Hi all
I think this should be the last of the drawings by the Casa Alianza kids. I hope that you have liked them. A big thank you to the kids is in order.
Monthly Archives: Feb 2012
Arté de los niños de Casa Alianza
Hola locos!
I hope you are all well! I’m fine. Still struggling to understand why no one has employed me yet. I am obviously far better than the three million or whatever people who are unemployed. So if you have money and need some work: gimme a damn job!
I promised a couple of weeks ago that I would include some drawings by the kids in Casa Alianza. Finally I have got round to it. These pictures were drawn by the kids, with the help and influence of an artist friend, who volunteered/worked at Casa Alianza during the time I was there, called Jorge Oqueli. Some of these pictures will appear in the book I am currently editting, although it is taking longer than I expected.
It make take a few updates to publish all of them. Nonetheless, I hope you like them. For me, it goes to show that if you give these kids a chance, they can and will impress. It’s an output, to give them stimulus, give them hope, to help them vent the frustrations and forget about the punches that life has hit them with in the first 15 or whatever years of their lives. I don’t have their names, and some of them can be quite harrowing. But these pictures come directly from the minds and hands of the kids. Here they are. Gracias a los niños de Casa Alianza!
j
Hello Again
Hi all
I hope you are all well. I apologise for not updating anything on the blog for the last couple of months. I have been busy editing the book, helping Casa Alianza in the UK, meeting the ambassador of Honduras in London, signing on, applying for countless jobs which are way below my abilities and listening to plenty of rubbish poor out of David Cameron’s mouth. I don’t like that man. Life in the dole queue is frustrating, but it’s money! I’ve been on SKYPE until late at night to my girlfriend, dreaming I was back in Honduras. It has been lovely seeing friends and hearing the good old English sense of humour and eating roast dinners, but I am missing the Latin American cuisine as well. I tried to make Gringas but they fell apart. British made Mexican tortillas are shite, so it seems. That didn’t surprise me. The costs of everything are extortinate. It’s a horrible thought in the UK, that all the time you feel you’re being ripped off for everything. I keep relating everything to prices in Honduras. They say everything is relative. Bollocks is it. UK is rip off heaven. Sometimes cold tears roll down my cheeks because of this.
I am enrolled in a creative writing class and I am writing about eight short stories at the same time, although not exactly at the same time if you know what I mean. I hope to send one about immigration from Central America to the US to Radio 4, once it’s done. It’s still a bit crude. I read one of my favourite books I’ve ever read as well, called Granny Made Me An Anarchist, by Stuart Christie. It’s an autobiographical account of a man who tried to kill Franco in the 1960s, as well as his time with the Angry Brigade. It’s your homework to read it. Fascinating! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granny_Made_me_an_Anarchist. He also has a website called Christie Books. I recommend that too.
I got to see my friend Hazel in London. It was great seeing her on the other side of the world. We probably met in the most impossible place in London, let alone in the UK: Trafalgar Square. A bit of a funny choice. Oh well.
Pam has bought me tickets to go and see Noel Gallagher as a valentines present. I am bouncing off the walls in excitement. I think she has foolishly sent me into the arms of my other love of life by doing this though. My sweetheart Noel Gallagher. Pero gracias mi amor. It’s the greatest present ever!!!!!!
I have had two pieces of sad news from Honduras though. The first you might already know about, which is the fire blaze that went through a Honduran prison killing 350 in-mates. A few years ago, fires (which were set off on purpose as a revenge killing) killed a fair few, but no one knows about this one just yet. I have found this clip on Youtube, from the Telegraph (a newspaper which I detest by the way, just so you know (although the football reporter Henry Winter is pretty good)). It should be embedded (somehow) into WordPress. WordPress has decided to change it’s fucking format all over again and it really pisses me off. If it isn’t embedded, please google it.
The other bit of sad news is that one of the interviewees, Danny, was murdered. A few months ago I put some of his art on my blog – https://elcatracho1.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/art-by-danny/. One of the Mara gangs killed him when he couldn’t pay the extortion tax. This happened a couple of weeks ago. It is so strange. Seeing this and trying to put in perspective when I’m thousands of miles away. The waste of life. It’s an anger that lingers on. I’m sad. Gutted. I can’t get my head around it. He had a talent. I remember I bumped into him a few days before I left Honduras. I told him that I would be including his story in the book. He had such a proud smile and he gave me a hug. He was abandoned and had been on and off the streets since he was 13. He had a great sense of humour and, having spoken to a couple of people at Casa Alianza, he is sorely missed. This page is for him.
In the next few days, I will be including other art work by the kids on my blog, posted to me by the Casa Alianza art teacher who I made friends with, Jorge.
Take care!!
NICK "EL CATRACHO" ROGERS 