¡Qué Chivo!

I never thought I’d describe my art as being goat-like, but “chivo” is definitely the word to explain what’s been happening in the Children’s Crisis Shelter. Here in El Salvador, if you think anything is cool, impressive, or just dang ol’ enjoyable, you’d probably exclaim, “Qué chivo!” Hopefully you can say the same thing as you see the lunchroom mural that the girls at CIPI have been working on.
First of all, I need to say that this mural project was already in great demand before I got here. Marielos, the director at CIPI, has been waiting for HELP International to come this summer so that we can once again create projects to empower these teenage girls and she felt a mural would help accomplish that goal. Alex, a BYU student volunteering here, has done all the knitty gritty so that all I need to do is design and head the project. After a lot of looking around at other murals, creating questionnaires for the girls, drawing up millions of designs (four, actually), and talking to a local artist, the project was ready to start.

We began by applying a base coat of white acrylic paint.

The next step was taking off all the paint we’d put on. And some people chose to use machetes. It turned out that the paint was lifting off the wall in large bubbles so we had to strip the whole wall down to the cement.

Three days later, NOW we’re ready to apply the base coat. And this time, it’s a silicone-based little number that will hopefully prevent future break-outs. Of water.

Blanca, Blanca, Yahira, Karen, and Samaria were the regulars in this process of preparation and painting. Here you can see Blanca looking over the design, giving it her slouch of approval.

Yahira is tracing part of the projected image while Jaclyn, a HELP volunteer, draws her own little diddy.
Finally we got the entire thing drawn up.

And day after day, a new group of HELP volunteers came ready to work, applying paint section by section. I was expecting to paint, but most of my efforts for the first three days of the paint was spent guiding people on how to paint, where to paint, which colors to mix, and trying to keep each volunteer busy with stuff to do—that and, of course, sneaking up behind them while they strain to keep their balance on a ladder. Here are pictures of the process.

Today is the final day to paint. Monday will be the inauguration for the project where all the workers and girls will come and eat in the cafeteria for lunch and look at the beauty of a “goat-like” mural.
I’m going over there right now to put on the final touches and as I reflect on the past two weeks where I’ve been so blessed to work on such a huge stressful project, I think a lot about how God must feel as our Creator. How did he organize His efforts so perfectly to create such a beautiful earth? And how must He feel now that His greatest creations, you and I, are living here and surrounded by such great beauty? I can’t even begin to explain the profound love that I now feel for each one of the girls here at CIPI while working on the mural with them. I’m so in love with this mural also. But even more beautiful than the product has been the process. I love the mural so much because it represents the frustration that each volunteer felt as she/he struggled with oil paint, the excitement she/he felt as a new technique was discovered without Jeanette’s help, the sheer thrill that the girls expressed as they walked in the door everyday begging for a paint brush, and the tender mercies of the Lord that helped us all get along despite differences.
If this goat isn’t empowering, I don’t know what is.