When I was four years old, I started painting to express my feelings. At that time, I was feeling good whenever I painted. When I was seven, I went to the village museum because there were art classes there. I could not do good in school at mathematics or science.

I got in trouble because I would draw in my test books instead of write answers to the questions. In 4th grade, I got in great trouble because I drew a clothesline and drew underwear hanging on it. The teacher yelled at me in class, but I could do good at the museum. The teachers there often asked me to draw things for them.

When I finished high school at 18, I went to a technical school for two years, but I didn’t like it. I liked art, and I was accepted to have a workshop at the village museum. I was the youngest person ever to do this. Then, I got a scholarship from the Swedish Development Agency to go to the Bagamoyo Art School.

In Bagamoyo, a friend and I started an art market in what had once been a slave market there and later when I was living in Zanzibar, I had three shops where I sold the art from the Bagamoyo market to tourists.

I came to the United States in 2010 because I got married. When I got divorced, I was homeless so I went to the Rescue Mission in Trenton. One of the A-TEAM artists was there and when he saw me drawing, he told me to go to the soup kitchen. I went there to get art supplies so I could paint. I was happy again.

I like the A-TEAM because it gives good opportunities to artists. Art is like therapy for me. I can express my feelings easily through my art. I will be doing art for the rest of my life because it is still the way I can express all my feelings.

A lot of people have mental problems because they don’t have a place to put their anger. If all the people in the world did art, a lot of the problems would be solved because art is amazing!