Hear about how the arts can changes lives from the Artbound Honorary and Chair and Global Ambassador.

Hear about how the arts can changes lives from the Artbound Honorary Chair and Global Ambassador.

Nairobi, Kenya (CNN)

Mohammed Hassan, his five-year-old brother, hasn’t quite got the knack of it yet. Still, they are thankful they have a job.

“Every day I wake up and go to the market to do my work,” says Boku. “When I am finished I just come back home. I have to work, or we don’t get food.”

The brothers work in the chaotic and trash-strewn market of Kiamaiko, Nairobi. Adult traders finger through wads of cash and haggle over goat prices, around each trader the kids gather for work. But this is no place for a child.

Boku and Mohammed will earn less than one U.S. cent for each goat that they deliver up the hill to the Kiamaiko slaughterhouses. The market provides meat to restaurants across Nairobi, and it is awash with child labor.

The slaughterhouse owners, who wouldn’t give their names for fear of arrest, told us that hundreds of children work inside their buildings cleaning entrails, collecting blood and mopping the floors.

As they pick their way through the slum between the market and the slaughterhouses, Boku and Mohammed are frequently robbed by older boys and harassed by kids going to school.

“I try to protect brother. He is so small and young,” says Boku.

The brothers also face arrest.

Child labor is illegal in Kenya, but police rarely target business owners for hiring children in the slums. Community activists say the police get a cut of the thriving trade.

A senior police officer, who wouldn’t give his name, denied this but said that arresting the market leadership is “complicated.”

The police say they are doing their best to solve the problem, but that the numbers of kids working and the ‘freelance’ nature of their job makes its difficult for suitable law enforcement.

So in Kiamaiko they arrest the children. Each month the police will round up between 20 and 50 kids. Children who came from outlying areas are trucked out of the city, but they will almost always end up back at work, say the police.

The little money they can earn is a big draw. Most of the children work in Kiamaiko so their families to survive.

Boku and Mohammed’s father died five years ago, and after their mother’s shop burnt down, she became ill. So at six, Boku became the breadwinner, and soon his younger brother followed.

Their story is tragic, but by no means unique.

UNICEF estimates that one in five children in Kenya work. And poverty has forced millions of children across Africa to work.

In rural areas schooling can be adjusted to harvest time to ensure that children get an education. But in the urban slums of the Kenya, working kids often get no schooling at all.

Though Kenya has been lauded for introducing free primary education in 2003, according to the U.N. the majority of poor children in Kenya won’t finish their first few years of school.

“They say it is free, but in other way it is not free because you have to provide a uniform, you have to buy books, every day when he wakes up you have to give him food and shelter,” says Adan Roba, a community leader in Kiamaiko who is trying to convince parents to send their kids to school.

In Kiamaiko we found that many parents, especially mothers, actively push their children to work.

“They don’t know about child labor, they think that everybody can work. But in a real sense child labor is not good for the community,” says Roba.

I asked Boku what was his biggest dream. “To watch TV, to play with my friends and to go to school to become a teacher,” he told me.

But as we watched Boku and Mohammed drag yet another goat through the alleyways of Kiamaiko those dreams seem far off.

Without an effective safety net for Kenya’s urban poor, all Boku and Mohammed can really count on is a lifetime of work.

Welcomes Seamus O’Regan as Honorary Chair, Dayle Haddon as Global Ambassador

Inaugural fundraiser ‘The pARTy’ on September 24, 2010 in Toronto, to raise funds to build first arts school of its kind in Kenya, Africa

(TORONTO, August 17, 2010) – Artbound, a new Toronto-based nonprofit initiative working in support of Free The Children launched today with a mandate to help create sustainable change in developing countries through the arts. The group—led by a team of young professionals including Honorary Chair Seamus O’Regan and Global Ambassador Dayle Haddon—will embark on its first mission in January 2011 to build an arts school as part of an all girls Secondary School in Kenya, Africa.  The inaugural fundraiser, called ‘The pARTy’ is set to make its mark on the Toronto social scene on September 24, 2010. Details are available at www.artbound.ca and www.artbound.ca/theparty.

“We all know the importance of the arts in a child’s education but, in the developing world, it can also be an essential tool to eradicate extreme poverty,” said Seamus O’Regan, Co-host on CTV’s Canada AM and Honorary Chair, Artbound. “Traditional crafts, dance and song are part of the tourism experience there, so they can provide real employment and a wage. For these young people, an arts education can also strengthen their appreciation for their own unique cultures, as well as their individual identity as artists, themselves. I am very proud to be a part of this initiative.”

The new organization, which has been a year and a half in the making, is the brain child of Co-Founder & Chair, Jason Dehni, who, along with Co-Founders Amanda Alvaro, Katie Telford and Marcello Cabezas, worked with a team of 20 friends and colleagues in a variety of professions to bring the organization to life.

