Kenya

= Kenya  =



by: Mariah Wielgos

Introduction
Kenya makes up the largest economy in east Africa. It consists of 39 million people, most of whom are Christian. Swahili is the main language spoken in Kenya. In Kenya, the government allows for 8 free years of primary education and in some cases free secondary education. Kenya's main money income comes from their agriculture products from farming. The main natural resources are wildlife, soda ash, and land. Kenyan's are extremely religious and tradition plays a key role in their culture. Kenya's national motto is "Harambee," which means "pull together." Volunteers are a big part of Kenya's success. Every year volunteers come to Kenya to build schools, churches, houses, clinics, and help to raise money so children can be provided with the best education possible. Kenya has 6 major public universities and 13 private universities, totaling in 50,000 students. "Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is the only national radio and television network." Because of the constant manual labor that most Kenyan's and their children are constantly having to do, creative education often remains in the shadows. However, "Kenya government through the Department of Culture has put in place programs to safeguard, protect and develop Kenya's tangible and intanglible heritage. The department promotes community participation in cultural development programs by collaboration in numerous support of cultural festivals, cultural groups and by partnering with various stakeholders to strengthen and develop the cultural sector. The department has initiated many cultural programs in the areas of development of performing arts, visual arts, promotion and development of languages and positive traditions, development of indigenous health and cultural education and information." Music is a major tradition in Kenya and many of the instruments are made my the Kenyan's out of things such as shells, bamboo and gourds.

Accomplished Artist
Joy Adamson was born in 1910 in the Czech Republic. She moved to Kenya in 1937 and fell in love with the country. It was not until she marriend her third husband that Adamson started creating her best work. While in Kenya, she took in and raised a lion cub, named Elsa, after the cub's mother was killed. Based on her experience with the cub she went on to write a book, Born Free. In the 1940's, Adamson started to portray the lives of the Kenyan's through paintings of their culture. Her love for the country grew over the years. On January 3, 1980, Adamson's body was found murdered which was ironic that after living with wild animals in dangerous conditions for years she was killed by humans. Throughout her career Adamson published many books about Africa based on her experiences. Some of these published works were, Born Free, Living Free, and Forever Free. Adamson's paintings are on display at the Nairobi National Museum.

Arts Organization
"In East African schools creative education is almost non-existent." This statement is why a program called, "Mask," was created. "Mask is a visionary organization that adopts a new approach to socio-economic development in Africa by providing young people with practical opportunites to learn and develop skill of creativity and innovation that can help them in future employment and social leadership. Mask's vision is young people enabled in their creative and innovation skill that contributes to individual, social and economic development and to the eradication of poverty." This program reaches out to more than just children but the whole community as well. Some of Mask's programs offered in schools and in the community are workshops and weekly clubs in local schools, art for Peace-Building workshops in schools, local, national, and international exhibitions and competitions, employability of young people, eradication of poverty, promotion of culture and many more. "Creative education is a key to entrepreneurship. There is no entrepreneurship without creativity and innovation." = = ===

School Art Programs  === === Arts are included in traditional K-12 schools through creative arts classes, such as music, art and design. These classes are apart of the curriculum, however, these classes do not make up a major part of the curriculum. During these classes the students draw, design, construct and so on. I feel that due to lack of resources and the demand for educational basics of classes such as reading, writing and math the art classes are considered extra curricular activites that we use to supplement our core curriculum for our enjoyment.

Conclusion === The American curriculum is similar when it comes to arts education. In America it seems that education is soley based on core concepts, such as reading, writing and math. Due to the financial situation that our nation is currently in, we consider reading, writing and math as more important than art based classes. Also, with current technology computers have taken over most of today's graphic design meaning that the need for humans to create is declining. The thing about Kenya's arts education that surprised me the most was that there actually was a program, Mask, that is trying to enhance children's imaginations and creativity. I figured that a country like Kenya, that suffers from a major lack of educational resources would focus all of their resources on core concepts and not creative ones. ===

Sources  ===

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