Capturing the Story: The next chapter

Capturing the story takes time and patience. I have heard from two of the students that it is sometimes difficult to take photos of the subjects they wanted to because some people did not want their pictures to be taken. We talked about how they handled this and processed the experience. It would be ideal to have a digital camera for the students so that they could share their images instantly, a technique sometimes used to build trust and to include the participant in the process.

The students had 1-2 weeks to take the photographs and complete their one page essay. What has become clear thus far is that all of the CES students who have participated not only are enjoying the opportunity to take and receive their photographs but they are truly grateful of being sponsored by CES. Every one of them reported how their life circumstances have changed and that although the road may sometimes be uphill, they have the support to keep climbing.

It will take several months and possibly into 2009 to complete the photography project. The distance involved and resources required to make copies of all of the photographs for the students and to compile their essay’s will take time. Continue watching for the update of some of the most inspirational young people in Kakamega, Kenya.

Capturing the Story: Ambition inspired by life events

There are many things that struck me about the young woman I interviewed that made her seem mature beyond her age. And at the same time, she was warmly playful and quite attentive. She also came to school on her day off, to meet with me. She is 15 years old and knew she was born in March but did not know what day. Her dream is to become a doctor that will treat people, an ambition inspired by life events. “Because my mom is always sick and there is no one to treat her, maybe I could treat her myself.”

She is the first girl, third born of five. When we spoke about support she said “my mother, she is always there for me, I do love her. She brought me here (to the school), she is my hero. And my teachers, they are always there for me and help me.” The composed young woman smiled as she sat across from me. She had waited patiently for me to finish talking to the other students. When I gave her the camera and explained to her the choice of participating, she was thrilled to be included. She had never used a camera before and quickly understood the use of a flash.

We talked further while I walked down the road to catch a tuk-tuk, a three wheel scooter-taxi, in the opposite direction to which she was walking. It was during this time, that she opened up and disclosed that not only is the distance far to school but she feels affected by the screaming and alcohol abuse in the village. She said people give her courage to walk to school but that she is sometimes afraid. She shared problems at home and how this upsets her. “My mom is sick.” It was clear she felt caught in the middle and helpless to change her home situation. It is her story that resonates with me and brings up my own feelings of helplessness.

My hope is that her photographs will tell a story that will reach others and provide inspiration to them. I see great strength, resilience and insight in her.

Capturing the Story: Managing with what you have

Have you ever gone to school on your day off? Did you ever attend meetings of your day off? Imagine at the ages of 15 and 16 you willingly and egarly agreed to do just that! I am not sure what impressed me the most, was it that these students walked 5-10 kilometers to meet me at school on their day off or was it their ability to keep going in the face of adversity. The first young man who introduced himself to me shared that he wanted to be specializes in operations. He realizes that in order to have a better life in the future, he would need need to stay in school and work hard. Although it isn’t asa doctor that simple as that. He and the other CES student explained that sometimes the lack of resources gets in the way of going to school. They share this example: “Maybe you are half way up (awake in the morning) and you have half your uniform on and you need a pen or a book but you don’t have it. That is discouraging.” “You don’t have the books and it’s hard.”

The next young man shares that he would like to become a psychiatrist. His interest in this profession comes from the idea that “it promotes community; I would be serving people more than serving myself.” He said that “it helps to have motivation; I have the urge to come to school.” One of the students had used a camera once before, but never had a full roll of film to shoot. They looked at the questions posed to them and agreed to be a part of the photography project.

The photography project asks specific questions that involves having the students capture their ideas on film. The questions require reflection and the idea is to promote insight into their lives. They include topics on school, health, friends and family.

Capturing the Story: The Community

Kakamega is located more than one hour from Kisumu on a bumpy road through lush green tea plantations. Numerous settlements are beside the road and people garden and tend to their crops throughout the valleys. Kakamega is the birth place of the Boda-boda, or bicycle taxis. Boda-bodas are one speed bicycles with a fringed padded seat on the rear rack for the passenger, long hub-bolts for your feet, and a hand grip under the driver’s seat. Many people are incredibly poor here. In fact, I have seen young children scooping water out of a puddle into pitchers after it rains, surviving on less than a dollar a day. But they are also incredibly friendly saying “jambo” (hello) when I walk past.

