprised and happy how well our first activity went last wednesday. Her way of presenting theoretical information is cited by lots of daily-life examples – spoken out in a spontaneous way – she is ready to put herself in the shoes of the youth, using their way of speaking and interacting constantly with them.

I hope Maria Elena, that is her name, will stay with Arte Acción for a good period of time. She seems to be a perfect candidate for carrying out some seriously necessary psychosocial work within the organization.

Visiting San Rafael - July 2010