Skill-UP Children And Teens Edition

The aim of children and teens master session is to use art to teach life-skills and create a platform that the children and teens will express themselves freely (safe space) on matters that affects their well-being in terms of pursuing their talents, education, handling different life conflicts etc. This platform creates an avenue for the participants to interact with mentors and coaches who are well versed with matters to do with children’s / youth / teen’s overall development. Our mentors have the right qualifications and many years of experience in the subject matter. 

 – Safe space, Open dialogue, mental health, psychosocial support & visual arts dubbed, in the mind of a young person. Theme based on: See / Feel / Interact / Share

Our Main Objectives 

1.  To encourage the participants to envisage a world of many possibilities in the right direction through what they do. 
2.  To organize master sessions for coaching, open dialogue and creative arts as seen in the eyes and mind of a young person. 

Vision :- A safe society for all inspired by what we do. 

Mission:- We contribute positively to children and teens chosen journeys through mentorship, visual arts, games and life-skills training. 

Problem description 

There has been an influx of young people roaming the streets anyhow. Young people around 13 – 19 years are at higher risk of indulging in the behavior’s such as alcoholism, drugs and substance abuse, that pose a great threat for their well being and the general society in terms of crime rate and school dropouts among others issues. 

We see a society where at the earliest stage young people lack mentorship program that would engage them on issues to do with building sustainable values, talent management, activity planning, handling peer pressure, hygiene etc.,

We have heard stories of an increased crime rate as perpetuated by younger people who are mostly not fully engaged in meaningful activities when out of school. The skill-up master session will try to fill the gap by working with organized groups to make it easy to track the participants to the levels of engaging their guardians and parents. 

The skills they will acquire will build onto what they are already doing in different spaces. 

 “Young people have great potentials, they only need mentors and coaches to keep their train on the right rails through mentorship, training and coaching. We can’t expect a big number of young people to excel in randomness especially out of school.” – Wilson Masaka Wilsen Initiative (Wi) founder & throughMylens 

 Who can join? 

1.  Both boys and girls between 13 – 19 years. 
2. A young person who is already engaged in other recognized spaces or well organized groups for example community organization, community libraries, soccer teams, church groups etc. 
3.  Children 10 – 12 years, must be accompanied with a parent or guardian. 

Why Visual Arts?  

 Arts helps children and youth develop important skills, for example critical thinking, problem solving, self expression, self awareness, and creativity which can be a good outlet to help them relieve stress. 

All this acquired skills and knowledge can be applied in / out of schools and can help the participants make informed decisions. 

How to provide life-skill through art and dialogue? 

The CHALLENGE 

 The participants are given a topic of concern for example Covid-19 which they will be required to express its impact as seen by them in an artistic form. 

The participants will design their own unique compositions in relation to the subject matter using available simple tools and materials The master trainer will lead an exercise that defines a problem and together the participants will develop a solution. 

On the other hand, there will be discussions on emerging trends that the children / youth should be aware of as destructive elements that can block them from achieving their desired future for example explicit music content, drug abuse, alcoholism etc. 

Our Mentors & Coaches

To achieve this we always work with the best and passionate artist, for example Patrick Mukabi a renowned international artist based in Kenya with many years of experience working with children, youth and emerging artists of any age. 

We thank everyone who made the session at Oasis Mathare a success on 16th January 2021. Below are picture of today.