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!

Come join the CODENI Circus!

This summer our children and teens participated in summer courses with the theme of circus arts. Activities included juggling, acrobatic dance on hanging fabrics, stilts and professional face painting.

The acrobatic dance is one of the activities that generated high interest among the children, as they have learned to climb nearly two stories and do choreography in the air as their skills improve.

The activities in the juggling classes included equipment such as pins, balancing poles, balls and rings. For the stilts lessons the children take turns being spotted by the instructor and an educator. Little by little they learned to balance themselves and have greater confidence at new heights.

In the face-painting class, children learned to paint their own faces and those of others. Themes have included different animals, injuries, zombies, ferries and mimes.

During the summer we also held artistic workshops with different techniques such as sketching, oil painting and water colors.

The final show took place on Friday, August  17^th, where participants showed  off their new skills and routines to parents, staff and other members of the CODENI community.

CODENI graduation and scholarships

Once again CODENI held its annual graduation in July where we recognized participants who have earned scholarships for next school year. On this occasion the event took place in the auditorium Patio de los Ángeles in downtown Guadalajara.

In the event, each of the educators took a moment to thank and congratulate the families and children for having completed yet another year of their formal education and encouraged them to continue reaching their goals.

Elementary, middle and high school graduates were then recognized and scholarships were handed out to the children and teens who have demonstrated outstanding participation during the past year in school and in Codeni. Thanks to their “godparents” who sponsor these scholarships each year, they will be able to buy all that they need for the new school year: uniforms, shoes, backpacks, notebooks, etc.

For the 2012-2013 school year, 84 participants in CODENI earned scholarships, marking a new record since the program began in 2007. Each month more children enter CODENI determined to increase this number even more next school year.  

Congratulations to the scholarship winners and thanks to the godparents for making this program such a success!

Recreation

In CODENI we have experienced some changes in the Recreation area, including the integration of “Mairo Fernando” to the team as the new coordinator of this area. With his arrival the activities have taken on a new rhythm and generated interest and different expectations from the children in CODENI, who are feeling more and more a part of the activities with Fernando.

Soccer, interactive games based on mental exercises, songs, taekwondo, foosball and games to improve coordination are some of the activities that Fernando has been implementing during his first month in CODENI. 

CODENI Workshops

Our workshops area has a new coordinator who is expanding the creative and productive activities that we offer to our children. The population has shown great interest and enthusiasm in the new dynamics.

“Mairo Leo” is teaching the teenagers to work with leather. They are currently making wallets. Each participant is designing their own wallet, cutting the patterns, adding accessories and decorating their final product.

Our younger children continue in the final phase of the puppet workshop where they are making puppets and rehearsing each week in CODENI for a final production at the end of the course. They have also been making piñatas. They begin by making the center container to hold the candy with a balloon, paper and glue. Once it dries, each child paints and decorates their piñata as they like.

Adolescents paint a new mural in Casa CODENI

We are pleased to present our new mural in the main patio of Casa CODENI. The mural represents the effort of CODENI to promote a change of consciousness in the families who participate in CODENI to help them overcome their dependence on the streets. The images come from two photographs taken by Josh Meltzer, who was with CODENI on a Fulbright scholarship in 2008-2009.

The part under the stairs represents the work of the families in the streets, while the part above the stairs reflects their great efforts to better their lives and accomplish their dreams through education.

The painting was made possible with the direction and collaboration of locally renowned artist, César Plasencia, who accompanied three adolescents who participate in CODENI’s artistic expression workshop: Mariana Miguel, Marco Almaguer and Lorenzo Juárez. Educator Diego Ayala, who leads the course, coordinated the project.

The mural was produced by mixing techniques of acrylic and spray painting on a pencil sketch.