Dawn

This seems to be one of those nights you kinda just want to stay up till dawn, maybe inpired by my painting and the accompanying quote, but still.. it is one of those productive nights. After a whole day of not doing anything and hanging on my friends cauch watching movies (40 year old vergin=bad! don't watch it= a waste of time!) and eating a marvellous dinner cooked up by my dad, I wandered off to my room (which I finally cleaned and vacuumed) and sat myself down. I think the emptyness helped starting a new project, it just flowed out.. after some brainstorming (consisting of not more then 5 lines per sketch and a couple of words) yesterday I just started painting.. no sketch, no controll, no nothing..

I knew this illustration friday thing was going to be good for something! It gives you deadlines! So... I watched the bats pass my window as dusk set in, had my heart go out to a coupe of friends, and then my mind set of to God knows where.

The moon has so much magic, is such a fascination, a guiding light and well; the origin of so much
myth and legend I didn't at first know exactly how to show my association with the moon. It has always been a sign of femininity and creativity... a full moon is there for me to stare at, to charge me with creative energy and after a little thought bits and pieces of this quote started coming back to me. One that I associate with myself and so the one that inspired my picture...

Quote: "A dreamer is one who can find his was by moonlight, and his only punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." -Oscar Wilde


Last week we had a rather intesnive training week, but it was filled with good teambuilding activities like cycling, going out for dinner and sailing!!!! I think the sailing very muchy contributed to being creative.. honoustly there are few things that go above and beyond straining a ship against the wind, beaing beaten by the wind and flying over the water. Soooo good!

Music: Dire Straits, Sultans of Swing

Cross-Eyed but Satisfied!

Tadaaaaaaa! Okay so I am a little proud but I think I'm allowed to be. I finally finished this piece! It is a first time attemot at scratchboard and funnnily it fits every category of the last three IF topics; maybe that is why it took me this long :)

Twist (in the ropes and o the marionette theme), Discovery, an Poem (I've had a like image in my mind for the longest time but it was never good enough to draw and by someone analysing the symbolism I realised this is exactly what my poem needed. Triple satisfaction!

Grown-Ups Land

At the doorway of understanding
I hesitate
The world I'll enter is demanding
but I just want to investigate

On the treshold of of responsibility
I falter
My life will change inevitably
and I dont want to alter

One step in doorknob in hand
I fret
this is what they call grown-ups land
and I don't want to go there yet.

IF

So I was introduced to this site called Illustration Friday a little while ago and was absolutely down to sketch something every week, according to their topics.. just to keep me going. However I have posted naught so far. Yeah.. I know what you're thinking; it sounds like a new years resolution doesn't it. Well let me tell you. It is not like it doesn keep me drawing, it is just that I cannot draw something simple and not time consuming and be done with it. I'm still working on the topic of two weeks ago, made a sketch and then decided to work on it with scratchboard. It seems the forum doesnlt so much give me thoughts, but finishes them for me. the thoughts I have in my head get somehow given an extra twist by a simple word appearing on a website weekly.
It'll take me another week to finish this one, and the next one (finished by this weeks theme: discovery) is already knocking to come out. I think I need to start carrying a sketchbook to the pool again, I got more done that way!

Lots of fun things coming up.. I'll keep you posted!

When you grow up...

You know that question people ask you when you are about 12: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Okay so usually this consists of being a princess, an astronaut, famous; then slightly more realistic there are the vet, doctor, teacher, mom. Though I've thought about being a vet, and then an artists I've also always wanted to be like my dad.. be an irrigation engeneer and travel through Africa. What I want to do now is really not all that different. Apart from persueing my own interests in Psychology, dabbling in art, loving animals and attempting to be a famous waterpolo player, I still wanna be like my dad, and I still want to travel through Africa or live there. So... this vacancy might seem somewhat challenging for me right now, but if I'm hounest with myself, this is exactly what I intend to be doing in a couple of years from now.

Programme development manager

Objective of the job
Ensuring that War Child’s programme is in line with War Child’s mandate and ensuring the quality of the programme’s content. Additional objectives include developing the capacity of national staff and local partners to ensure the sustainability of the programme.

Responsibilities of the job

Leading and facilitating process of developing programme and project proposals. Monitoring local needs and developments by performing in depth needs assessments. Monitoring programme implementation and measuring programme effectiveness. Advising the Country Director and Field Location Managers on programme content, direction and implementation.
Developing tools and formats for planning, monitoring and evaluation. Developing training manuals. Training/coaching local teams of programme staff and building the capacity of programme staff. Managing the staff of the programme unit. Representing War Child in content meetings and coordination platforms.

Candidate profile

Relevant academic background (Psychology, Pedagogy, Community Development, Social Sciences); Knowledge of monitoring & evaluation tools. Knowledge of & experience in psychosocial programmes for children within the development sector. Experience with community based programmes with in a post-conflict context. Experience with training and capacity building of staff. Strong advisory skills. Capacity building and training skills. Good analytical and problem solving skills. Social and communicative skills for coaching and managing staff. Culturally sensitive

image copyright to AMREF

Quote: "Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it." -Theodore Roosevelt

Music: Dire Straits, Lady Writer

South Africa

Here I come! :D
Oh my god I'm sooooooo excited!

Music: KT Tunstall, Suddenly I See
Quote: You can take man out of Africa, but you can never take Africa out of a man.