In this issue, members of SAWA Zhi Xing shared how they exposed children in the local primary schools to the wonder of art, so that more children can have the opportunity to enjoy the charm of creative art.

Who we are？ 

Walking around the campus of UWC Changshu China (UWCCSC), you can easily spot someone wearing the iconic “Big Tomato” SAWA T-shirt, from students to teachers, from the school nurse to administration staff.

UWCSC students wearing t-shirts designed from children's artwork 

SAWA, short for Share Art With All, is a charity project first created by a group of passionate UWCCSC students. It aims to help local schools with limited art resources to develop art activities, and by launching free art workshops, to provide the kids with an opportunity to engage in creative art and enjoy the charm of art.

UWCSC students wearing t-shirts designed from children's artwork  

Initially, the idea of such a project emerged because SAWA’s founder Hoya Liu (graduated from UWC Changshu China in 2017, now studying at NYU Abu Dhabi) found out that there are many schools with limited resources, and there are kids at our age who do not have the opportunities and resources to express themselves through art. In order to make a difference, a group of UWC students with the shared passion for art got into the classrooms of Yucai Primary School for kids of migrant workers, with the hope that their workshops could help more kids experience and share the beauty of art.

Gradually, SAWA members started to find out that there are countless unheard stories and untapped potential among kids in Yucai Primary school. Every single piece of artwork created by the kids contains one of their own unique stories, which the budding artists can talk about for an hour and more. SAWA hopes that while encouraging the kids to create art freely, we can also provide a platform for them to express themselves so that their stories can be heard by a wider audience.

“I just want to be their elder sister, listening to the stories that they want to tell and painting the hometowns that they long to see.”

-- Hoya

Enjoy the fun of the art    

We listen to the kids telling their stories, keep their pieces of artworks, and make them into designed products for sale. By doing this, it not only allows us to attract those who are interested in and passionate about helping children to support SAWA, but also provides SAWA with a stable source of income to cover the necessary operation cost needed. As a Project that founded in the same year as our School in 2015, SAWA is already 3 years old.

Over the past three years, SAWA has experienced changes and adjustments in it’s member and structure. But the size of our organization has been growing, and we have succeeded in adding Dongnan Primary school as a partner school, on top of Yucai Primary school. SAWA is committed to enter the life of more children, hearing their stories and sharing art with them, and to spread the seeds of art to a wider group of kids.

Hanppy moment after class   

What we do?  

Each SAWA member joins a teaching group of 3-4 people, in which he /she will be carrying out the art activities and leading workshops for the kids in our partner schools. At the same time, each member also needs to join one of the departments in SAWA in the operation of the Project. Members can choose  to join Departments on Course Design, or Product Design, Marketing or Media, depending on their own personal interest.

Making each class interesting 

SAWA team guides the kids to experience all kinds of art activities by themselves.  To really achieve the aim of “Share Art With All",  Course Design Department  was set up. It's responsible for planning the overall theme and designing the content for each workshop. After each class, members in the department will hold a reflection session to write down both the highlights and shortcomings of the class, so that we could improve the workshops according to the kids’ interests. This is because we want each class to be as interesting and enjoyable as possible, in order to attract kids’ interest and enthusiasm.

In terms of the theme, SAWA tries to show kids different cultures around the world. We also try our best to let the kids try out a variety of art materials they might have never used before, to create art pieces of different cultures. SAWA uses a lot of sustainable and recycled materials like old cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and leaves. This is out of the intention of  showing the children that everything around them has the potential to become valuable art pieces.

Proudly showing a piece of artwork from recycled materials   

“Even though we are ‘teaching’, but we are simply just elder brothers and sisters who witness the progress that the kids are making in every single session.”

