Improving Children Engagement In a Cancer Foundation

Named Gula Gali Project, this research was part of my final assignment as a Fine Art Undergraduate in 2016. This project aimed to bridge the Bandung Care For Cancer Kids Foundation (YKKB) activity experience to fine arts academics, students, and actors as the target audience. By using action research as the primary method, the Gula Gali Project runs for two months.

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How this project start?

During my visit as a Bandung Care For Cancer Children Foundation (YKKB) volunteer in 2016, many communities and groups came there to hold activities. Usually targeted to the patients and their parents, the events are stored in a group activity to entertain or boost their morale.

However, after becoming a volunteer for about a year, I found these group activities models are pretty repetitive, which reduces the children's engagement in the event. So, although it's not an issue, I have taken some notes on the usual activity which I believe can improve:

• The events held by visitors/companies sometimes are too pragmatic. The activity is aimed at parents, usually in the form of health counseling and recitation. Meanwhile, most activities fulfill their physical needs rather than their mental needs when it comes to the patients.

• Since many topics and activities carried out there are more towards health and spiritual education, the involvement of children in activities is not high and more often diverted.

• The patients also have limited interaction space, namely only in the foundation. Therefore, the Cancer Foundation must consider many issues such as child care and health issues before the visitor holds the event.

How might we increase the engagement of children with cancer in an event?

What kind of activities are safe for children, fun, can also widen their interaction space?

The two questions are expected to build empathy from the target audience (arts academics, students, and actors) with the cancer patients. In addition, it aimed to encourage the target audience to spend more time with the children at this cancer foundation.

Aiming for direct impact

By Using action research as the primary method, this project didn't aim to create a product as the main result. Instead, I used the visual arts approach (art as therapy) as a medium to seek the impact on cancer patient's engagement. This project involved nearly 30 children, including their parents and the foundation's staff.

However, it had some limitations in its implementation:

1. The short life span tendency that children had made this project should have a more direct impact.

2. Materials that were not toxic and vulnerable to use.

3. Time for building trust, especially with the foundation's management. It took me one year of volunteering before I was able to run this project.

The action research method also applied for the art as therapy activities as a form of analytical approach. I mainly used MDF board and wall paint as the primary materials. While the MDF board is durable, wall paint tends to be water-based and non-toxic.

For each activity development, I considered the reaction of the children, parents, and employees of the foundation: ​

• Children's enthusiasm

• The ongoing process throughout the sessions

• Parental complaints about the material or the final form of the work made

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGv2uQAXPXc

The form of activities advanced into an outing and discussion session held at the Faculty of Art and Design Bandung Institute of Technology (FSRD ITB). With 20 children and their parents also foundation staff, the outing sessions also involved the FSRD ITB students and participants from AISEC.

Together, they created a mural on the wall using chalk. While the patients were doing the mural, other participants attended the discussions with an art therapist and the foundation's principal. The topic of dialogue varied from explanations about cancer, YKKB's necessities to survive, and how art therapy could be applied to a cancer foundation. This session lasted for an hour, closed with QnA sessions with the audience.

To wrap up this project, I made an exhibition to bridge my experience at the foundations. This exhibition showed artifacts and documentation and several interviews with the participants (patients, parents, and the foundation administrator).

Mural result

Discussion session

Wrap-up project exhibition

All and all

Children widely need face-to-face interaction with other people. In addition to that, they tend to have low concentration capability. Therefore, to improve their engagement, we need to make fast, varied activities to optimize children's motoric functions. The drawing was one of the activities that these patients were looking forward to at the cancer foundation. After the wrap-up exhibition, there are several recommendations that the target audience can apply at the cancer foundation or similar environment:

• Discussions on art/art as therapy can be held periodically at the foundation and involve more people to provide various activities that are not monotonous.

• The participatory model at the foundation can be a recurring opportunity because children need interaction.

• If art therapy becomes a course in the future, the foundation might become a place for practical lectures.

Near with Death doesn't mean sorrow

The first time I went there, I was afraid that the foundation atmosphere would be very gloomy. However, they managed to create a pleasant atmosphere to make them feel at home: by providing bright wall colors, stacking many games and books, and holding events.

On the other hand, I'm aware that cancer foundations are very close to death. It is awkward to talk about children who passed away. When a child was asked about a deceased patient's whereabouts, parents and employees of the foundation will say that they had returned home (because most patients didn't come from the Bandung city).

Since I didn't have robust research practice back at that time, I focused more on managing the activities and wrapping them up into an exhibition. If I have an opportunity to create the same project, I would love to make better documentation; not only for the art academics, activists, and society, but also widen the public.