Dear First name / friend of Harmbee Arts

Healing Begins When Someone Feels Seen

 

"I'm lonely."

 

An eleven-year-old girl receiving cancer treatment at Kenyatta National Hospital quietly told me, "No one comes to talk to me anymore because all my friends have died."

 

So we painted.

 

Flowers. Butterflies. Hearts. Then I asked her if she would like to try something together. She smiled, and said, “yes.” “How about we paint something in honor of your friends who have died? And this is what she made: 

I asked her what she loved about Dora, and her response: “She was the kindest person I have known.” Then, “I am tired now.”

 

For a little while, the hospital disappeared, and she was simply a little girl creating art.

After nearly twenty years with Harambee Arts, I continue to learn the same lesson:

 

Healing begins when someone feels seen.

 

This month we've seen that happen with children, teenagers, parents, women in prison, and now children facing cancer.

 

Perhaps what gives me the greatest hope is that half of our facilitators first came to Harambee Arts as children themselves. Today they have returned as leaders, creating the same love and belonging they once experienced.

 

Thank you for making moments like these possible.

 

 

Every Saturday we meet with teenagers from Kibera and Mathare  slums who are helping us create something extraordinary.

 

Tuko Pamoja is a mental health workbook created by teenagers, for teenagers.

 

Every page grew from their own experiences of loneliness, anxiety, peer pressure, grief, hope, and resilience.

 

This isn't a workbook about young people.

 

It is a workbook written with them.

 

Now we need your help.

 

Our goal is to raise $12,000 to print the workbook, expand our teen support groups, train facilitators, and place Tuko Pamoja in the hands of young people who need to know they are not alone.

 

We also hope this workbook becomes something much bigger than Kenya. Our dream is that young people around the world will one day create their own versions, sharing the same message across cultures:

 

 

Tuko Pamoja. We Are Together.

*Pictured above are some of the teens who participated in the Tuko Pamoja project

Thank you for believing in the work of Harambee Arts and for walking alongside us. Together, we are creating places where people feel seen, heard, and valued.

 

With gratitude,

 

Gloria Simoneaux

Founder, Harambee Arts

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