Project Launch:

In 2010, a $470 grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program supported a ceramics program in San Francisco, El Salvador for young people who learned to use clay, a natural and abundant resource, to make a wide variety of products. In classes students learned how to dig up, process, mold and make clay ceramics as well as bake them and paint them. In a town where painting is very unfamiliar, this was a powerful experience for the kids who demonstrated strong creative instincts and talents. Art is a means of communication for many of the kids from this area who deal with challenges that are difficult at their ages. In reporting on the program, the Peace Corps Volunteer who developed the classes wrote of how making clay ceramics is an effective prevention activity for at-risk youth, allowing them to hone skills that they never knew they possessed and didn’t have the confidence or opportunity to explore.