Arte Poste de Nueva Esparta

When I first arrived in site 22 months ago and was completing my community assessment, one of the potential projects that came up was Arte Poste, which is the removal of all political propaganda from the light posts in the pueblo and the decorating of said posts with paintings. In March of 2010 we won a grant from a US organization called Kids to Kids (click to see our project profile). By the time we got ourselves organized and the money came in, the rainy season had begun. I'm sure you can understand why undertaking a large outdoor painting project (with water based paint) wouldn't be successful when it rains every day.

Summer (dry season) finally started in November, and when we finished our Christmas soccer tournament, my youth group was ready to start. It helped that kids were on winter break and had all kinds of free time. My visions of a well organized project, headed by the kids, and starting with an art class fell through. Instead, I got a group of excited kids together and said, "you know what, we're just going to go out and paint a few posts today and see how they turn out." Mission accomplished. Other kids walked by and saw what we were doing, and got excited about the project. Thanks to the help of Tyler, who was stuck here on injured reserve for a week, we have made major progress on the project. There are 120 light posts in the pueblo, and I would say that 40 or so are already fully painted with designs. This week I went out and painted another 20 or so posts white so that when the kids get out of school this afternoon we can go out in force and paint! Thanks go out to fellow PCVs Brian, Tyler and Anna, for all of their help in painting! The mayor and the Alcaldia is totally behind the project and excited about how things are turning out. Check out their photos they have posted on their Facebook page. The mayor is even going to sign a new law that says people will be fined if they paint or glue anything over the posts.

I could write more, but I'm really excited to show you pictures of our progress.

(This is what the posts look like before. Others are covered in political propaganda.)

(First you have to clean off the old paint.)

(Then you paint a base of white. Thanks Brian!)

(My kids painting.)

(An almost finished post: corn and fruit.)

(This project has been awesome because the girls are participating!)

(Tyler and I in our paint clothes, with a post we painted.)

(Once the kids felt comfortable with their abilities to paint, the ditched the stencils and started with their own designs. This post is a work of art!)

(Good bye FMLN election propaganda.)

(Hello pretty post.)

(This is one of my posts, and the little guys that kept me company while I painted!)