We travelled to Paramaribo in June 2005 to work with the children of SMART (Suriname Art) on the illustrations for Maria. Jetty Helstone, founder of SMART, organized the workshop for us. We were overwhelmed by the response! Over 30 children and young people from all over Paramaribo – from 5 to 18 years old – participated. We were thrilled by how seriously they took their art, and impressed by the level of compassion and understanding for the issues the children expressed in their drawings. That was remarkable.

Thank you to Jetty and Maikel. And thank you very, very much to Marten for helping us on the first day of class.