“Wind”ing into 2022!

We promise that this is the worst (but sadly, probably not the last) bad pun. But we couldn’t help ourselves, since our art teacher Sharmila cleverly decided to have the Casa Chirilagua kiddies make windmills to encourage sustainable energy on our Fun Friday date. Using everyday materials like paper cups, glue, and popsicle sticks (and a glue gun, which no crafter should be without) the kids had a lot of fun putting these together. One little girl greeted Sharmila with, “I love when you come here! You always have new things for us to do!”

 

Tibetan Flags with Friends of Guest House

Imagine if you created your Tibetan Prayer Flag, with your own affirmations. Tibetan Prayer Flags are traditionally believed to bring happiness, peace, prosperity, good fortune, health and victory over obstacles. Who doesn’t want that? The residents of Friends of Guest House created their own flags on August 23, 2021 under the loving direction of our amazing Sharmila Karamchandani. Take a look at these videos and photos, and listen to the powerful messages these brave women created for themselves.

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Superpower!

I don’t know who had more fun this week  – our artist art, or the kids at Casa Chirilagua. Once again Sharmila asked the kids (4th, 5th, and 6th graders) to create their superhero with special superpowers that the world needs. And as always, the most important part of our work is the voluntary sharing the last 20 minutes of the class. Who is your superhero? What are its superpowers? Why? Even the volunteers got into the act and as Sharmila said on her Facebook page: “There are a lot of healthy social skills that can develop when kids feel safe and free to engage with older adult/mentors during such creative endeavors.” Check out these world-saving creations!

This superhero can instantly teach you any kind of music or any musical instrument instantly.

A robot who looks mean but actually is very nice and cares for his family. His hands shoot stones and laser so he can protect his loved ones.

A super hero that saves people from hurricanes and calamities.

Meet Forest Man and Plant Dog. They keep planting and guarding trees so our earth always remains green.

A superhero that has magic powers in his hands. He has bionic eyes with laser sharp focus and can zap you.

Delicate girl made with floral petals. She is gentle and kind.

They both created the sunflower sisters and their superpowers are camouflaging and tele-transporting and also distracting people.

A super hero that just wants to go hug people and spread love.

What Mask do you Wear?

We all wear masks. We wear masks that reflect who we want to be to the outside world, and we wear masks that we wear only to ourselves. Our amazing art teacher Sharmila led the women of ALIVE! House through this project last night, with such power results! They each shared what their masks represented and gave us permission to share their masks – some of them – with you!

Who is your Puppet Avatar?

Happy new year everyone! Heard held its last class of 2020 at Friends of Guest House yesterday. Sharmila asked the women to create two puppets – one of the person who has had the most positive influence on you, and one of yourself. If you shared what you created, you were asked to share three interesting facts about you through your puppet.

Meet Crystal. She loves to work with hair, to sew, and to read. The puppet on the right is her mom. She always encouraged Crystal to think about people who had it worse than her and then she would always feel how blessed she truly was.

The puppet in Meet Tonya. Don’t you love her pink hair? To the right of Tonya’s puppet of herself is an unnamed family member who always stood by her and never gave up on her. This family member may have been a bit disappointed with her when she got in trouble but never stopped loving her.

This last puppet is of Sharmila’s brother who she credits as her role model and hero, and who introduced her to reading, music and strong values. Sharmila said that he has been extremely supportive of her in every step of her life, and she would not be the same [amazing] person if she did not have him in her life.

As you start 2021, who is your puppet avatar?