Last Saturday, two of the other students and I went with Professor Ed Madison to Nima to visit Nima: Muhinmanchi Art, an organization in Nima that teaches art to children and young adults, ranging from 7 to 20 years old.

I was surprised when we got there and the two people in charge, Musah and Larry, pulled a bunch of artwork out from behind a door and laid it out. They told us the artwork was done by the students in the program. The art was way too good to be the students’ work; I did not believe them. However, when the students showed up and started showing us their art, I was surprised to discover that they actually did paint the artwork.

Ed and Zach brought out the iPod touches, tripods, and microphones we had brought to teach them how to use and to leave there as a gift from the SOJC. When Zach explained what the tripod was, was one of the students proclaimed, “It looks like a selfie stick!”

We separated into groups and I showed a group how to use the iPod touch to take a video for them to interview each other. I helped them think of questions to ask and quickly was not needed as they picked up on the technology immediately. I loved how excited they got watching the videos back and seeing themselves on the screen. Some of them were completely amazed.

All of the little kids kept coming up to me and whispering, “What should I name my artwork?” So I became the naming master, helping the kids come up with names for their paintings. My favorite was “Rude Boy.”

In the middle of the filming, one of the students turned to me and asked me how much the iPod costs because he wished he could buy one. I told him it was a gift for the program from my university and his jaw dropped, while a little girl exclaimed “I am so, so, so excited!”

Zach taught the kids how to play a game where you slap each other’s hands. When we were trying to leave, I was swarmed with hugs and goodbyes and everyone trying to slap my hands. I wish I could say I was letting them win the game, but I am actually just really bad at it and kept getting my hands slapped.