Masco students create portraits to preserve memories for Ugandan orphans
Cara Spilsbury
TOPSFIELD | Children in Uganda live much different lives from those growing up here. A brutal civil conflict has left 1.7 million Ugandans | half of them children | displaced, while those fighting with the resistance abduct children to carry out the violent atrocities of the war.
The AIDS epidemic, although showing some improvement in the country, has claimed the lives of many parents prematurely, leaving many Ugandan children orphaned. Most are tied to the squalor of refugee camps, and they have few, if any, worldly possessions.
But thanks to the dedication of 38 Advanced Placement senior art students at Masconomet Regional High School, some of those orphans now have a piece of their childhood to hold on to forever.
Each Masco student spent about a month translating a grainy, blurry photograph of a Ugandan child into a portrait. The works were then shrink-wrapped and shipped to the orphans with a personal letter and a photo of the artist.
The AP art class, led by teacher Terry Meinelt, created the paintings for the Memory Project, an international nonprofit organization started in October 2004 by Ben Schumaker, a University of Wisconsin student who became inspired while in Guatemala.
The goal of the organization is to help preserve memories through images for orphans who have little or nothing that documents their childhood.
Meinelt heard about Schumaker's vision after seeing it on television.
"I immediately e-mailed him and said this is something I have to do," Meinelt said. "And luckily the kids wanted to do it too. They voted unanimously."
For many of the Masco students, this was their first chance to create art with such great meaning for someone else. Even though the medium of oil pastels was tricky for some, the importance of the project made all the hard work worthwhile.
"Mr. Meinelt stressed to us that this would be one of their only memories from their childhood," said Olivia Kendall, a senior from Boxford. "I hate working in oil pastels, but that made me want to work really hard on it. We take for granted all the pictures we have from our childhood, and this really put things in perspective."
After sending off their paintings recently, the Masco students were curious if their subjects would appreciate their gifts. The orphans were given the portraits on March 11, and the class is waiting to hear back from Schumaker about the response.
"I hope they like it," said Matt Jesi, a senior from Middleton.
The Memory Project has inspired many of the students, some so much so that they plan to continue the work. Katelyn Keenan, of Middleton, plans use her AP concentration project to produce portraits for 12 more Ugandan orphans.
Meinelt said his students' work with the Memory Project brought something deeper out of his students.
"This is probably the most meaningful thing I've ever done with a group of kids," he said. "Just the enthusiasm they had to jump right in. They all did a phenomenal job. They usually do a good job, but they really stepped it up."
The project also helped humanize the plight of the African people for the Tri-Town students, as it put a face to the tragedies they hear about so regularly in the news.
"It's an abstract concept for a lot of these kids, but this project really made it hit home," Meinelt said. "These (orphans) are another world away, but by working on this for so many weeks it became a close personal bond."
For more information about the Memory Project, visit www.thememoryproject.org.
Donate to The Memory Project
Terry Meinelt is collecting money to aid the work of the Memory Project organization, and hopes to collect money raised from Masconomet High School by April 15.
If you'd like to contribute, Meinelt asks that you make checks out to The Memory Project. Checks may be sent to the Art Department, c/o Masconomet Regional High School, 20 Endicott Road, Topsfield, MA 01983.
