Childhood Now: The Big Little Caravan hits Burkina Faso with Effusive JOY!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The Big Little Caravan hits Burkina Faso with Effusive JOY!

“I alone cannot change the world,

but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

Mother Teresa

Many ripples of light, happiness, joy and child spirit cascaded through the rural regions of Burkina Faso this fall. Many people ask "Burkina what ?" not knowing much about this small French speaking country. Burkina Faso is geographically landlocked in by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. The country’s name means "the land of upright people the native language of Moore and Dioula, and this was certainly the case during our tour, with the citizens of this warm hearted country.

Sponsored and hosted by the SEMAFO Foundation, headed by the indestructible Chantal Guerin, The Big Little Caravan of Joy visited 5 rural communities including: Fofina- Bissa, Dangouna, Wona A, Wona B and Somana, providing the village children with an arts-based program that reached over 1,000 very happy kids, from September 13 - October 8, 2013.

With 15 team African regional team members consisting of artists that ranged from 4 grandmothers, 3 youth, 8 adults and 3 Canadian artists, Team Joy Burkina Faso stood 18 strong with a sense of playful purpose designed specifically for the sweet children in these regions.

Our team roster composed of: Bailey Davis, Damarise Ste. Marie, Sarina Condello, Vincent Millogo, Dao Lassina, Taro Ibrahim, Dao Madou, Dao Amada, Doa Arouna, Dao Moussa, Konate Djeneba, Dao Harouna, Dao Hamidou, Dao Yacouba, Konate Sema, Unosa, Oumou, Bintou and Ramatou.

The adventure began with a few gatherings to meet the head masters, elders and artists of these regions, which then culminated with workshop entitled: The Empowered Burkina Faos Child. Over 30 artists and educators attended.

With 500 costumes in tow, a massive parachute, art supplies for 1,000 peanuts and a few sets of magical drums, our Big Little Team Joy traveled daily to and from the chosen communities down dusty roads whilst all team members piled up with the supplies in the back of a pick up truck.

At the end of our tour all supplies, costumes and play equipment were donated to the Wona B so that they joy and creativity for the children could continue after we left.
Here are some great shots of our process and some of our final shows as well!

In total over 1,000 people came out during the month to watch our shows! Each show concluded with a merengue party mixed with some traditional dancing and cake.

A highlight of our time held together in Burkina Faso, were the two parties hosted by the Big Little Caravan of Joy; one party was for the cleaning staff at our base camp and the other one was for the Team Joy's staff where each and every member received a fabulous loot bag filled with goodies that were donated from friends in Canada!

This year our most generous and kindhearted sponsors included:

Thank you to Pierre Vaillancourt for creating this possibility!!

The Bedford Park Players
The Summerhill Players

SEMAFO Foundation

The Kevin Sullivan and Family Foundation

ARIDO GTA Chapter

Kristi Herold

Way Off Broadway’s Wizard of Oz

Beverley Shukyn

Sarah Ferris

Vivian Saffer

Trudy White
Randi Kirshenbaum
Ruth Condello
Gail Leger

Antonio DeGregorio
Master Reza Ghasry

...and many more generous individuals who donated, ran lemonade stands, wrote cheques and contributed financial offerings in our donation buckets at our shows--I thank you on behalf of the Team Joy Burkina Faso and the innocent children who partook in the celebration of playful joy!

The Little Big Tour of The Big Little Caravan of Joy of 2013-14

Next year’s tour will be the biggest to date. The vision is to visit all the countries that the Caravan of Joy has visited which includes: The First Nations Reserves of Northern Ontario, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and then to sprinkle some light in Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi and Ethiopia! The tour will last for 14 months and will reach close to 10,000 children. Fundraising for this unforgettable and once-in-a-lifetime tour will begin January of 2013. The tour will kick off July of 2013 as the Caravan will once again journey into the remote regions of our Canadian North and continue to the heart of Africa.

Namaste,
Sarina Condello

“Do not follow where the path may lead.

Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Who is the founder and director of these programs?

For over 25 years, Sarina (B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed.) has traveled the planet, studying how communities and cultures express themselves through the performing arts. By combining dance, story, music and theatre elements from around the world, Sarina has invented a teaching methodology that inspires and galvanizes children, adults and international artists everywhere and anywhere she teaches and directs. Completing two undergrad degrees in Fine Arts and in Education, Sarina continued with her search for knowledge of the importance and relevance of the performing arts in education and completed her Teacher Certification, Masters and PhD course work at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Sarina’s projects in television have included the 13 one hour episodes of Bravo’s Way Off Broadway, 65 episodes of The Barefoot Dancer, as well as being a movement coach on the Canadian national television series Pop Stars, Big Voice and Battle of the Blades. Her award winning documentary Thank You Tanzania, profiled her first art camp that she facilitated alongside her three teenagers, at an orphanage for hundreds of heroic and inspirational Tanzanian orphans affected by HIV and AIDS. Sarina is the founder and director of Learning by Heart Studio, a performing arts school for artists, teachers and students, that has been operating in Toronto for the last 16 years. Since 2006, Sarina’s arts-based programming, The Big Little Caravan of Joy and the Painted Turtle Arts Camp, has reached over 10,000 vulnerable and orphaned children in 8 countries in Africa and 20 remote Northern communities in Ontario. Sarina has also trained over 1,000 international artists and educators with her child-centric arts-based methodology in the hope that her program becomes a sustainable cornerstone for education programs in communities of need.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. Khalil Gibran

A Thank You!

"From the bottom of our hearts, Noah sends a big thank you for the incredible work that you did here on your visit to us- for all the preparation leading up to the trip, the activities with the children at our Arks and most importantly at our magical Empowered Noah Child Conference. We have seen the difference you and your amazing team made with our employees, in our communities and with our children, and it is that change that to us is paramount. We are so grateful for dedication and hard work, but of all for your big heart and the love you show to all of us. We have never met someone with as much passion and energy as you, and we are blessed that you share so much of yourself.”

Karen Krakowitzer CEO, Noah, South Africa August, 2011

Halala Sarina Condello

Written by: Everson Mdingwa Sinyolo
Zimbabwe, 2011

Born of Toronto, Canada
Born of humble parents
Love for Africa
Love for Zimbabwe
Halala Sarina Condello

Dreamt of Africa
Dreamt of Zimbabwe
Dreams have come true
Dreams have landed you At Mount Cazalet
Halala Sarina Condello

Your heart is in Africa
Your heart is at Mount Cazalet
Passion for Africa Passion for African Music
Yes, you made them better
Yes, you made them happy
Halala Sarina Condello

Transformed their lives
Transformed their community
Changed their nation
Halala Sarina Condello
Instilled assertive pride
Assertive empowerment

Assertive identity
Unleashed their creative spirit
Halala The Big Little Caravan of Joy!

From Sarina's Speech at The Empowered Noah Child Conference 2011

In Sarina’s own words:

The definition of empowering a child simply means to enable a child to become stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life so that they can make decisions that will lead a healthy life style in all regards; spiritually, socially, cognitively, culturally and physically. We do this by utilizing the arts and tapping into the child’s spirit. The platform to do such work stems from a few golden rules:

1. The children we care for are the most important people in the world. 2. Every child is to be treated with respect and as an important individual.

3. The children we care for are not interruptions of our work; they are the purpose of it.

4. Safety, fun, learning, creativity, adventure, and PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT is the most important value we bring to the children we care for.

5. Child spirit exists within all of us. Tapping into this child spirit is paramount to a child’s over all development.