Impact: What Participants Say

* all names are changed *

Stronger self image

Through the process of body mapping participants develop a more solid and multidimensional self-image.  It becomes a self-image that can be articulated and heard, that can be shaped and seen in colour and form, and – most importantly – that can be lived as a unified sum:

“All that I have gone through – that’s me” (Mary, 35 years, mother of five)
"I would like to call my body mapping “A step forward” because of my past and present feelings.   It was a big thing to think about my past, the place where I come from.  All the steps of the workshop have brought a new understanding of my life and of who I am"(Lukas, 45 years, father of three)
Empowerment

Many participants feel that the representation of experiences and feelings through images as well as the completion of the whole body map leaves them with a sense accomplishment and increased sense of control over their lives.

"They say that fears put into words make them less frightening.  But I have also realised that when you put your fears into an art work, a drawing, they do the same thing, only this time with more intense power because you look at what is inside [yourself]" Karim, 38 years, father of two
"To draw the virus was very good, [to reflect on] how you think it looks like, my feelings related to it, and to put a name and an image on it" Mary, 24 years

New capacity to communicate and 'Come Out'

Prominent in every end-of-workshop feedback is the realization that pictures, images and art can be a powerful mode of expression.  Many participants (re)discover the use of visual communication in daily life and express a strong motivation to take their body maps to others in order to come out and be better understood.

"I've been in so many workshops, but this one has become one of the best..This time I was working with paint, colours and my body.. I didn't know that drawn pictures can send messages or even reflect feelings. I always thought that it is only words that can be used to express oneself. Now I know that pictures can speak louder than words"Josephine, 34 years
"This tool can help me to disclose better without fearing to go public. I want to come out with my body map. We need to take them out and share them with others, alone or in a group"Moses, 29 years
"It has changed my life because I can talk freely now. I can talk to anybody. Some people have told others to come and see this strange picture at my place"Victor, 33 years, father of two
"When you look at it, it is like everything on the painting is happening now, the pains are not from the past and it makes people understand what my experience is"Peter, 45 years, father of three

Reconnection to family and friends

The greatest impact of the workshops is found in participants’ motivation and initiatives to reconnect and reconcile with family members and friends.

Many participants report feelings of love and a new understanding for their (at times estranged) children or a sense of longing for places and people long abandoned.  The self-confidence gained through the workshop enables participants to go beyond the immense hurt experienced and find a new desire and capacity to be (re)connected.  At times, participants also teach workshop exercises to family members and friends in order to learn more about their life experiences.

"I will go home with my body mapping and tell my mother about it. This is the best thing I can do. I want her to know everything about me, my virus, the way I cope with my condition. I really hope we will reconciliate"Peterson, 26 years
"After sharing my body mapping with my husband, he has done his own body maping in an exercise book and at the same time he wrote so much about his life"Rispa, 37, mother of five
"There is one thing I've come to learn from the training and that's the thing I will train others in who are living positively: to transfer the strongest part of the body to the part weakened by the virus so that part becomes as strong".Josephine, 29 years, mother of two
"I will go back upcountry and live with her [my sole daughter]. My place is there.I felt so much that love inside me and her when I was doing my body mapping. I was the only one without a child during this workshop, but it is like she was with me throughout the process"Anne, 31 years, mother of one
"It brought me closer to my son, Francis. It made me realize [that] I have to stay with him. He used to live with my mother, and at the end of the body mapping workshop I decided to take him back home with me. I need him and he needs his mother. Every morning I look at him and it makes me stronger. Since this workshop, he wants to share a lot more with me"Lucia, 27 years, mother of one