I buy our vegetables at the local market, from women presiding over tiny wooden stalls laden with produce; tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and a wide range of herbs and greens that we are just starting to explore. Women everywhere can be seen walking home to their villages carrying their groceries on their heads. Dry staples come from “Mama Watotos” and other supermarkets. Our flat, located at Sheywe Guest House is a lovely self-contained suite with many bright windows and ironically some Canadian neighbours right from our hometown of Vancouver.

Other local wildlife include the massive storks that perch on trees outside our flat, and the ferral dogs that howl at exactly 8:30 every night. As it is now the rainy season, I never go anywhere without an umbrella. Each night, thunder storms rage in the sky but by morning the sun is shining and the puddle-hopping begins.

Capturing the Story: “With CES help I can do it”

At the next school, I met an remarkably bright and articulate young man that CES is sponsoring. The Director of studies proudly shared that he is the “Head Boy” of the school. The Head Boy has additional responsibilities of helping organize the lessons, the other students and the class rooms which requires early morning attendance at the school. This bright 18 year old boy was in Form 4 and stated he wanted to be a lawyer or a judge. “I want to make it to Canada, with CES help I can do it” he exclaimed. During the interview he told me that he was from a family of four and when his father died his sister had to drop out of school. “I would have had to too if CES didn’t help me.” He remembers his mother confining in him how bad it would be for his sister to drop out of school because the risk of poverty was worse for girls. Miraculously, though, she managed to complete her school work but now remains at home because of debt to the school and friends.

The Head boy shared with me his dreams, “I want to stay focused because my dream is to come to Canada. I know I will go to University because of your (CES) help. I don’t want to roam around in Kakamega after my Form 4.” With such conviction, focused hard work and determination, I have no doubt that he will succeed in whatever path he chooses. After our talk he introduced me to the other students and we began using with the camera I brought and the one I gave to him for the photography project. The other students were playful and at the same time, very respectful of their guest.

Capturing the Story: On the front lines

When I met with only the educators at the first school, we sat around a table and they spoke about how grateful they were of CES sponsorship and wondered how other youth could access the program. We had a candid discussion about how great the gap is between resources and need, and what can sometimes be seen as “the deserving poor.” It was a real eye opener as the questions they had and the areas they needed the most support in was dealing with the absolute poverty their students face. We were able to explore what could be useful in working with their students, and in particular, the ones that needed the extra understanding for not completing their homework. We explored how trauma, and in particular the recent experience following the post-election violence affects people. We discussed how the teachers could support each other and the students simply by talking and listening to one another’s experiences.

Although there was also a real interest in immigration policies and procedures, as well as multiple requests for employment contacts in Canada, I understood this line of questioning as coming from a feeling of helplessness in the face of such poverty. It also represented a cultural/generational difference in the mode by which information is transferred: word-of-mouth networking vs. the Internet.

The educators at the school were committed to their students and their questions were impressive in their desire to help those especially disadvantaged.

Capturing the Story: The Project

The realities of living as an orphan child or as one affected by HIV / Aids are rarely if at any time, documented through the eyes of that child. The purpose of this project is to give the youth the opportunity and, more importantly, the resources for the youth to tell their own stories. Using reflection to build insight is therapeutically useful for processing grief, loss and trauma, especially when youth find it hard to find the words to express such emotions. As a therapist, I have found that not only is it useful to have creative tools to connect with people, but that it is paramount that such ventures are done with ethics and responsibility. Working with marginalized and disenfranchised populations requires an awareness of how privilege, class, and culture influence the process.

When I arrived at my first school, a Muslim school in Kakamega, I met two of CES sponsored students. With the curiosity of the other students I tried to create a therapeutic atmosphere as much as possible, giving the students the choice to meet privately with me or not.