“Artbound is a completely unique initiative – a 100 per cent volunteer driven organization made up of an extraordinary group of people who are passionate about making a difference,” said Jason Dehni, a Vice President with Scotiabank and Co-Founder & Chair of Artbound. “Artbound is also about active philanthropy. It allows us to be fully engaged in the solution, to raise the money we need to build and operate the schools and to travel abroad to help build the physical structures and related programs.”

“Starting a nonprofit from the ground up requires both human and financial resources, and we are extremely grateful for the generous support of our key partners – Horizons Exchange Traded Funds, Scotiabank, CTV and Haddon Strategy,” said Amanda Alvaro, Managing Director of Narrative Advocacy Media and Co-Founder & Vice-Chair, Artbound. “It’s because of these organizations that we will be able to create a sustainable change in the lives of so many children around the world.”

With the end goal of helping to break the cycle of poverty, Artbound’s three-part mandate is as follows: first, to enrich students by teaching them various art forms – including arts and crafts, visual arts, pottery, music, dance and drama; second, to empower students by providing them with platforms to showcase their talent and generate a sustainable source of funding; and third, to engage a local and global audience to take action through financial support or volunteer work that will directly improve the lives of the students.

As Global Ambassador, Dayle Haddon will work to raise the profile of Artbound around the world.  “My hope is to see Artbound become to artists and the arts community what Doctors Without Borders is for the medical community,” said Haddon. “An organization where people who are passionate about the arts can truly give back in a way that is meaningful and inspiring. Starting in Kenya, Artbound will create unique opportunities for truly sustainable change through the arts around the world.”

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Why an Arts Education Matters in Developing Nations

“The arts allow children to see themselves and the world differently,” said Marc Kielburger, Co-Founder, Free The Children. “An arts education encourages creative thinking and forms of expression, which improves motivation, confidence, concentration and analytical skills.  Beyond that, we know that refined cultural artistic skills can also serve as powerful economic tools that can generate a sustainable source of income that help break the cycle of poverty.”

For these reasons and many more, Artbound and Free The Children believe in providing underprivileged children around the world access to a comprehensive education, including the arts, to allow them to develop more fully as individuals.

The First Build:  Why Kenya?

In an effort to improve access to education, in 2003 the Kenyan government made primary education mandatory and free. While noble, this decree created a shortage of teachers and a spike in attendance. Further, art programs were cut from the national curriculum, deemed to be a non-priority. This is particularly important in Kenya where, with 42 unique ethnic groups, music and the arts are central in maintaining ethnic group culture and identity.

Unfortunately, even the children who are lucky enough to attend a primary school often see education halted, as they cannot continue into secondary school given the significant costs. As a result, less than 15 per cent of children who finish primary school in the Maasai Mara region continue their education. This is especially true for girls whose education is not perceived to be as valuable as that of boys (less than 5 per cent of girls in the region attend high school). To address this challenge, Free The Children is building the first all girls Secondary School in the Maasai Mara region.

The Artbound team will travel to Kenya in 2011 to build the arts school which will be fully integrated as part of this high school. After Kenya, Artbound plans to build similar arts schools in other developing regions around the world such as India, China and Haiti. All arts schools funded by Artbound will be fully managed by Free The Children and integrated into their holistic development model called Adopt a Village.

About ‘The pARTy’

To raise funds needed to build the arts school in Kenya, Artbound will host over 900 guests at ‘The pARTy’ on September 24th, 2010 at Toronto’s hottest new club, Maison. The theme of the event will be FAME/80’s, and it will be the first annual fundraiser that celebrates the power of the arts – with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to the creation of the arts school.

About Artbound

Artbound is a nonprofit volunteer initiative in support of Free The Children. It was founded by a group of passionate individuals who believe that the arts have the power to create sustainable social change in the lives of underprivileged children. The Artbound team will travel to developing countries annually and build schools that are dedicated to the arts – institutions that will be fully integrated as part of existing Free The Children programs aimed to combat child poverty.  

About Free The Children

Free The Children is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education, with more than one million youth involved in innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has a proven track record of success. Through the energy and passion of youth, Free The Children has built more than 650 schools around the world, providing education to over 55,000 children every day. The organization has received the Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and has formed successful partnerships with leading school boards and Oprah’s Angel Network. For more information please visit www.freethechildren.com.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Lindsay Mattick Davidson Charlene Lo

Narrative Advocacy Media    Arts & Communications

Mobile: 647 338 3977 Mobile: 416 728 1205

Email: Lindsay.mattick@narrativeadvocacy.com Email: clo@artscom.ca

Art helps children understand other subjects much more clearly—from math and science, to language arts and geography. Its the connector in the brain that allows children to relate to each subject and ‘draw’ parallels from other places.

Art nurtures inventiveness and creativity. It engages children in a process that helps them in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation.

Participating in art related activities helps children to gain the tools necessary for understanding human experience, adapting to and respecting others’ ways of working and thinking, developing creative problem-solving skills, and communicating thoughts and ideas in a variety of ways.

Remember, teaching children about art is not just about showing them how to recognize a van Gogh or Picasso, it’s about preparing young minds for a future of invaluable experiences—art related or otherwise.