The journey started as an innocent trip to Makoko one sunny day. Before that I had only seen and heard of Makoko in the media (TV, NEWS PAPERS). My colleague and friend with whom I finished at Auchi Polytechnic came to me at my place of work at the time to suggest going to Makoko to take photographs for our intended art work. I was excited and looking forward to going for the experience and the fact that I’ll be painting this famous environment. Painting for me has always been a passion that I enjoy, and the ability to earn from it is part of the package that makes it all the more enjoyable.
God keeps nurturing this venture by making available at every point in time of need both human and financial resources to continue to aid these kids.
W hen we got there, i was completely AWE STRUCK! What was most shocking for me was how humans could live in such terrible enviromental conditions. It was more painful to see kids playing and running around in such unsafe and unhealthy environment but well, what can i do. We proceeded to take our photos but then it occured to my friend that we needed permission from the baale (community head) of the community before proceeding, so the area boys (gangs in the community) would not disturb/harass us; so we went in search of the community head. Luckily for us, when we got there, there was a meeting of the chieves of the locality going on so we were able to get permission from the necessary individuals for our photoshoot of the community. As we did this, THE HOLY SPIRIT said to me,do you know some of these kids that u have just seen have similar talent as you and need to be nurtured? I’d like you to come and teach them. Immediately i interrupted the converstion going on about our permission to take photographs and added that we’d like to teach the kids with natural artistic temperament what we do as we are professionals at it. I highlighted that apart from having the skills, we also proceeded to major in it in the university, just to affirm our abilities to teach the kids.
In as much as they were excited, they were also skeptical; and this is because there had been a lot of back and forth between the community and the government and that made them feel like we might be spys from the government. We went ahead to convince them that we came purely on our own for the purpose of our work as pastel artists. They then told us to give them sometime to investigate. After about a month of investigation, we were summoned to come back. By that time, my friend and colleague had picked up a job in a school as a teacher so he could better fend for his family, so he couldnt be a part of the plan, so i had to go back to the community alone.
On getting there, i was welcomed and asked further questions about my intentions which i answered. They then proceeded to ask their oracle, (as they were traditional worshippers), on wether or not my intentions were pure and if it is good i’ll be bringing to their community. To facilitate this, i was offered a very traditional gin to drink which i drank while they consulted. After they were done consulting, i was told i had been accepted and that i was bringing good will to the community. The baale(head chief) was magnanimous enough to even offer us his sitting room to use to teach these kids. I also went about to the churches in the locality to encourage parents to allow their kids to come for the classes, assuring that it’ll do these kids good and some of them obliged.
THE SEED OF THE TRUE VINE FOUNDATION is a foundation started by God Almighty to express LOVE (which is who HE is) by giving less privileged children life-changing opportunities within the scope of art and other areas of interest and strength.
I put together a drawing of a woman paddling her canoe and selling her groceries from the canoe, pasted it on the door to the sitting room, wrote our date and time of meeting and that’s how i started teaching these kids officially in january 2015 and it got to a point that the living room wouldnt contain us. I would come 3-4 times a week as I was single at the time. The students would come sometimes and not come at other times. There was a particular day that i had only one or two persons show up and that really got to me. I expressed my frustration to the Lord asking if it was a sign for me to stop as i wasnt teaching for any benefits. I wasnt trying to be known or make a name for myself by this venture and at the time, i now had a family and needed to focus on working so i could earn enough to take care of myself and my family but i heared clearly within my spirit to keep showing up so i continued. Although I was no longer showing up 3-4 times a week because I now had a family to look after I was showing up every week since that time date. Now we have well over a hundred students that show up every Saturday when we come to teach them. The kids now grown-ups have been well-behaved. The ones with artistic talents are growing, one of them is in the university majoring in FINE ARTS, and others are writing their college final exams and have the intention of majoring in FINE ARTS in a higher institution. The ones that are not art-oriented are also not left out. There are the likes of Oliver who is in Lagos State University studying computer science, and another called Remy, one of my very first students who wanted to be a boxer and is slowly living that dream as he is a professional boxer lined up for both local and international competitions as we speak, and so on.
THE SEED OF THE TRUE VINE FOUNDATION is a foundation started by God Almighty to express LOVE (which is who HE is) by giving less privileged children life-changing opportunities within the scope of art and other areas of interest and strength.
God keeps nurturing this venture by making available at every point in time of need both human and financial resources to continue to aid these kids. One of many notable milestones that is so dear to me is when one of these kids at Makoko (Lazarus to be precise) who was one of the students whose parents allowed to attend the art classes at the baale’s living room has now grown in his work to the point where an art collector buys 4 of his works for a million naira. It was a reality that was more rewarding than the hard work. I at his age sold 15 of my works for a hundred thousand naira(laughing so hard) and ofcourse, this motivated the individual and others to be diligent in their various areas of interest. Another notable event is the story of a young boy called Jacob, whose mother, unable to afford to pay his school fees had to loan a boat from her neighbour for her child to do menial jobs( which is to transport people from one place to the other on a boat as the community is built on sewage and stagnant water body). The foundation has been able to support Jacob through school and now in his final year in secondary school, with so many honours as the best chess player while still representing his school always in competitions and still being an A-list artist. Hope in his heart is renewed that he’s very enthusiastic about life and his dreams. These are but a few testimonies of Goodness and kindness to us at the foundation.
