The Memory Project

CIS Secondary School Visual Arts students recently participated in a global initiative called the Memory Project to help make a small change in the lives of less fortunate children in Colombia.

The Memory Project invites art teachers and their students to create portraits of children that face neglect, abuse, loss of parents, violence, or extreme poverty. The aim is to help these children through the creation of their portraits, to feel valued and important, and to know that many people care about their well being. For the art students, the initiative offers them a great opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness.

CIS visual arts students were connected with a school in a remote village in Colombia. We received 25 photos of their 4 year-old students and every Wednesday, over the course of 9 weeks, reproduced these photos through drawings and paintings. Once all the portraits were complete, we then mailed them to the Memory Project's head office in Chicago. From there, they were shipped to the
school where volunteers from a local university dressed up as superheroes and hand-delivered the portraits to each student.

Watching a video of the children's happiness when they received their portraits was very rewarding. Our students were thrilled that their simple gesture which they had lots of fun doing, was able to touch the children's lives and make them feel so special. The reaction also inspired them (and their peers!) to participate in several other service-led activities in Singapore and globally. We look forward to telling you about these in the next edition!