Kenyan Children & Youth Acquire a Space to Create During COVID -19

Authors

• Lucy N. Mugambi University of Arizona

DOI: https://doi.org/10.54916/rae.119521

Keywords:

COVID-19, WhatsApp, art-education, social engagement, art practice

Abstract

COVID-19 brought along myriad problems making it difficult especially for parents and school-going children in Kenya. It produced conditions not only for children’s interrupted learning but also conditions for mental and physical health challenges for children and youth. In mid-March 2020, Kenya, like many countries was caught unaware by the COVID-19 situation. This meant that the Kenyan government did not have proper guidelines in place to take care of the needs of the children who had to stay home for an indefinite length of time after the lockdown. Many parents, therefore, had to look for creative, alternative means of taking care, educating, and keeping their children busy and mentally healthy while at home. This paper explores a pedagogical project, which arose out of a graduate school course, grounded in public pedagogy, and socially engaged art practice in the Spring of 2020/2021. As an art educator, I used WhatsApp mobile App as a pedagogical tool to instruct the students while in their homes. The students expressed moments of rapture, renewed creative drive, great social engagement, and discovery of locally available resources for art-making. I propose the inclusion of multidimensional methods of instruction in and out of school art practice.