Maker’s affair from the Eyes of a Child

Every child is born with the creative genius element in them which needs to be identified and nurtured at an early stage either in school or at home. Creativity starts at the point where imagination and curiosity meet supported by the next action of inspiration and fun.

The long school holiday is here with us and most children, especially from marginalized or disadvantaged families won’t have that ‘quality’ time with their parents or guardians either because of lack of finances to take that dream trip or parents / guardians occupied in their busy work schedule etc.

The question is, how are we going to engage your children during the festive season? 

Most schools will close from next week October and will open around the first week of January 2020 while this a great time to bond with our sons and daughters most families find it tough to plan for this occasion that  end up in a lot of random activities whilst saving for this occasion is a mirage due to challenging economic times.

During the festive season there exists great opportunity to innovate or create fun activities for the children and their parents / guardians. On my side, I will be organizing a two weeks soccer tournament for U10 and U12 in Mathare North as part of my contribution in promoting safe space for children through soccer during the festive season.

On the flip side spending time with your family doesn’t have to be an expensive undertaking, there are many indoor and outdoor activities that we can do within our limited time and resources.

Think about this, what can you do with more than one hundred clothes pegs, small container or bucket? 

This is the question that flashed in my mind when I came in contact with the pegs and the containers while doing the laundry.

 "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Einstein "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." – Einstein 

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Einstein 

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." – Einstein "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." - Einstein

 As a photographer, I have come to learn how to connect with my environment while creating those memorable moments through my lens either with a mobile phone or DSLR camera. My learning doesn’t stop at the point of knowledge, but my curiosity and imagination drives me to relate with both seen and unseen moments as a result awakening my next level of creativity.

Today’s piece of work was inspired by the love for Africa and thinking of what I would wish for my daughter and many millions of children around the African continent and beyond. Below is the result of my work with my daughter Debrah who is 3 years.

I focused on a combination of Photography, Design, and Empathy. Children learn very fast and in their world, there are no mistakes, parents need to keep a keen eye not to kill the creativity in them through worries, tough rules or lack of enough exposure and guidance.

Children learn from any moment and so are the adults, the only difference is that in the child’s world they get to explore more unless interrupted, while on the adult’s mind within their exploration exits many interruptions from every stage.

Here is what I was able to achieve with my daughter focusing on Photography, Design and Empathy!

Debrah is 3 years and already showing great interest in drawing and photography.