CODENI artists recognized in drawing contest

Mariana Miguel from CODENI won second place in the drawing contest entitled “Directing my future”, organized by the Secretary of Public Security for the state of Jalisco. She received a Tablet and a paint set at the awards ceremony.

Mariana is 15 years old and just entered high school this year. She attends Circle CODENI twice a week as well as the art workshops in Casa CODENI each Saturday. In the CODENI art workshop she has taken classes in painting, watercolor, graffiti and drawing. Mariana participated in the contest along with three other participants from CODENI.

Mariana says she likes to draw because “it’s how I express myself.” Her drawings include a wider range of designs and styles and she enjoys adding details to illustrations already made. “I like to add my imaginative touch to the designs I find,” she explains.

Marco Almaguer and Javier Meza, also participants in CODENI, received Honorific Mentions for the drawings they entered in the contest and left the awards ceremony new backpacks.

Mairo Diego is responsible for the implementation of art workshops in CODENI and has detected great artistic talent among CODENI participants, inviting them to improve their skills in CODENI and participate in public contests, expos and contribute to the decor of Casa CODENI with murals in the classrooms and the central patio.

Congratulations once again to Mariana, Marco and Javier!

Empowerment: new area in CODENI

In July CODENI opened the area of Empowerment with the objective of promoting critical thought among our participants, thereby empowering them to make decisions to overcome poverty and improve their quality of life.

Maira Deni offers empowerment workshops with each age group (children, teens and parents), where participants are able to detect and plan a way to access different opportunities and thus accomplish short, medium and long-term goals.

Among the different activities in the workshops are dynamics to strengthen self-esteem and empathy with the activity “Drawing my strengths” in which participants draw their silhouettes on butcher paper which their classmates fill with strengths and other positive qualities that they identify in each participant.

Other dynamics have come from the concerns and interests of the participants, such as a fieldtrip to a local museum where they came up with ideas for future dynamics.

In the words of Maira Deni, “the activities in the area of Empowerment contribute little by little to the participants’ ability to freely express their desires and aspirations, motivating them to set and accomplish goals and take responsibility for their actions and decisions, in other words, empower themselves.”

There are no limits for what CODENI participants can accomplish!