A Gioia Story
The orphanage and all of Eastern Samar was dealing with the devastating aftermath of super-typhoon Haiyan, the largest and most powerful tropical storm ever recorded. The Sisters were in the process of rebuilding. The mission home was undergoing many repairs. I was treated to an afternoon of visiting and playing with the children including lunchtime. Ain Karim is a happy home for children who are orphaned, and children with special needs, as well as a short-term and long-term haven for children and young girls whose families are navigating a temporary crisis.
INVITATION
The story of GioiaARTS is a mission story. All mission stories begin with an invitation. I met Sr. Rubi Arellano Estandarte, SSV after morning Mass in the Eastern Samar Provincial Hospital in Borongan City, Eastern Samar, Philippines in 2016. I was in Borongan serving on a short-term mission with the Diocese of Joliet, Illinois’ Partnership in Mission Team. I replied with an emphatic “YES!”, to her invitation to visit the Ain Karim Children Home. Sr. Rubi, and her fellow Sisters Servants of the Visitation, live with the children in their care at their Mission Aid Home in Barangay Bato, Borongan City.
A promise to make a return visit in 2017 led to forming a plan to paint the Ain Karim playground wall the following year. The Diocese of Joliet also said "YES!" by supporting the project as part of the Partnership in Mission Team Outreach Program for 2018. They committed to help provide much-needed paint brushes, paint, tarps, and artists.
TRANSFORMATION
2018 The Creation Wall : If you build it, we will paint it!
The playground mural project was a year in the making. This land pictured above was designated as the new playground for the Ain Karim children. Sr. Rubi, with help from funding by Caritas Germany, transformed this uneven area into a safe playscape for young children. But her vision for the children was not yet complete. This is where the missioners from the Diocese of Joliet stepped in by sponsoring the painting of a Creation Story. A storybook of seven murals for the playground. began in February 2018, While painting between the raindrops - several missioners, along with Our Lady of the Visitation Youth Organization, the SSV Sisters, teens and Oikos co-workers from the Poor Household of God Mission, Ain Karim teens, and Bato neighbors worked together for three weeks to transform the walls. It was a heroic team effort to bring the wall to life. Despite the difficulties posed by rainy weather, a rainbow of paint colors brought out the silver lining. The project united and uplifted the community; a community healing and building a new future for their children after Haiyan. Who knew surgical gowns make great tarps and raincoats and painting together would create so much hope and increased sense of pride of place for the community? The challenges of executing this mural project were met with inspiring determination, smiles, and creative problem-solving. Even though the missioners had to return home, the mission continued and the mural was completed by the OLVYO Youth Group during their summer vacation. Thank You to Borongan Paint Center for all their patience and assistance with creating paint colors and donating brushes!!
Ain Karim Home for Children and Girls, Barangay Bato, Borongan, Eastern Samar, Philippines. Many hands get the job done! Thank you Diocese of Joliet, Illinois Partnership in Mission for your support!!
The whole community created a visually stimulating playscape. The Creation Story in seven panels animates scripture for the children and completes the playground at Ain Karim. (February 2018)
HOPE AND JOY
2019 The Wall of Hope: "Let the little children come to me" ~Matthew 19:14
The following January I returned to Bato as a guest of the SSV Sisters and children of Ain Karim to oversee a second community mural project. This new mural on the newly renovated grounds of the new OLVYO Youth Center is dedicated to The Holy Spirit and called The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit must have really wanted this project completed because he kept sending small children to get the job done. Over forty children and twenty adults and teens worked on this mural over four weeks. It was an extraordinary experience to create such a large project with a workforce made up predominantly of nine to twelve-year-old children! They worked tirelessly, returning every day to work on their painting with discipline, enthusiasm, and joy so great it would inspire the angels.
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The joy that enveloped these two art-making experiences inspired the idea that completion of the mural should not be the end of art-making for these children. It must be a beginning. It was apparent the children needed simple materials and opportunity to learn and play through art and they also needed a safe, dedicated art-making space.
I asked the question, "Across the mission landscape, whereby missions provide security, healthcare, nutrition, spiritual guidance, clothing, and education to at-risk children and youth, is there room for arts education? Is there room for an art day camp or for an arts after-school program?" This time I received the emphatic, "YES!" from Sr. Rubi.
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EDUCATION, SKILLS, AND FUN
Project GioiaARTS Room; What is the name of that building?
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Sr. Rubi answered my question by finding a space to convert into an art studio for the children. An underutilized space with an existing water line was identified as a potential art studio space. When I asked Sr. Rubi the name of the building proposed to house the new art studio, she replied, "Gioia Building." I asked what does Gioia mean? To which she replied, "It is Italian, It means JOY!" We looked at each other and exclaimed, "GIOIAARTS!"
In that moment GioiaARTS was born! The concept of a nonprofit organization dedicated to maintaining a supply of art materials to mission communities serving children and youth is now a reality! GioiaARTS is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization. The first GioiaARTS Room, a creative art studio for children and teens, will be built at Ain Karim Children's Home in Bato in 2020. Art supplies are already on their way to the Philippines via cargo ship.
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[Update: See how the program has progressed this year on The Field Report and Picture, Picture pages
and by following our GIOIAARTS Facebook page.]
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