What an idea! What an ingenuous form of expression: to have 100 orphan children deposit their emotions on canvas, painting pictures that could only be birthed from the pain and hope they felt January 12th on. The hardship they had just been through would give them a gift. But it took a team of visionaries (life for the world) to bring this gift stateside and offer us yet another opportunity to reach out and touch the Haitian people.
As I stood in the Rogue Space | Chelsea last night, surrounded by the art painted by those children I couldn't help but feel like I was in Haiti because in as sense I was: surrounded by it's children.
"We went down right after to bring food, clothes, personal doctors and rebuild the orphanage." Said Paulo Thomas one of Life for the world's members. "We took lots of pictures and planned to exhibit them to raise funds but when we got back to NY we had another idea". The idea was simple: give the children an opportunity to process the horrific event they had been through via paint and auction off their artwork to raise money.
And off they went. They purchased hundreds of canvases, paint, paint brushes and brought them to the children. All of this to rebuild their school which was also their home destroyed by the earthquake. Home built thanks to the love of one man, Life for the world's founder Michael Fedele.
In photo: Michael with Maranatha orphans.
In photo: Michael with Maranatha orphans.
In his own words: "Life for the world is about healing the human spirit. Sometimes people ask me: why do you dance with the people in the village? I tell them it's because that's loves, that's human connection, it's lifting the spirit out of its misery. Leading the human spirit to friendship and love."
Come see this labor of love firsthand on Thursday, April 29th and Saturday, May 1st @ Rogue Space, 526W 26th St., NYC.
Love, Kelie
PS: The night's entertainment was inspirational and riveting. I invite you to discover: Gospel for teens' powerful message through song. :)
Photo credits: Life for the world. Click here to see more. Visit us tomorrow for a sneak peak at the art showcased at the show.