Project Spotlight: Get Artsy With Refugee Kids

They swirl around the courtyard kicking soccer balls or playing an impromptu game of tag. Kids immersed in the graceful art of play. Every minute or so one of them peels away from the group to peer through the glass doors, and as the clock nears 4:30, more and more of them gather at the doors. They spy through the glass, with little hands shielding glinting eyes to take in the tubs of art supplies.

In conjunction with Catholic Charities, every Friday afternoon a dozen Hands On Greater Portland volunteers meet at Kateri Park in Southeast Portland. They help focus the boundless energy of young refugee children on creative art projects.

“These kids are a lot like any kids you might meet,” Elisabeth Gern, Kateri Park's Resident Services Coordinator, says glancing and smiling toward the door, “and then again, they are totally different.”

Most of the children here are sons and daughters of Somali refugees, born here, but still walking the cultural tightrope between maintaining homeland traditions while assimilating into American schools.  Some of the girls wear colorful hijabs, the traditional headscarves of the Muslim faith.

It’s 4:30 and the doors fly open, the children rush to take their seats next to the adults.  A few of them settle next to New Jersey native and returning Portlander, Annie Tabachnick. Tabachnick, 25, recently moved back from Chicago after getting her M.A. in Art Therapy, and to her this weekly Hands On opportunity was a perfect fit. Still, she noticed right away how “Get Artsy with Refugee Kids!” went beyond just the “artsy” part of that title.

“It was pretty wild, the first time I got to just play with the kids, instead of doing art therapy with them,” says Tabachnick, “They sure have a lot of energy and really seem to enjoy having the volunteers there. It felt good to have some good old-fashioned play.”

In less than an hour Tabachnick and her group of kids have completed their art project, fashioning construction paper into colorful fish and turning pencils, string and paper clips into a fishing pole. In fact, Tabachnick’s group has gone one better, creating a little undersea world complete with seaweed and other sea creatures.

The kids punch holes in the fish with the intent of catching them with their pencil poles and paper clip hooks.

“I’ll do this as long as I can,” says Tabachnick who has been involved in Get Artsy with Refugee Kids for several weeks, “It gets better each time and I love getting to know the kids, and they really seem to enjoy getting to know the volunteers.”

A little hand carefully lowers her line into the imaginary briny deep, shifting her pole around the fish she has made. Gently, she nudges the hook into the fish.

A smile breaks across her face. She’s got a bite.

--Michael Halstead
Volunteer Storyteller, Hands On Greater Portland

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