A Trini "Las-Lap" in Kenya

"Las-Lap" at the Tulia Mas-Camp

by Allyson Holder and Ray Mahabir


The sun greeted and kissed us on the final day of our mas-camp in Kilifi and we are filled with gratitude and the excitementThe day started with the decorating of drums using recycled materials with the early arrivals.
The young people used the art of paper-mâché to start the decorations. When the full complement was present we shifted gears and concentrated on the script, the area under the trees was cleared and set up as a theatre, one of the actors took a stick and marked an X In the mud to define the center of the stage. We then ran the play in three separate sections (Scene 1-3, Scene 4-6 and Scene 7-8) for evaluation on performance. The learning exercise was to emphasize staying in character throughout the performance.



 With the sun beaming down with a high of 34 degrees, we stopped for a short refreshment break.  We opened the next session with a talk by Ray on recycling and the impact of plastics on the environment. Ray brought out all the plastics that we had used over the last 3 days, plastic bottles, biscuit and sweet wrappers, and milk cartons and demonstrated how they could be used in the costumes. Ray wanted to ensure that certain parts of their costumes were finished by the end of the day and that the group would have enough methods and techniques to use in their costumes in the future.

At this point, the area was set up in the way that a traditional Trinidad mas-camp works, where everyone chips in and assists in different parts of costume making. The group moved between different tables and tasks which included, upcycled tee shirts to be used as ties, painting of drums, cutting neck pieces, making flowers with the biscuit wrappers, cleaning, and cutting of milk cartons for painting. All of this happened as the group sang various songs.

The next process was the set up of the decorating tables where the masks and music shakers were given their final touches. Ray explained that the final stage of their costume design would be the headdress and other accessories and this would be done under the guidance of Furaha during their weekly drama sessions.

In song and dance, the children formed a procession around the table that took us to a delicious lunch feast of Kenyan pilau, salad, juices and fruit that was prepared by Answari and his team.


To record our time in Kilifi we took group photographs and concluded with a summary of the last three days and similar to Trinidad carnival process, all parts for the costumes were put into individual bags. The children, of course, were reluctant to give up their bags for safe keeping.

Our experience in Bofa Kilifi was a great one. The group was lively, interactive and fun to work with. The Kilifi team of Answari, Furaha, Zwadi, Simon, and Kazungu were very supportive and we thank them. It was wonderful to be part of this project and we look forward to continued workshops in the future.

As the sun set on our "las-lap", we waved goodbye to our Uber tuk-tuk carrying our mas-camp tables which brought our four-day workshop to a close

"Mas Camp" in Kilifi

Introduction to Mas Camp

by Allyson Holder and Ray Mahabir

Our start time today was 9AM but the enthusiastic group arrived at 8AM and were ready for the day’s programme.

Building on the concept of environmental carnival arts, Ray had the area arranged in the concept of a mini mas camp. 
Mas is a Trinidadian word that is a shortened version of Masquerade. Mas Camp brings communities together, it’s a melting pot of creative flair in a multitude of artistic crafts: wire bending; headdress building; and costume decoration.

The first activity for the morning was creating music makers out of recycled plastic bottles. This is where the tribal elements were incorporated into the design.

After a short refreshment break, the next session was a run through of Scenes 1-7 of Jungle Book with an audience of our additional volunteers for the day, Zwadi and Answari, again the focus was on the development of the character in terms of using face and body to show emotions, placement on the stage and understanding the presence of an audience.

We emphasized that performing is more than memorizing lines, indeed it is telling a story and to reach the audience the acting, body language, voice, emotions, and costume must work together for a great performance.

After lunch, we played a game which included a song about “mama making chapatis”. They sang in both English and Swahili and had all the corresponding movements.

The group was divided into two. The main actors continued with line reading and character development while the other group began to decorate their masks and music makers. The groups came together and were then all involved in decorating their pieces and stayed longer to ensure that they were finished.

The day was a beautiful creative one which ended with us getting to know each other better and we were delighted to discover that we had many siblings in the group.

We are thankful for another great day in Bofa village. We all are quite pumped and look forward to tomorrow’s continued mas-camp experience activities.

Carnival Art from Trinidad to Kilifi

The Rains were chased away and the Sunshine took over!

The morning began with thunderous skies and a massive downpour of rain at the scheduled arrival of the group. This delayed the start of the programme, Furaha decided to get a Uber tuk-tuk to go and collect the group.

