A small section of Joyce Sirois's ninth grade World Cultures class attended a field trip to the Museum of African Art and Culture in Portland on Oct. 17. The class has been studying African culture throughout the beginning of the year, so the field trip felt fitting.

Inside the small museum are many pieces of fine art work from Africa. Colorful masks, sculptures, paintings, photographs and string canvas pieces were featured throughout the museum's display.

Our joyful and sharp-minded guide, Oscar MoKeme — also the founder and director of the museum — was able to provide us with personal knowledge of the land, being from Nigeria. He also taught us many valuable life lessons that day.

Masks in the museum have many intricate symbols and pieces. One of the most popular masks featured horns, representing strength and bravery. Depending on whether the horns were facing up or down, they had different meanings: facing up means strength and facing down means letting go of burdens. Other mask features, such as lines down the center of the face, means calmness.

One of the sculptures my classmates and I saw was of a grandmother. It represented how important it is to have a strong relationship with your grandmother, something I find very true.

Other sculptures had many details and designs: snakes, small people, faces, etc. Many of the pieces of artwork were made from string, symbolizing that we are all connected. I learned that many people from African cultures have ingenious ways of expressing and symbolizing their feelings into works of art.

Oscar explained to us that when a baby is born, a tree is chosen and planted for them and that the baby's umbilical cord is buried under the tree where the ground was blessed. This tree is called their Tree of Life. As the person grows, so does the tree. When the person passes away, they are buried with their tree. In a way, this represents the circle of life.

All the life lessons we learned were amazing. It really opened my eyes to a new way of thinking.

"What stood out to me the most was how much Africans value families,” student Page Brown said. “It was incredible. This reminded me, in a way, of Boothbay and how we're a tightly knit community and how we value each other."