Over the past couple of months the Special Unit at City Primary School has grown as several fantastic children have joined the group. All of them excitedly continue their journey of expression through paint. Their concentration is extraordinary and their growth as artists is unexpected and phenomenal. The children are commonly seen as having nothing to offer and yet we have experienced just the opposite. Some of them are treated cruelly and exploited at home. We have heard stories of several of them being tethered to a table. Many are trained as house help. Since January we have observed major transformations in many of the children. One of the most striking changes is in Fahima, previously a withdrawn, miserable looking girl who rarely smiled or painted. Six months later her eyes are sparkling and she reaches out to others with a big smile. Fahima is thrilled with her creations and regularly screams, "Ona! Ona! Ona!" which means, "Look! Look! Look!" in Swahili.
We were warned that the children don’t like to be touched, yet our experience is open arms and big hugs.