Tauranga artist brings joy of painting to abandoned Filipino children

Artist Julie McGowan has used paint, and plenty of it, to help bring joy to the lives of Filipino orphans. Photo / Andrew Warner

What was meant to be a trip to paint murals at a Filipino orphanage also became unexpected form of therapy thanks to a Tauranga grandmother.

Artist Julie McGowan spent two weeks in the Philippines, helping brighten the walls of a children's orphanage in Mindoro. The murals join others McGowan has done during previous trips to the impoverished nation.

McGowan operates under the Ruel Foundation - an accredited charity which runs the orphanage and can process children for international and local adoptions. She holds a Masters in Art.

This was McGowan's third trip to the orphanage but the first time she began painting with the children, encountering some of the trauma they have lived through.

"I had kids telling me their life stories. I had a girl paint a picture of her father in jail with these thick dark lines. I spent a lot of my time with kids that had real problems, children that had been locked away in small spaces for a long time," McGowan said.

"Some children would come, paint and then run off but others would come for three to four hours and just paint."

The two weeks had been emotionally draining and she was now exhausted but the trip had brought joy to her heart, she said.

McGowan said at one stage a group of children would stand together and sing the alphabet to her while she painted the walls.

"I don't think people really understand but just seeing the benefits in the children and the joy that painting gave them, makes it all worth it."

McGowan, who works at Mount Maunganui Public Library and drives the mobile library, took time off for the trip.

Orphanage director Pauline Curtis-Smith will hold an art auction of some of the children's artwork later this month in Tauranga to help raise money for the foundation. The auction will be held on August 18 at Farmer Autovillage, Hewletts Rd, Mount Maunganui from 2pm. Entry is by gold coin donation.