Kids color to help cope with COVID

In the battle against the coronavirus, among the most familiar tools are vaccinations, tests, masks and medical treatments.

But when it comes to confronting the mental toll the pandemic can exact, a Marin organization and two dozen kids in Kenya are relying on pens, paints, crayons and coloring books.

Harambee Arts, an organization founded and guided by Gloria Simoneaux, 74, of San Rafael, came up with the idea of creating coloring books to help children living in Africa’s biggest slum, Kibera in Kenya, express some of the trauma they’ve been feeling because of the coronavirus, lockdowns, restrictions and isolation.

Studies have found that children’s emotional and cognitive health has worsened significantly during the pandemic, with many suffering loneliness, stress and anxiety.

Harambee Arts runs an expressive arts therapy program in Kenya, started by Simoneaux 14 years ago when she was a Fulbright scholar. Expressive arts therapy uses art — from painting to singing and dancing — to help people heal from trauma.

When COVID-19 first hit, Harambee Arts made and distributed 2,000 masks with the message “Love and Hope” silk-screened onto each. As the pandemic deepened, Simoneaux wanted to keep the staff of 12 employed and paid, and help the 200 kids in the program deal with the loss of their daily routines and, sometimes, family or friends claimed by the coronavirus.

“We had a thought of creating a workbook with the kids to deal with the trauma, with the strong emotions related to the pandemic,” Simoneaux said. “They created this exquisite coloring book.”

Created mostly by 24 kids in Kenya, the coloring book came back to the U.S. to be designed before it was returned to Kenya, where 2,000 copies were printed and distributed.

Teachers were trained how to use the workbook to help kids talk about their feelings on the pandemic. An additional 1,000 copies have been distributed in New York City, through a program Simoneaux works with, and she plans to hand out 1,000 more to Bay Area teachers after training them how to use the coloring book.

“This is not really a money-maker for us,” she said. “We just really want to share it.”

Titled “You Are the Star of This Story,” the coloring book has a colorful cover with a scene of an African village, photos of kids’ drawings and an introductory message from 12-year-old Maliah under the heading “I Am A Star.”

“I have been born and raised in Kibera slum,” she writes. “The pandemic has been really hard on me because it caused extraordinary challenges. I felt sad, lonely, angry, scared. This book gave me a way to express all that I am feeling. I hope that you will share your experience also.”

The book asks questions about how kids felt during the pandemic, and presents a blank template for them to express themselves and share their feelings.

“Draw yourself before the pandemic, living your everyday life,” reads the first drawing panel. It’s followed by directions to “draw yourself after a year of pandemic. How did you feel differently in your body? What changed?”

Children are asked to draw how they felt — whether sad or afraid, angry, lonely or unsafe. They’re also asked to draw happy moments during the pandemic and to make a picture of how they calmed themselves when they were upset.

The book asks kids to “Imagine putting all of the difficult feelings into a box and throwing that box as far as you can into the sky with all of your strength,” the directions read. “Say, ‘Bye bye corona virus’ to those feelings as they disappear into outer space.”

Simoneaux’s favorite section is also popular among many kids.

“Please shower yourself with love all over your body, inside and outside,” it instructs. “Then send showers of love to all of your family and friends. Also send love showers to all of the children all over the world who are experiencing the same feelings as you.”

The point is to give kids a way to express feelings they may have hidden and discuss them — and it’s been a success in Kenya, Simoneaux said. Some said they hadn’t realized their kids were feeling lonely or anxious. It gave a lot of kids a chance to share feelings they may have considered insignificant when parents were dealing with job loss or trying to keep their families fed.

“It was wildly popular,” she said. “It really brought families together.”

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan