Kathy Brandon, an art teacher at Jack Jackter Intermediate School in Colchester, Connecticut, was part of the August 2011 Restavec Freedom Alliance Mission Trip team. Kathy and her school students have been working on art projects all year to support the children in our program. We talked about Kathy and her students in a previous article, Kathy Brandon : A Hero at Heart .
Kathy began a program at her school called “Clay Aid.” In this program, children make clay heart pendants and sell them for a profit. The profits then go directly to RFA. To date, more than $2,300 has been raised.
Another part of the Clay Aid curriculum has her students “buddy” up with a child in RFA. All of the students in Kathy’s class wrote a special story and made a pendant for their buddy in Haiti. The stories, pendants and photographs of them were then presented to the children in Chantal, Haiti. In exchange for their work, the children in Haiti made wonderful pendants for her students as a way to say thanks and open a channel between the two cultures, enabling the children and communities of both to develop an understanding of each other.
Throughout the week Kathy and the children completed many art activities. They colored in coloring books with crayons, sketched with sharpies, made masks and colored them with markers, and finally, completed the clay necklace pendant project.
Throughout the week Kathy and the children completed many art activities. They colored in coloring books with crayons, sketched with sharpies, made masks and colored them with markers, and finally, completed the clay necklace pendant project.