Self-sustainable service model 

As a student-run service project, one of the most distinguishing features of SAWA is our self-sustaining operating mode. Since the founding of the project, SAWA has never asked the School for financial subsidy.  We cover the expenses for our project through the profit from our product sales. Most of our profits are used to buy the materials needed for our workshops, and to produce the products to be sold. We use what's left from our profits to buy small gifts for the students. This operating mode provides a stable source of funding for SAWA, so that the project could achieve a self-sustained development.

Product Design Department and Marketing Department are in charge of ensuring SAWA's financial operations. Member from the product design department collects the student's artwork after each workshop, and selects the most favoured pieces which would then be modified by designers, and made into products such as T-shirts, resable bags, badges and so on.

product designed by cildren's artwork  

Marketing department is in charge of both offline and online sales. Before launching each sale, the product design department creates posters and organizes photo shooting for promotional purposes, while the marketing department handles the financial side of each sale. After every sale, members of the marketing department calculate the profits made, which will be used for purchasing materials for the workshops in the future.   It is our hope that we can help those kids in our small way to fulfil their dreams.

“We see every single piece of their artwork as a priceless and irreplaceable gift, because we want to turn their hand-made work into cute, elegant products, and to pass on the love and creativity of art.”

Hear their stories, share their dreams  

As the mouthpiece of SAWA, Media Department strives hard to turn everybody’s hard work into videos, pictures and articles. Every time when we visit the primary schools, members in the Media department waste no time to discover interesting stories or take snapshots of memorable moments in order not to miss the smiley faces that get lightened up while drawing, painting or creating. They spend much more time, when back to School, often late in the night, to write, edit, polish, design and layout each piece of post. 

When preparing posts online, Media Department members put their own personal experiences and feelings into the articles, trying to blend in children’s vivid characters and touching stories so that readers could be presented with the most original experience at SAWA. The Wechat official account becomes the online battlefield for the Media Department. They aim to share with the world every story and the dream of every child who loves art.

Words from the founder  

Recently, SAWA's founder Hoya has taken her time from her intense University life, and written a letter to the present SAWA members. There is a specific paragraph in the letter, which precisely illustrates the original intentions of SAWA as a project, and reminds us to always keep in our minds the purpose of SAWA.

SAWA, you were born because you want to help the kids to become confident and feel comfortable introducing their artworks in front of the class, and not be afraid of making eye contacts with foreigners and strangers;

You want to see them making unique artworks of their own using their creative minds and powerful imagination, not just painting identical pictures of golden sunshine and green trees;

You want the kids to respond to difficult problems with “I can try”, but not “No, I can’t”; 

You want them volunteering to team up with the classmate that has been left alone, but not staying stubbornly in their comfort zones and responding “I only want him/her as my partner”;

You want to hear their stories of the “golden wheat fields back home”, and hear their dream“I want to invent a water jet” ;

You want to show them that their hands are capable of creating millions of millions possibilities other than just doing homework and house chores, that their hands can express, can create and can bring about change.

Yes, what you want to do is not easy and it will be tricky, and on top of that we are all high school students loaded with our schoolwork. And therefore, every now and then, you do need to pause, and ask yourself “why do I exist?” Think and reflect on why you are doing all this, and then set off onto your journey again.

 -- Hoya

SAWA's Founder Hoya (right) and SAWA's member Boby 

Words from SAWA Group members 

In SAWA, I have gained far more than that I have put in. The spirit that I have learned from the kids, and the energy I have gained from them way exceeds what I have taught them.

Although what we are doing is simple, and small, I believe that every step we make counts as a contribution to a bigger move. And I am trying my best to share with more and more peope what I have gained from SAWA

-- Fanny

I think SAWA is more of an educating program, rather than a social service one. We are trying show the kids the importance of knowing to work for what they want to have, but not just asking for what they want. When the kids saw that the T-shirts were designed from their own art works, the gratified and proud smiles on their faces were truly coming from their heart.

-- Wan Xin

Welcome to follow SAWA, let's help more chidren to lean creative art and enjoy the fun and beauty of the art world.  

Article, photo and video: provided by SAWA