Join us as we create an artistic arena for adults with special needs on Roatan!
The birds were singing along with the music from the radio in a house window. The fair breeze played around the house corners before sweeping through the masts and riggings of the shrimp trawlers that swayed at the docks below Cattleya Education Center. Somewhere beyond fair, sunny weather, far out, hurricane “Beryl”, currently a category 3, is marching our way over the ocean and grows fast.
Today is not just any day. It's “Activity Day” with arts and crafts for adults, a special event with eight participants with special needs, hosted by The Rotary Club of Roatan Utila Guanaja and supported by volunteers. The purpose? To provide a day of fun activities, all in the company of friends and supporters. Their next of kin, primarily mothers, are also here, adding to the sense of community.
The hurricane is not today's concern. Now it is socializing, learning, having a drink and a few slices of pizza, before finishing it off with a delicious cupcake baked by Olga, Jastin’s mother. All in good company with friends and supporters. It was also time to do some singalong in the middle of it.
Local artist Gildo Silvestri demonstrates the technique called “paint dropping.” Syringes filled with different colors are used to splatter the paint on the canvas in whatever combination the artist wants.
Art was also created that day. The participants chose different solutions and made fabulous paintings. Their parents were pleased, as they now have new knowledge that they can use to facilitate for their children.
Cattleya Education Center currently does not offer adults any training due to the lack of capacity, but the President of the Board of Directors, Roger Bjoroy-Karlsen, aims to integrate training for them throughout their lifetime.
“It is necessary to expand this kind of training and stimulation, but we need more space and resources. Today, we do not have the capacity to help everyone that needs it, and the waiting list is growing, even for the young children”
says the President.
The Rotary Club arranges and sponsors these days every second month.
“We are here to help as much as we can,”
says Angela Claire Bjoroy-Karlsen, the club's president. She is in charge of planning these days and making them happen, and she is well supported by club members and other volunteers. The Rotary Club's dedication to these events is unwavering, and our support seems invaluable.
Angela is happy to see how each and every one of the participants has grown over time and how they believe more in themselves.
“It is nice to experience that our achievements give results,” is her conclusion.
The participants and their next of kin were thankful for the artistic event, which was a beacon of light. Many of them are well aware that they will again have monotonous days in an empty house, as their family members need to go to work and thus are absent. Let’s hope that there will be a better solution for them all in the near future!
Photographs: Connie Silvestri, Earl Harcrow, and Roger Bjoroy-Karlsen
