Life In The Congo Inspires Writing Career

By Larissa Lytwyn

Children’s author and illustrator Sanna Stanley darts and bobs in tempo with the fiery undulations of her voice. Her “all-American” features light up as she discusses growing up in a culture foreign to many United States citizens.

“I’m what is now referred to as a ‘third-culture’ child,” she said during a recent visit to second graders at Hawley Elementary School

The presentation coincided with both the school’s ongoing unit on diversity and Black History Month.

Born in Oakland, Calif., Ms Stanley moved to Brussels, Belgium, when she was five with her missionary father, Vern, and mother, Dathene, a teacher, to learn French in preparation for an ultimately eight-year stint in Zaire.

“I wasn’t really American, and I wasn’t African,” said Ms Stanley.

   She shared a slideshow composite of pictures taken by her father of her family’s home and the four-student school she attended that was taught by her mother.

School was divided in two periods separated by an afternoon siesta to combat the ever-present humidity.

After students finish the third grade, they are considered educated.

To continue their children’s education, families must be financially capable of supporting them at private day institutions or boarding schools.

Ms Stanley attended a boarding school in Kinshasa, Zaire’s capital city, for several years until the family moved to Vermont because her mother, born and raised in the Midwest, had always harbored a yen for New England life.

“She always pictured it as quaint,” Ms Stanley said, a smile playing on her lips.

The Vermont countryside of over 20 years ago was in some ways similar to life in the Congo.

“For years, we had no central heating in our [Vermont] home,” Ms Stanley said.

However, she said, her family’s Christian-inspired, deliberately minimalist lifestyle fostered her creativity.

“People tend to be more creative when they don’t have the solutions right in front of them,” she said.

In the Congo, for example, transportation was limited.

Trucks traveled through the area once a week for longer trips; otherwise people walked everywhere.

There was also no running water. Residents had to carry water back to their homes from a nearby river. People used barrels to collect rainwater to use for bathing and cooking; six people generally shared the same water at a time.

After acquiring a BA in psychology from Alderson-Broaddus College and master’s degree from Marshall University, both in West Virginia, Ms Stanley received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

She is the author and illustrator of children’s books including Monkey Sunday, The Rains Are Coming, Story from a Congolese Village and, most recently, Monkey for Sale. She is also a Master Teaching Artist for the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

“All of my stories are about some aspect of life in the Congo,” she said.

Among the characters featured are real people she met while living there.

In each presentation Ms Stanley makes to students, she emphasizes that while the “details” are different, people tend to share universal environments.

“An American kitchen, for example, may look different from one in the Congo,” Ms Stanley explained, “but they still have the same uses, being places to cook, eat and gather together.”

In addition to introducing students to life in the Congo, she loves teaching illustrating workshops to students. Last spring she ran such a workshop for students at Sandy Hook School.

“When students are young they all think they are ‘good’ at art,” laughed Ms Stanley. “However that changes when they get older. I largely taught myself how to draw. I see it as a way of self-expression.”

There are no right or wrong ways to create, she said. Preconceived standards or expectations can actually hinder the creative process.

“Ms Stanley has been coming to Hawley School for three or four years now,” said veteran second grade teacher Gail Honeychurch. “Her presentation is so good, it fits in very well with our unit on diversity.”

The students relate to Ms Stanley’s infectious energy, Ms Honeychurch continued, noting that they are “riveted” throughout the one-hour presentations.

“Keeping eight-years-olds still for that long isn’t east!” Ms Honeychurch laughed.

Ms Stanley encourages students to explore each other’s cultures and be open to their own — and other’s — creative processes.

“We can all be creative,” she said. “Don’t limit yourself!”

For more information on Ms Stanley, visit her profile at her publisher’s website, Two-Ems, Inc, at www.two-ems.com/Sanna.htm