Bee's Blog
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Nairobi Workshops
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Autumn 2009
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So sorry for the delay in this blog; a variety of reasons, not least the keys on my computer are sticking and making it hard to flow, and also a huge crack has also appeared on the frame work of the screen which means it all looks a dreary shade of grey AND the power lead is temperamental and keeps going on and off – so in fact you are jolly lucky to be getting anything at all!!!! New computer is my Xmas present to myself...
But to the report –
Joni and I arrived in Nairobi on October 5th and spent the next couple of weeks setting up and organizing the workshops with the heads of the two schools we are engaging with this year - St John’s, Majengo, and Valley View, Mathare. We are also continuing with the Saturday Art club in Kibera that has been running all year round under the tuition of Dickson - one of our Kenyan artist/ trainers. This is being taught by Meshak (another Kenyan artist) whilst Dickson is working with us.
We were joined by Anna (ballet) on the 12th, and Steve and Francesca (advanced art teachers) on the 15th...
We started the workshops on the 16th.
This year Anno’s Africa Trainers are:-
Programme Director - Bee
Art
Foundation Art – Joni (UK) plus Dickson (Kenya).
Advanced – Francesca, Steve and Olivia (UK) plus Babu (Kenya) and Kenyan volunteers Ben and Edgar.
These classes are also helped by St John’s teachers Andrew, Samuel and Jarom.
Numbers:- 28 & 26 kids respectively
Music
No UK teacher for this class. Choir is taught by Lulu plus St John’s teacher Sebastian
SAFE Ghetto actor and poet Kades also joins us on Saturdays to teach rap.
Percussion is run by Kenyan actor/dancer/ drummer Irush, with volunteer Dan.
We also have a drum making programme taught by Kamau.
Numbers :- Choir/ Rap 20. Percussion 22
Dance
No UK teachers until 23rd Oct when Jessica arrives. Class led by Kenyan dance trainers Consolata, Judy, and Joseph, plus St John’s teachers, Iren and Violet
Two members of Stomp, Fraser and Paul (UK), will teach Stomp to the dance and music students from 12th to 21st November.
Numbers:- 54 kids
Ballet
Anna (UK) and Mike (Kenya) plus St John’s teacher Jane
Numbers:- 32 girls
Circus
No UK trainers. Our Kenyan team is led by Nathan (France) from L’ONG c’est Toi - known in Kenya as NGO ni Wewe (the NGO is YOU).
Nathan (tightrope, juggling and stilts), Kenyans Mdogo & Mathias (acrobatics, Diablo and plate spinning) plus St John’s teacher Paul
Numbers:- 60 kids
16th November - St John’s Non- Formal (charity) School
The first day began with a midday discussion about the programme with trainers and school staff. Then after lunch break all the kids went to the hall to be divided into their respective groups - a total of 240 children - so bedlam ruled for a few minutes but finally they were allocated classrooms and lessons began.
Opening Classes went really well in all disciplines.
Dance - New trainers Judy and Consolata were very overloaded with kids – but both are highly qualified in African and Contemporary dance so they filtered out who was best at what. Of course African Dance was a favourite as the heroes of these kids are the performers from the Ghetto who they try to emulate. Our programme includes Traditional dance but we also try to give a taste of other styles, including hip hop and ballet.
In fact Anna’s ballet class was overflowing - not just with last year’s class, many of which have been doing Saturday ballet classes with Mike (supported financially by A’s A). Some of Anna’s original class had left the school, a couple of the more hyperactive have moved to circus and a few shyer ones transferred to art. However, with a host of new girls Anna has her hands full and has to start from scratch with some. She seems undaunted and her attitude very much the more the merrier, we are all so surprised that ballet has proven so popular as most people in the Kenyan slums have no concept whatsoever of even the word “Ballet”.
Once again Anna had managed to gather up enough second-hand pink RAD leotards and shoes for them from her London ballet classes and has personally subsidised any additional ones she needs. This ballet seems to mean so much to her and is now such a major part of the programme. We are really confident that in a few years the Nairobi slums WILL have a ballet company – and hopefully one to rival The Soweto ballet from South Africa!!! It took them ten years to establish themselves so we have plenty of time. There was one issue over modesty for the Muslim girls from last year so Anna bought some ballet skirts and black tights which she, once again, subsidised herself and she seems to have solved the problem.
Music – Singing Lulu is on good form and happy to be back with us. He was supposed to be in Norway studying music but seems to have messed up his visa so he is now happily ensconced in Nairobi much to our relief. We discussed the choir doing one western song and one African (composed by Lulu) and decided on “Stand by Me”.
Percussion – We have plans for kids to make their own drums - led by Kamau from the slums who has made many. Kamau has joined our programme much to the delight of all the local kids as he is quite a character within the community where he runs a rehab centre for street kids (glue sniffers mainly). He wears brightly coloured clothes with a twisted turquoise turban thing around his head which give him the appearance of an Arabian wizard.
