Small Art, Big Heart #'s 1-4
Featuring 4 Permaculture Activists from Kenya, Uganda & Malawi
Just over a week ago, I launched this Substack with the aim of lifting up - through art and storytelling - the work of dozens (yes dozens!) of community organizers, farmers, trainers, artisans and teachers in Africa who are changing the lives of others and improving their communities. These ChangeMakers, despite their daily struggles to make ends meet, are making measurable impacts through ingenuity, resourcefulness, and collaboration.
Their stories and the people who have inspired them often go unnoticed and untold. RainMakers & ChangeMakers is my way of giving back, using my limited skills as an artist and storyteller, to bring their work to a larger audience.
Starting June 1st, I began my “Small Art Big Art” art and storytelling series. I launched it then to coincide with the Index-Card-A-Day Instagram Art Challenge and the 1,000 Words of Summer challenge by
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Meet Omito, Kulaba, David & Tesfahun
To date, I have crafted four posts highlighting four ChangeMakers and the people who have influenced them or changed their lives (perhaps my favorite part of this project).
Each post (see thumbnail links provided below) includes an ink and colored pencil sketch by me, pictures provided by the ChangeMaker, a “Where in the World” map, and a personal biography that I wrote with their input and approval. Each post lives independently on my Substack but are collected on one page called the RainMakers & ChangeMakers Directory tab at the top of this Substack Site.
What is materializing before my eyes is a visual map of a large network of interrelated humans whose reach and impact goes much further than I ever imagined!
Click on Each Post for Full Story
Omito Abraham Owuor, K5Village
omito Abraham owuor, age 33, is a permaculture qualified trained teacher and a founder of the farming group and project K-5 village project. in Homa Bay, Kenya. I chose Omito Abraham Owuor as the first of 61 RainMakers & ChangeMakers because he and I have a longstanding RainMaker/ChangeMaker relationship, dating back to 2018. After supporting a fundraiser that my cousin st…
Kulaba Ezekiel, Iganga Women & Youth Centre
June 2, 2024 is Day 2 / 61 of the Index-Card-A-Day (ICAD) Instagram drawing challenge. It represents the second installment of the RainMakers & ChangeMakers Small Art Big Heart art and writing series. Meet my friend, Kulaba Ezekiel, the founder of Iganga Women & Youth Resource Centre in Iganga, Uganda. Kulaba and I are both active members of the “Africa …
David Otieno, Kotengu Village Farming Project
Meet David Otieno, a 24-year old certified permaculturist living in Homa Bay, Western Kenya (scroll down for the map!). Before we continue with the introduction, I want to thank Ted Schmidt, founder of the Africa Permaculture Support Network and David’s friend, mentor, and advocate, for filling out the details of David’s story.
Tesfahun Fitamo, Hope for Ethiopia Permaculture Project
This is Tesfahun Fitamo. Tesfahun in Amharic means “Be Hopeful.” Fitamo means “With Flower.” And, that he is. Tesfahun is a passionate Permaculturist, Syntropic Agroforestry* farmer, trainer of trainers, and CEO and Farm Manager of Hope for Community Permaculture Project
Reflections
As I wrote in my introductory post called “Small Art - Big Heart”, “art is the most basic form of human expression. It has the power to communicate, connect, heal, create community, and change our lives and the lives of others. Art tells stories - the story of the artist and their subject. Art is a way to communicate what we value, fear, love, and hope for. Art, even the simplest art with singular symbols or icons, can convey big ideas. Art is for everyone: young, old and in between, encouraging inter-generational relationships and understanding.”
Now that I have sketched and written about four individuals, the people they impact, and the person who influenced them, I realize that this project is so much more than what I thought it was going to be when I started.
Art & StoryTelling Honors the Individual
First, drawing a portrait demands attention. The shape of the eye, the placement of the lips, the shape of the jaw, the expression on the face - all of it, requires concentration and attention.
Second, crafting a cohesive story about someone that is something more than a list of facts and attributes requires time and effort. It demands listening as well as curating: picking out the details that make a person unique and shining a light on aspects that might otherwise go unnoticed or that they themselves might not consider were they to write their own story.
Ultimately, the act of drawing another person and being entrusted to tell and share their story is profound. Not only am I seeing and listening, but they are being seen and heard, one of the most fundamental human needs and desires. We all want to be seen. We all want to be heard. We all want to be understood.
In these last four days, as I looked and listened, drew and wrote, I found myself deeply touched by the act of honoring the uniqueness and individuality of another human being. Someone who has never before existed; and someone who shall never exist again.
Thank you to Omito Abraham, Kulaba, David, and Tesfahun for trusting me to share your stories. And, thank you all for taking some time to get to know these ChangeMakers!