Project Type:
Book Project, Community Engagement
Dates:
July–November 2018
Participant Group:
Children living in emergency accommodation
Artists:
Maree Hensey, Mary Branley
Partners:
Focus Ireland
Funders:
Focus Ireland and Bord Gáis Energy
I Hope you Grow
Kids’ Own’s strong rights-based approach informed our desire to work with children experiencing homelessness, and to support them to have a voice and to be more visible within mainstream society. We worked in partnership with Focus Ireland – a key agency challenging homelessness in Ireland – to develop this project, with a shared ethos of respect and inclusion; and valuing all children’s right to culture.
“It was like a piece of glass shattering.”
The project took place in July 2018, when a group of fifteen children living in temporary accommodation were invited to work with writer Mary Branley and artist Maree Hensey to develop poetry, artwork and stories and make their very own book. The work was very process-based, with explorations of the rose garden, meditations, dialogue and ink drawings among some of the activities they engaged in.
The book, I Hope You Grow, was subsequently launched at the Mansion House, Dublin on 9th November 2018 by Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland and author Alan Nolan, and has since received much publicity and acclaim.
Fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Focus Ireland to support their ongoing work with homeless children and families.
I Hope You Grow is available in our bookshop.