Mural at the Case de Tout Petits

So it's March now....I've been here for almost seven months! Wow! Go me! I have finally completed a project.  It was a very small, side project, but it was very fun.  When I first installed at my site, I spent about a month going around Kounkane and introducing myself to people and organizations. I had spent a lot of my first month at the Case Foyer de Femmes and Case de Tout Petits (they are technically the same building) getting to know the employees and students that attend the school.  One of the things that was requested from me at the Case de tout petits (daycare equivalent) was an alphabet so that the students could learn the French letters.  So in February, I started the mural at the daycare.  I did an alphabet with a picture on each letter, and I also did the numbers one through ten with pictures that correspond to the amount of the number.  It was my first mural I've ever done, and I had a lot of fun doing it!  Unfortunately for me, I was never blessed with the ability to draw well.  The number mural I did all by myself, so I only painted things I knew I could draw somewhat decent, like clouds and smiley faces.  To my embarrassment, the students still really didn't know what some of the pictures were.  They didn't know what the clouds were, or smiley faces (I told them they were balls), the hearts or the flowers too. Wow! But I have to say my chickens and butterflies came out quite nicely.  The students also call the apple a mango or sometimes an orange. hahaha! It's pretty amusing.

The number mural I painted! :)

For the alphabet mural, I had to bring in some help.  Again, with limited drawing skills I had no idea how I was going to be able to draw animals?  So my friend Charlene, and fellow volunteer from Saare Abadou came to Kounkane for 2 days and helped me draw and paint the alphabet mural.  Charlene is very talented!  Our mural is beautiful and the kids loved it!  They like to look at it and name the things in the pictures :) Thanks Charlene, I couldn't have done it without you!

Charlene showin off our mural!

 I am so proud of our work! But two murals was enough for me.  I had a lot of fun spending a few days painting (it was slightly theraputic), but in the end, it's a lot of work, especially for someone like myself who is creatively challenged :) I really think the kids will get some good use out of it, inchallah :) So one project down, and many many more to start.  Getting started is the hardest part :)  Until the next post..... Happy March! :)

Yea! Me and the alphabet mural!