Welcome to Ada Dike's Blog: On ‘The road to Sambisa’, students from Lagos State arouse guests’ emotions over Chibok Girls’ abduction

ADA DIKE

One of the best ways to discover geniuses, is to assemble the future generations and teach them a particular craft to enable them excel in it in future.

It is on this note that the organizers of Lagos Black Heritage Festival 2015 (LBHF), in continuation for its quest of ‘The Vision of the Child’ asked children from different schools in Lagos State to explore paintings that ignited emotions of many visitors at the unveiling of the exhibition which took place from April 18 to 25, 2015 at The Freedom Park, Old Broad Street Prison, Lagos.

Shortly before the unveiling of the exhibition at the Kongi’s Harvest Art Gallery, the Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-governmental Affairs, Mr. Disun Holloway, who was wowed by the students’ creativity, said when he heard of the topic ‘The Road to Sambisa’ for ‘The Vision of the Child’, “I wondered how the kids would react. On behalf of the governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), I thank these children for the great works they did. We have seen their expression which is sorrow,” Holloway said.

“Ever mindful of the entitlement of the upcoming generation, and to remind the adult world of the brimful of talent that ensures artistic continuity and innovation, as well as imparting early understanding of Art as an expression of life itself with all its joys, anguish, triumphs and challenges - LBHF continues its quest of The Vision of the Child,” says the Festival Consultant, Prof. Wole Soyinka,.

According the Nobel Laureate, there was a small innovation. Instead of just one medium, painting, the Festival invited the expression of that vision in a duo fold encounter – Word and - Image. “Seeking to enhance the powers of observation and representation, children were being encouraged to express themselves annually on a chosen theme – drawn from the entire gamut of life and surrounding phenomena. For this year, 2015, the selected theme is: The Road to Sambisa,” he added.

This is the 4th year of the exhibition. The theme for Season One was “The Vision of the Child”, Season Two was “City of a thousand Mask, A Thousand and One Faces of Corruption, Season Three was “The Rule of Law of Impunity” and Season Four was “The Road to Sambisa”.

Descriptions of paintings by students from schools in Lagos State

11-year-old Primary six pupil of Idimu International School, Lagos, Kuye Ademola’s story talks about a place in the north eastern part of Nigeria called Sambisa, a well-known place for its cultural heritage attraction but suddenly, that place changed. The first part of the painting shows how it was a peaceful place where people can live in and enjoy themselves.

“The second part of my painting shows the kidnapping of some students known as Chibok girls by some terrorists called the Boko Haram and the girls are running for their lives but the Boko Haram members are shooting sporadically into the air.

“The third part of my painting shows the killing of innocent citizens who are leaders of tomorrow.

“The fourth part of my painting says, ‘Stop’ to all the kidnapping and killing of innocent citizens.

“This terrorism affects Nigeria in the sense that when anybody hears about it they will tremble and this will make people not to invest anything in Nigeria because of the fear of the terrorist group. Our armies have tried, our soldiers have tried. Let’s make Nigeria a place where people can live in peace and harmony because one Nigeria is equal to one nation.”

Azikobia Uchenna, 12, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) three, Igbo College, Lagos, said Chibok was formerly a beautiful place where human beings and animals could play and enjoy nature until a sudden thing happened when the Chibok Girls were kidnapped. He showed us a where the killing took place while another part of the painting showed where people were demanding that the killing must stop.

The boy, who said he aspires to become a medical doctor in future also said that he felt for the girls and wondered what they would do. “There was a time I went to a conservation area at Epe, Lagos and the thought of the plight of the Chibok Girls came to my mind. That is why I drew this painting,” he explained.

In a nutshell, Uchenna’s had this inscription on his work: “The cloud and the sky, the trees and the house in the forest. There are flying birds. The people in the forest are Boko Haram members and the Chibok girls. And the Chibok Girls are saying they want to go and see their mothers, fathers and other members of their families.”

Dumebi Osadebe, 13, from Supreme Education Foundation, Magodo, Lagos, gave the title of her work as: ‘Through the eye of a victim’. In her words: “I could imagine being in their position, what they could have gone through, how they could have felt and how scared, lonely and helpless they could have felt. So I tried my best to illustrate it in the painting.

“Honestly, I felt sad when I heard of the abduction of the Chibok Girls. I could put myself in their position. Abduction supposed not to happen to any human beings. Asked whether she had seen any of the Chibok Girls that escaped from the terrorists, Osadebe who wants to become a software engineer or cardiac surgeon, said she had not seen any of them on the television but had heard and read it in some newspapers.

According to her, “The girl in this painting symbolizes one of the girls that were kidnapped; she is telling the story of the road to Sambisa. The black colouring of the background symbolizes the feeling of loss and sadness which she experienced on her way to Sambisa. The girl in the background is putting on the covering which the Northern females Muslims normally put on.”

Also explaining his painting, Viveswath Tan, 11, from Grace Schools, Gbagada titled his work: “A child is dying in her mother’s arm in Sambisa”.

“In my painting, the blue above represents the sky. The mixture of colours and below the road represents the vegetation of the forest (Sambisa). The trees and vegetation show how natural and green Sambisa is. The girls in blue represent the Chibok girls and the hands are raised up because the Boko Haram members are threatening the girls. The men in brown and blue are members of Boko Haram and the man in red is also a Boko Haram member. The car is used to show that it is a road. The girls are in agony desperately hoping that they will be saved from the pain and suffering they are experiencing in Sambisa forest.”

Many guests who watched the students interpret their works could not control their emotions as some of them who could not speak to this writer fought hard to regain their composure.