Marya Mann : Blog : ArtWavEs Kealakehe Elementary School Project

ArtWavEs Kealakehe Elementary School Project

Aloha Kakou!

Life is a flow of joyful energies and stumbling blocks. It’s also a series of moments when we can turn those blocks into stepping stones.

At ArtWavEs (AWE) we help children to turn struggle into truth and beauty. We offer moments that help them thrive through hope, creativity, and peacemaking. Moments to see how their actions matter and that kindness matters. Moments to experience how art is mightier than the sword, Moments to flourish as children living in AWE.

Jo Ann Iwane, one of our longtime supporters, is a retired teacher who understands why AWE matters. She is concerned about Hawaii’s children who face the stumbling blocks of war, violence, and the extreme stresses of the last few years. “The innocents are paying the price of war,” she says. “Let peace begin.”

I couldn’t agree more, except to add, in our Peace Flag classrooms, peace has already begun! Jo Ann already knows that, which is why she told me about a child from Ukraine in the second grade at Kealakehe Elementary School. Traumatized by war, she left her embattled homeland and is now a refugee in Kona. It’s hard to make friends and feel safe with all the new kids, who also face stumbling blocks of their own. School closures during the pandemic introduced a new problem into their young lives: social isolation.

When children’s routines are severely disrupted by disease, disaster, or greed, the return to relaxed normalcy, even an ability to play, can seem impossible.

That’s where group creativity and the Peaceful Arts process come in. Mindful movement, intentional painting, and kindness circles awaken the positive imagination and give children the tools they need to integrate trauma, produce beautiful works of art, and prevent stress in the future. They are even learning to prevent war and violence through the pro-active practice of peace.

When I called the school to see if they would like to host ArtWavEs to bring the Peace Flag process to Kealakehe Elementary, they were delighted. We are in the planning stages now of producing an 8-week program for students to begin in late February.

To accomplish this, we need your support. We who dream of a world that works for everyone are providing nutritional, social, creative, and life skills workshops to improve the lives of youth, especially those at risk for hunger and post-traumatic stress.

Do you share the vision? Have you often dreamed of doing something to help solve the problems emerging out of violence and greed? If so, you can be an essential partner by taking practical action with us to manifest the solutions: peace and generosity. How?

1 – Be like Jo Ann. Reach out to us and let us know where you think ArtWavEs can make a positive difference.

2 – Make a donation to help us achieve TWO MAIN GOALS:
Goal #1: Teaching youth to choose peace through good food, mindful living, and peaceful art-making.
Goal #2: Bringing more hope, healing, and beauty through the Peace Flag process to people and places in the world destabilized by conflict.

DONATE HERE

3 – Volunteer. We seek artists or aspiring artists who want to teach children this life-changing process. We seek a volunteer photographer who is skilled in art reproduction to help catalog existing peace flags. We seek a fundraiser and/or grant writer.

4 – Please spread the good word by sending this brief video to friends!

ARTWAVES MISSION VIDEO

AWE MATTERS BECAUSE THROUGH ARTWAVES, WE …
- Prevent Child Hunger
- Share Mindful Living
- Produce Whole-Brain Educational and Art Events
- Explore Team Physics & Activate Creative Collaborations
- Encourage Community Spirit & New Local Jobs
- Make the World more beautiful and harmonious.

We ask for your support to help us expand and refine our offerings. Contact us now if you’d like to get involved.

Through drawing, painting, music, dance, and other expressive arts, children awaken their heart’s passion, where they feel AWE and wonder, which changes everything.

Me ke aloha pumehana (With warm Aloha)
Marya for the ArtWavEs Team