Your stories

In September 2007, I went to visit my mother who was living and working in Lusaka, Zambia. My friend Sian came along, and as well as doing all the usual tourist things, we wanted to offer something back to the community in whatever way we could.

Only hours after arriving, my mum took us to a support group she was working with for young people with HIV and AIDS.

We found ourselves playing parachute games with the children and young people with a parachute we’d brought over to leave with them.

Later in the holiday we were lucky enough to do a few days voluntary work with Bare Feet Theatre. Set up by a young Irish man, Bare Feet is a group of Zambian, Irish and British artists working with street children and young people in Lusaka through performance, dance and drama.

Orphaned children

There is a huge problem with children and young people being homeless in Zambia, many victims of the HIV and AIDS pandemic that is sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa, leaving children orphaned and living on the streets.

Children are left to fend for themselves, often turning to drugs, prostitution and begging to survive from day to day.

Sian and I went on an outreach session one evening with one of the workers from a shelter. Despite both of us working with vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Bristol, we were both completely shocked at what we saw - extremely young children living in abject poverty.

No shoes on their feet, no shelter to sleep under, no food to eat, and many of them high from sniffing glue as a means of escape from what they faced each day and night.

Only a few days earlier we had seen one of the young boys at a workshop playing, singing and dancing.

Now he was completely incoherent and desperately in need of support – he was only eight-years-old. We both decided that evening that we had to return and offer our support in whatever way we could.

Visual arts

After working with Bare Feet for only a few days we were so impressed by their work that we offered to return and help with the visual arts side of their work.

Both Sian and I are trained visual artists. I have been running children’s art workshops in Bristol for several years, and Sian has been working with homeless and vulnerable people for the past three years.

Bare Feet offer children a safe space to get involved in performance activities away from the streets and the drug taking which is often synonymous with living on the streets.

Through these activities the children have a chance to voice their opinions, share their experiences, laugh, sing, dance and perhaps most importantly see that someone cares about them.

Once the children are engaged with Bare Feet, they can link them with other services such as housing, health care and education.

They hold an annual festival in Lusaka each October, which is a chance for all the children involved to perform to the general public as well as to their peers, giving them a sense of achievement and pride in themselves.

Raising awareness

When we returned to England we began working on plans to return to Zambia, and decided that this was also a great opportunity to raise awareness in this country about the children’s situation.

We decided we wanted to work with children in Bristol as well, so that they can learn from our experiences and gain a better understanding of another country and culture.

We have now set up Creative Kids International, a membership-based organisation to enable us to fundraise for the project. The aim is to build an arts exchange between children and exhibit their work in both countries.

Over the past few months we have been frantically fundraising, in order to return to Zambia in September. We’ve held four successful fundraising events at The Shakespeare and The Windmill pubs and Cosies Wine Bar in Bristol including a Moustache Competition, African Curry Night and Auction, and a Quiz and Auction Night.

We have another club night at The Warehouse on 18 July and are in the process of organising a Fashion Show evening at The Thali Café in Totterdown for 14 July!

We welcome donations to the project or items to auction/raffle at events, as well as people to join as members.

For further information click the link above or visit Mia Harris or Sian Lamprey at creativekids.int@hotmail.co.uk