Richard S. Johnson

The Gwaimen Center

A Self-Sufficiency Center for Widows and Orphans of HIV/Aids

www.TheGwaimenCenter.com

            I met Beatrice Kadangs at my church just about 5 years ago.  She was here is the states studying for her Doctorate in Education from Loyola.  She and her two daughters lived in a apartment right around the corner from us and we got to know them very well. 

            Beatrice is from Nigeria, Africa and was orphaned as a child and raised by her sister.  She became involved with missionaries there and they helped her to get an education.  She eventually came to Wheaton College to get her Masters and she has now finished her Doctorate.  As you can imagine it is quite a story of how she was able to do this coming from her society where polygamy is still practised and woman hold little or no power.  She teaches at the seminary in Jos, the capital of Nigeria, and her husband oversees all of the AIDS clinics in Nigeria. 

            About three years ago our church raised money and gifts to send with Beatrice to Nigeria for a school there.   At the same time. Her brother-in-law died of AIDS and left behind several orphans that were taken in by her husband back in Nigeria and given to raise by his mother back in Kwoi, the township where they are from.  Beatrice went to visit them and had all of this stuff that we had sent over.  When she got there she was overwhelmed by how many other AIDS orphans were there in this one small township.  She saw the enormous need that was there and shared some of our gifts with them. 

            As we have all heard, entire families are being decimated by AIDS in Africa and there are so many orphans and widows and no one to care for them.  Without access to adequate employment opportunities, health care, and basic resources HIV, poverty, and hunger endangers lives, families, and communities,  In Kwoi, Nigeria, the community, led by Beatrice, joined together to address these challenges and the Gwaimen Center was formed.  Gwaimen means peace and tranquility.  It is the people of Nigeria themselves who have donated the land and many of the resources for the  Center.  Here  widows and orphans are fed, educated and given health care.

            My paintings are from photos that one of the board members for the Gwaimen Center has taken on her numerous trips there.  The power of these images really moved me.  These are not helpless, hopeless people.  These are amazing, resilient people whose life and spirit shows in their eyes.  I am honored to be able to play a small part in their struggle.  The smiling girl doing laundry is actually named Joy and if there was ever a muse for that emotion she would be it.  I almost called the painting of the woman carrying the wood on her head “Mona Lisa”  because she was so beautiful and elusive to me.

            My hope is that people would respond to these paintings and that I could do an entire show of them.  I want to donate part of the proceeds to the Gwaimen Center and I would love for Beatrice to attend the show and give others the chance to meet this amazing woman and hear her story of hope and blessings.