Inspired by a similar project done by another volunteer in her village, I skeptically began my mural project back in October. I had seen pictures of my friend's murals, and said to myself that as cool as that was, there was no way that I could do that myself, considering that my only experience in the visual arts was my utter inability to depict things as simple as small fish. The other volunteer assured me, however, that one need not be a Van Gogh to accomplish such a feat as the health murals. So I figured I'd do my best, and that my best had to, at the very least, be better than zero. (At least I hoped so).
The process of painting the murals turned out to be one of the most important projects I have done in village. The majority of the villagers do not know how to read, so these types of visuals are very important. Each day, as I worked on the murals with the support, fascination, and help of my villagers, I could feel the information I was trying to get across seeping into their lives without them even being aware of it. Passersby of all ages would stop and watch, and sometimes help me paint, and I would explain the purpose behind the painting going up on the wall. People were fascinated by the process, often making comments as I painted such as "I didn't realize a person's hand did these murals!" My favorite was when I overheard a group of women walking towards me from far away arguing over whether or not the "person" standing there was in the painting, or if it was Ilana...
The process started slowly; we had to first make the walls smooth enough to paint on. I worked with Yakouba, a mason in my village, to create 5 tableaus on which I would complete the vision. I calculated the size I wanted to murals to be, based on the dimensions of the pieces of paper on which the drawings I wanted to enlarge had been drawn on (drawn by my friends Chantal and Rob). I decided that I wanted the murals to be seven times as large as the paper, so I multiplied the dimensions of the paper by 7, and voila! We measured and used sticks to encompass the area we wanted to cement on the walls. 
We then painted four coats of two different types of paint onto the newly cemented parts of the wall, to serve as the background and base for the murals. Luckily for me, there's a painter in my courtyard, Amade, who was a huge help with this part. He accompanied me to Ouahigouya to buy all the necessary painting materials, and showed me the proper methods for attacking the wall with the first coats of paint.
Once the base layers were on, I drew 7 inch by 7 inch grids, in pencil, on the walls, and 1 inch by 1 inch grids on top of my drawings.
Drawing the pictures onto the wall was surprisingly easy, as I treated it more like a graph, connecting points and lines where the grid-map on the small drawings showed me to. Before I knew it, I had fully formed drawings on the wall!!
And now; the painting. What I originally thought would be the easiest part, because I was thinking it would resemble color-by-numbers, actually turned out to be the most challenging. Mixing the colors to find the right shades for the foods and the people, painting carefully with brushes way too big for detail work, so as to avoid smearing things and painting over previously painted areas, etc. It was difficult for me, the shaky-handed non-artist. But with the help of many people, including villagers and other volunteers, it was all finished in time for the new year.
See photos and explanations of the finished masterpieces below:
This diptych shows the importance of weighing babies at the health center to monitor their growth, as well as the importance of bringing babies to receive all of the necessary vaccinations.
Below is a photo of real vaccinations occurring in front of the mural of vaccinations. Note the verisimilitude of the mural to reality. The real person nurse happened to be wearing a similar outfit to the nurse in the mural...coincidence? When he (the nurse) saw this one finished, he said "It's my photo-copy!"
This mural, my personal favorite, shows proper breast-feeding practices. The mother depicted has just given birth, as you can see by the fact that the midwife is still present, and the birthing materials are still strewn about the table next to the woman. She is already breast-feeding the child, directly after giving birth, showing that women should begin breast-feeding within the first hour after the child is born, in order to release the hormones necessary to let the breast-milk loose. It shows as well, that the mother should give the child the colostrum (first milk), which is filled with important nutrients and antibodies, instead of squeezing it out and throwing it away, a common practice in the village. The poster above the woman's head in the mural shows a woman breast-feeding her child, a goblet of water crossed out, and 6 moons. While this may seem cryptic, it isn't. It is meant to show, simply, that mothers should exclusively breast-feed their babies for the first 6 months. Hence the water crossed out (forbidden) and the 6 moons symbolizing 6 months.
The hand-washing mural. Meant to show people to wash their hands WITH SOAP, especially after using the bathroom, and before eating. The model for this mural was one of the boys from my courtyard, Amidou, who we took a picture of in order to draw the picture for the mural.
Sleep with impregnated mosquito nets! Especially if you are a child or a pregnant woman! It will kill the mosquitoes and keep you safe from malaria!
And lastly, the three food groups, represented by the metaphor of the house. In the thatched roof, you can see the protection foods. The roof protects the house from the elements such as wind and rain, as the protective foods (vitamins) protects the body from disease. The bricks making up the center of the house, are made up of energy foods. Without bricks, the house falls; without energy (carbs), the body falls, it cannot function normally. The foundation of the house is made up of construction foods (protein). Without the foundation, you have nothing on which to build the house. You have no house. Without protein, you have no muscles, you have no body mass. All the foods depicted are foods easily found in and around the village, accessible to the villagers. The idea is to try to get people to eat things from each group, as typically, they eat only from the energy group, and not much from the protection and construction groups.
After completion of the murals, a general assembly meeting was held in which all community members were invited to come party, dance, and learn the meaning behind each one of the murals. They now stand as constant reminders of practicing good health behaviors.
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