Melissa Joe Achieng
You can connect with Melissa and The Hadassah Project on Instagram.
What’s your cause/area of focus? Reducing poverty and curbing unemployment via the visual arts.
Tell us about yourself. What's your background? How did you get involved in your cause?
I am a full-time painter and I love every bit of it. Fortunately, I managed to attend a school that was under an international curriculum and supported the arts. My early exposure to art and the fine-tuning of this skill, got me into the profession. Unfortunately, most individuals can't afford this luxury and are bound by the heavily academic Kenyan education system. This inspired the project. With all the experience and connections within my team, every child we mentor in The Hadassah Project has everything they would need in order to pursue a career in the arts if they choose to.
Tell us more about your work. What have you been doing to help your cause so far?
My innovation, The Hadassah Project (Kenya), pushes for the cultivation of artistic gifts within children from families living below the poverty line, in order to provide them with an opportunity to earn a decent living (in the future) through these natural gifts, and to live fulfilled lives as a result of doing what they love and are called to do.
Through The Hadassah Project, tomorrow's leaders get an opportunity to explore their uniquely gifted areas and thrive within them - something a lot of us have been unable to do.
My team and I hold regular art exhibitions and auctions, as a marketing strategy, as well as a method of generating income. We've also participated in a couple of global competitions and have successfully benefited from the publicly, mentorship and finances of two of them. These are, Generation Unlimited; and another by the Rotary club of Mtwapa where we got the opportunity to head to The Netherlands for the Creativity World Forum conference. What an experience.
How and when will you judge success? What’s your end point?
Once we see the young ones we currently mentor, successfully enter into professions that honour their gifts, through our resources.
Complete this sentence: "I am #LivingForChange because..."
I believe “I cannot do all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do”*.
*Jana Stanfield
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