A while back I did an egg tempera paint making demonstration with the Youth AIDS Resource Center in Ekwendeni (a small town just north of Mzuzu). The center is run by the CCAP (Central Church of Africa Presbyterian) and has some 26 youth clubs around the area. One of their clubs is the handmade paper making club. Using recycled materials (office papers, newspaper, etc) they make their own paper and cards for sale. The proceeds goes towards paying school fees for orphans and providing food for the HIV/AIDS home-based care program out in the villages. Before I did my demonstration they were decorating cards with collages (leafs, feathers, dried flowers, etc), but expressed interest in painting. It was a perfect opportunity to share the results of my experimentation with natural pigments. This group doesn’t have it in their budget to be buying paint but they can easily dig up colorful soils in their “backyard”, make charcoal and collect white chalk from schools.

Today I visited the Center again and was happy to see that they have continued with the painting. They were excited about how easy it was to make paint on their own and are coming up with new designs while they continue to work with collage as well.