TICAH@20 Special Feature

✨ Introducing the Braid Fund Grantees ✨

For the past 20 years, TICAH has celebrated and supported the arts in Kenya through our programming and partnerships. This year, the year we turned 20 years old, we piloted the Braid Fund: The Braid Fund sees the health of the art, culture and cultural heritage sector and its contributions to wider society as a weaving of elements:  our disciplines, our practitioners, and our communities. Learn more about the Fund here.

Today, we're excited to introduce you to our Champion and Collaboration & Completion grantees. These remarkable individuals and their projects are here to sprinkle some stardust on your day and remind you why Africa's cultural tapestry is as vibrant as a box of crayons.
 

If you’re in Nanyuki, make sure to check out this exhibition opening on 24 November!

Healthy Households: Strengthening Child Protection through Murals and our Interschool Forum

We’ve been busy scaling up our child protection activities this year!

As part of our Healthy Households Program, we work in schools to increase knowledge of children about their rights and values, ultimately strengthening their voice and agency as well as collective action. This month, we engaged over 400 learners to jointly create five murals in primary schools in Majengo, Mlango Kubwa and Kawangware. The children create drawings that reflect their learnings on child protection. They vote which mural to paint with support from our artists. The murals then serve as a reminder of their learnings, and also engage children who have not been part of the program to learn.

Learning does not have to be boring! We also hosted an interschool forum that brought together more than eleven school, creating a space for children to interact, build new friendships, learn, and share what they have been doing in school and at home with clear reflections on children's rights. Through games, we re-energized and affirmed our collectiveness in ensuring all children have accurate and age-appropriate information on their rights, values, and well-being.

IKC: Impressions from Attending Kenya’s largest Indigenous Women Conference

In September, TICAH attended the 8^th Annual Indigenous Women Conference in Isiolo County. The 8th Annual Conference brought attention to the stories and realities shared by indigenous women on land use and climate change, culminating in a call to action to increase  women’s voices in land and property rights, to develop a behavioral adaptation strategy on climate change for the indigenous community, to increase awareness on climate justice, to understand the realities indigenous women face, and to categorically recognize indigenous women’s efforts in negotiating land rights and mitigating climate change. Our team member Carol Ngala shared her reflections on our blog. 

OBOC: School Sexuality Program Graduation 

This month, our adolescents and youth sexuality program held its annual graduation ceremony within Nairobi informal settlements where the program is being implemented. The auspicious ceremony held in 14 Primary and Secondary Schools located in Kawangware, Korogocho, Majengo, Viwandani, Kibera and Huruma had a total of 513 graduates who successfully participated in the 10-month structured Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) sessions. Some of the students from Adventures Pride Primary school shared the following poem with us:
 
“TICAH, do you know how good you are to us?
 We did not know how to make decisions by ourselves, now we can do it,
 wow, we will never forget your gracious lessons.
 
TICAH, do you know how good you are to us?
Our self-esteem was low, we could not express ourselves before people,
now we can stand and talk before people, this is because of you TICAH,
wow, we will never forget your gracious lessons.
 
TICAH, do you know how good you are to us?
Now we can fight for our rights,
No one can snatch our rights away from us, this is because of you TICAH,
wow, we will never forget your gracious lessons.
 
TICAH do you know how good you are to us?
Now we can have healthy relationship with others, and avoid unhealthy relationship with others, this is because of you TICAH,
wow, we will never forget your gracious lessons.
 
TICAH, do you know how good you are to us?
Now we have perfect knowledge on sexual reproductive health and rights,
to sum it up TICAH,
We will never forget you now or in future to come, you have made us who we are, We now understand our values and will teach others to also learn what you have taught us.
wow, we will never forget your gracious lessons.”

 

Art with Heart Guest blog: Vulnerability is Key

Interested to hear what our participating artists have to share about our Rika Residencies? Read reflections by Sitawa Namwalie about our last Rika Residency and the story of creating ESCAPE The Musical.
 
Our Rika Residencies are artist-led residency program where artists of different generations and practices create together and discuss topics important to the health of the arts community in Kenya.