Afrocats have been working with young sanctuary seekers living in temporary accomodation, providing them with vital access to creative activities.
Without organisations like ours to deliver these sessions, young people would have little opportunity to develop skills and expand their opportunities - find out how we do this below.
To begin the session, Afrocats artist Tom had everyone introduce themselves with their favourite animal noise and action. Today’s aim was to build the children’s confidence and creativity to a point where they could perform a mime about things that make them happy.
This was to help them focus on positive experiences and not their current situation.
The older girls initially opted to sit on the side and watch whilst we warmed up to a game of ‘Grandma’s Footsteps’. The younger children however were very giddy and hyper - it was clear that their emotions were running high.
Tom created a clapping call and response to get the children’s attention, which worked well as he acknowledged the importance of patience with the children rather than discipline.
Tom then divided the room into ‘A boat, the jungle and the beach”. In each of these spaces, the children had to mime actions they would be doing in these places. This got their creative minds turning and they were able to imagine different scenarios which prepared them for their later performance.
From building sand castles, bird watching and fishing, we saw it all, and they then played the letter game where they had to stop and pose as an object that begins with the same letter Tom called out.
Eventually, the children were split into 3 groups to mime some of their favourite activities. This worked really well with one young person telling us: “I liked when we are a team and work together”.
Our young people will soon separate as they move all around the country, and they may not ever have the chance to spend quality time together again, and so it was important that they spend their last few moments working together.
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