A quiet seventeen year old girl sat with me under the shade of a tree in the school yard. Unsure of what I wanted from her, she listened and hesitated before answering my questions. Describing being from a family of ten she also spoke about aspirations of becoming a doctor or a nurse. Never had she used a camera before.

The same was for the shy twenty-one year old who was also in Form four (grade 12). He had never used a camera before either but he was willing to try and take some of the photographs suggested. However, when we talked about school he expressed that he had difficulty getting to school because he was exhausted. He shared that he had to get up at 4:00am in order to walk two hours to school in the dark in order to arrive on time. He described that on some days he has barely slept and is too tired to attend. After school and the long walk home, he has chores and household duties that he is responsible for. We talked about what type of photo could represent this experience and he was reassured that it would be okay if he could not complete the task. I could understand and connect with what he was sharing, and it was hard to fight the wish to buy him a bicycle. He also shared that he wanted to be a secondary school teacher to help others.

Capturing the Story: The Proposal

School begins on May 5, but there are students in classes already. Tuition is the practice of covering material that isn’t covered during the regular term over the holidays. You have to pay extra fees to attend and both students and teachers give up their holidays to prepare for the national exams. In Kakamega, one of the first schools I visited had wooden desks and black paint on the wall to make a chalk board. There was no electricity or running water but the broken-glass windows provided bright rays of sunlight. The kitchen consisted of two fires fed by huge logs over which lunch cooked in two pots. The supply cabinet had rolled up maps and one book for each teacher. The students had one small scribbler each. Not to go unnoticed, were the flowers around the school and the curious murmurs from the students about the mzungu (white person) that was visiting.

“Karibu” is “welcome” in Swahili and it is more than just a saying. When you hear karibu, tenderness and caring is conveyed in its intonation. When I walked onto the first school yard, one of thirteen that CES has sponsored students at, the principle and educators invited me in with the traditional Kenyan way, “karibu”. I learned about the similarities of the Kenyan and Canadian school system, high school being four years, with the grades referred to as “form one to form four.” Many of the staff were familiar with the geography of Canada, easily naming capital cities and happy to share their teaching time with me.

All of the Form 3 and 4’s (grades 11 and 12) were brought together to discuss ideas of healthy relationships. Integrity, faithfulness, humility, trustworthy, caring, the list was long of what they wanted in an ideal relationship. The young men and women equally identified healthy characteristics and although they spoke quiet and shyly, it was an opportunity for both of us to learn about each other. “Are you engaged?” one sharp young man from the back called out. “Are you proposing?” I answered and the class roared with laughter. We also explored unhealthy relationship characteristics which led to a discussion about quarreling, conflict and stress. This created the segway to talk about some ideas of communicating compassionately as well as how to be aware of our judgments.

Using photographs we explored feelings and expressions and the students then asked questions about Canada. We all had another laugh when I mistakenly misheard one student comment that Canada had “witch doctors.” Trying to be sensitive to the inquiry, I asked what she meant by witch doctors and more laughter ensued. I finally understood they meant rich doctors. At least it led to a discussion of the privileges Canadians have and our free public health system. What captured the moment, however, was the look the students gave the principal when they learnt the length of the Canadian school day. They are expected to be in school by 6am and in class from 8am to 4pm with only two short breaks!

Capturing the Story: Karibu

My dream of going to Kenya began nearly 20 years ago after meeting Miriam at a refuge shelter where I was a summer camp leader. Miriam had just arrived from Kenya along with her mother. Miriam touched my heart in many ways while we stumbled and laughed through the summer, talking, playing games and going to see the movie “The Lion King.” – which unbeknownst at the time was my first lesson in Swahili! Meeting this kindred spirit, I began to learn about the wonderful kindness and good naturedness of the Kenyan people.

When I arrived in Kakamega on April19, 08, I heard a man ask me, “Are you Canadian?” I turned around and there was a smiling Mr. Malik Khaemba and Mr. Ben Udoto. Karibu (welcome). Habari gani? Nzuri. It is great to be here and I am happy to call Kakamega my home for awhile.

(These photos were taken in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya’s world-renowned wildlife reserve.)