They filed in, drenched but happy to be at Tulia. After drying up and settling in the programme started on a high note with a  welcome from Allyson and an introduction to the programme and Ray Mahabir, our guest artist from Sunshine International Art.




The group of twenty-one consists of sixteen girls five boys ranging in from ages of ten to sixteen. The morning session was led by Ray who covered festivals, celebration, and carnival. He introduced Trinidad Carnival and explained the evolution of the freedom of people. We then went on to look at the tribal composition of the group and realized that the majority of the group were made of the Gintama Tribe and a small number of the Kisutu Tribe. The group had a discussion on celebration and identification of festivals and celebrations from their experience or memory. A selection of celebrations and festivals were identified, birth, the passage of rights and death. In particular, the group mentioned Madaraka Day with much excitement. An explanation of this day was sought by Ray from the group who then explained that this was Kenya Independence Day which was celebrated on the first of June. Ray was very excited by this information as he saw the link to Trinidad Carnival and the celebration of free peoples.  The group explained how they celebrated the day with a song, dance, food and special dress which is the same as Trinidad Carnival.

We had a short break and continued with a performance of Scene 1-3 of the play Jungle Book where the emphasis was being placed on acting and character development. Over the last year, the group has been practicing their parts at their weekly drama workshops with Furaha, so this session honed in on these particular skills.

Before our lunch break, Ray requested a song or dance that would be used for Madaraka Day and we had a full group performance of the Lele Mama song which is done at all celebrations.

The second half of the day had better weather so we moved to under the trees and the group spent time designing their individual characters for the Jungle Book, from this flowed a "show and tell" where each member explained their designs. Ray assisted in the further development of the designs, looking at the color of the costumes for the characters. The next stage was looking at headdress and masks, while David Rudder sang the Ganges meets the Nile in the background to evoke the spirit of Trinidad Carnival.

In preparation of the next stage, the group was given research homework to look at tribal patterns to incorporate in their costumes and to record memories from their elders on traditions and festivals. The day was summarised by the recall of the learning that took place which included celebrations, festivals, facing the audience and always being in character, the day ended with a group performance of Lele Mana.

3 day Arts workshop in Kilifi, Kenya

NAS Volunteers Reach the Unreachable in Bofa Village

Ray and Allyson finally arrived at Tulia, the site donated to NAS five years ago to empower
its community through the Reach the Unreachable program. This is a special place as it has accommodated the outreach program in Kilifi from its inception. The program was initiated by Suzanne Pautler and remains one of our most sustainable and successful efforts. At this site, we have a team of local volunteers who support the operations and logistics in every way possible to make the experience unforgettable and meaningful for all. Local youth leader Furaha runs the NAS Junior Theatre Company every Saturday and it is with these children that Ray from Sunshine International Arts and Allyson Holder a NAS director out of Trinidad and Tobago, intend to introduce environmental carnival art to the children as they prepare for their performance scheduled for July. The NAS team were welcomed by Furaha and time was spent in a planning meeting where they looked at the daily activities over the next (3) days and formulated a detailed plan that would ensure the expected outcomes. The remainder of the day was spent in obtaining provisions for beverages, snack, and lunch, equipment for the workshop area such as tables and chairs and materials to deliver the workshop. It has been a tradition that this workshop ends with a special lunch for the group, to that end, a meeting was held with Answari to discuss the menu. It was a great day of planning and they are looking forward to the start of the workshop tomorrow morning.

Sunshine International Arts visit to JEHO

TT CARNIVAL ART IN KENYA

Necessary Arts is excited to partner with SIA (https://www.sunshineiarts.co.uk/ ) for its 2019 Reach the Unreachable program in Kenya. Finally, Ray Mahabir shares the art form of carnival mask-making from Trinidad and Tobago (via London) with our JEHO family today at Pipeline Nairobi. 


The workshop looked at carnival celebrations and the art of mask making. The children were asked to look at a memory of celebrations that they were part of and the activity was for them to create a mask based on those memories.

The group of children was forty-five (45) in total and ranged from the ages of 1-17 years. The children were divided into juniors and seniors. The junior group was given a mask to decorate while the senior group was asked to use the art of coloring to stimulate their creativity. They were also encouraged to use storytelling to create a  mask which they could share with the group at the end.


The interaction was highly stimulating, engaging and resulted in very interesting mask and stories. The children were encouraged to continue working on this art form and materials were provided for them to revisit this activity in their ongoing drama classes with Eleanor their local youth leader.

This was the initial collaboration between Necessary Arts and Sunshine International Arts and we are looking forward to continuing amazing work.