In March, 22 year old Eder Alamilla lost his life under mysterious circumstances and since then, his family has maintained that the circumstances and cause of his death have been covered up. And while they've kept up their quest to unearth the truth, the family is also honoring his memory by paying tribute to his artistic legacy. Every year, this very young man and young artist organized art summer camps for children across Belize. This year, his family organized the camp and this morning they showcased the products of the event and underscored their dedication to his memory.
Tania Mahler, Eder's Sister
"Eder was my little brother and his vision was to do a lot of artwork for the community. So I just wanted to thank you guys coming here."
William Neal, Dir. ICA
"What we did was basically try and do some of the same things that Eder did with the children while he was alive and also improve on some of the arts and craft. But the idea was really to expose them to as much art as possible."
Alfonso Noble,
Are you satisfied with the end product here?
William Neal,
"What you have on the walls is just a sampling of what the children did. We are definitely satisfied because you could tell by the reaction of the 100+ kids that we had in the mornings and in the afternoons, they definitely enjoyed the experience and I think that's what the camp was all about; really exposing them and let them see that art is a form of expression that is important and that you know you can create your own world within art."
Giovanni Alamilla, Eder's Brother
"Eder used to do the same kind of program right here at the House of Culture a couple years ago. Mrs. Krohn thought about the idea, her and William Neal, and William used to teach Eder so he recommended Eder doing it and from the first day he was with the kids they automatically gave him the job because he is so into different type of arts, not just the painting and drawings. So when he passed Mrs. Krohn, William Neal, and Yasser Musa decided that they wanted to do the same thing and continue it in his name. It's just that we want to continue his work. Even though he is not here physically he is still with us emotionally and we still want to continue what he loved. Seeing all the work that they did with 80 kids in the morning and about 75 in the afternoon, it really did a good job. This is something that we plan on doing and hopefully my son will be able to continue it so that he will still be around...at least his memory."
The Alamilla family along with the Institute of Creative Arts plan to make the Eder Alamilla Summer Camp an annual event.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
