“What I liked best to do was the crab”, says Gabriel, one of the 20 kids who participated on the morning of Thursday February 11 in an Origami Workshop in the Art and Education House, the educational unit of the House Light on the Hill, an entity affiliated to the Fraternidade – International Humanitarian Federation. The activity is part of the classes of Art-therapy offered every Thursday to the little ones of the town of Carmo da Cachoeira, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
This time, they were supposed to make mini-origamis in the form of little sea animals. These figures were used to decorate the individual paper bag in which each student will place all the drawings that throughout the year they have prepared so that, finally, at the end of the activities, they will participate in an exhibition of the works.
The workshop was coordinated by Carmen Ura, a volunteer from the city of Bauru, state of Sao Paulo, who, from time to time gets away to Carmo da Cachoeira to collaborate with the House of Light on the Hill. She started the meeting sharing, as an introduction, an illustrated Japanese tale about a princess who had traved to the bottom of the sea to visit the little animals that live there. Having been immersed in the sea atmosphere, the children started to apply the origami techniques that the instructor taught, step by step, with the support of other two volunteers.
Model of bag decorated with the origamis of the children from Art and Education House.
“This artisanal technique helps the children develop concentration, motor coordination, channel the energies and calm restlessness and anxiety”, explains Carmen. All in a playful and entertaining way for them. “To me the most beautiful was to manage to make the crab, because it was the hardest to do”, adds Gabriel, who clarifies, when he introduces himself, that he has the name of an archangel and that he loves difficult challenges. João Otavio, who shares the table with Gabriel, informs that to him the most difficult part was “folding the paper, then opening it and forming the triangle”. In the meantime, Luis, with a lot of innocence and shyness, says he enjoyed making a necktie a lot.
The Origami classes are alternated every other Thursday morning with painting on canvas classes and in other hours with workshops of kirigami and other artisanal techniques. The children also receive music and choir classes, besides English and school help in Mathematics. 48 kids are enrolled in the Art and Education House in the morning hours (from 8 a.m. thru 11 a.m.) and 30 in the afternoon (from 2 p.m. thru 4 p.m.).