ART - Joni is working to her lesson plan for foundation art and the children’s first lesson was to make and decorate their own sketchbooks. She now knows all the kids so well after three years and they welcomed her back with huge enthusiasm. Whenever she walks through the playground there are shouts of “Joni! Joni” which is enough to warm anyone’s heart and whenever you see her in the breaks she is always hardly visible as she is permanently surrounded by chatting kids. It makes all the tough days worthwhile – to all of us – this huge affection in which we are held at this school.
For the Advanced art Steve and Francesca were also welcomed back by their last year’s group and ran their two week programme with such professional zeal that the rest of us felt almost amateur. Well, many of us are I suppose – not least myself…
Circus – Circus are based on the field with access to the hall if it rains, which it did with alarming regularity the first few days, not that any of us complained given that the drought had been so desperate this year. In fact we rejoiced with the Kenyans when the rain began... Getting SLIGHTLY fed up with it now!!!
The field, however, was the cause of our first “hurdle” for the new programme with the news that a football tournament - of which no one seemed to know about - had been booked on it for our first Saturday. Sally and the Head teacher apologised (as it was supposed to have been booked of for Anno’s Africa) but that didn’t help us much on that first weekend. However, I discussed it all with Sally (our friend – and the coordinator from St John’s) and an agreement was made whereby the field was to be earmarked for our sole use during the time the workshops run. Sally and I also talked about the issue of corporal punishment.
It has always been Anno’s Africa policy that our teaching staff, both UK and Kenyan, do not use corporal punishment. During our meeting on the first day we had discussed this with the trainers and established that the only form of punishment acceptable is exclusion. Unfortunately corporal punishment is very much the norm in Kenyan schools (and many homes) and so it was necessary to discuss our policy with Sally so the St John’s teachers and A’s A were on the same page.
17th – St John’s
A big initial problem as all classrooms were locked when we arrived - teacher Paul (responsible for the rooms) was away with a sick mum... finally everyone was in by 10.30, although some classes were not able to start until 11 (misunderstanding over original timetable). Then the football tournament started. A huge intrusion - both with noise and with kids leaving class after lunch to watch. In spite of this the workshops went extremely well, and a surprising number of children returned from the draw of the game after lunch – voluntarily! A few more returned after their teachers found them! There was often a drop in class numbers after lunch last year so this year we are extremely pleased that most kids choose to return.
I went into the slum to discuss the issue of Bob with his father - to make sure he could attend this year. Bob is a child who had terrible troubles at home but whose life has been transformed by A’s A. Life looks so much better for him now. The Madrasah school is not intruding too seriously on his access to the workshops except for a couple of hours on a Saturday, and a lifetime of beatings (followed by him running away) seem to have stopped since he became an acrobat.
We finally finished at 4pm and everyone was pretty happy with the first workshops.
21st and 22nd – Valley View
The First two days at Valley View were fine – with great enthusiasm from a combined dance, drama and music group who were up in the big hall (1500 shillings - £13!!). About 45/50 kids joined the class with Judy, Consolata, Irush, Kamau and Lulu as trainers. The trainers took turns with their different specialties but also worked really well as a team – Jessica will introduce more drama, “creative games” and hip hop when she comes. They started work on the song “Lean on me “ and these amazingly talented kids got it within minutes - ditto the dance. These Valley View kids are seriously gifted - as we noticed last year.
Art was downstairs with Steve and Francesca on the balcony outside the classroom (it was very, very hot for them but they soldiered on). Good work from the kids. Joni’s class went really well too with the kids delighted to see her back this year.
Numbers - 17 & 22
Ballet class was held in a filthy hall (Leonard’s church) in a part or the slum crisscrossed with rivers of sewage and mud. But, the conditions were totally compensated by the thirty plus troupe of WONDERFUL girls (and one boy!) who had signed up for this very first ballet class in Mathare. Head teacher Leonard joined in the dancing and the girls lightened Ann’s heart after the rowdiness of St John’s the week before. This school is amazing and deserves every help we can give (Steve and Francesca have already offered a scholarship to one girl – Branice – whose life is one of the hardest I have heard about).
Numbers 36
Circus – Nathan and co managed to work in appalling conditions; on a piece of uneven ground outside the loos. But the kids were really enthused and loved it regardless of the surroundings. They started on juggling and tumbling and were watched by the rest of the school.
Numbers - 20
PS --- We all LOVE Valley View.
23rd and 24th – St John’s
Second week at St John’s and it transpires another football tournament planned for Saturday so I cancelled Saturday and just ran the Friday workshops - much to astonishment of the head teacher. However we did leave advanced art running as it was Steve and Francesca’s last day. The team were so disappointed – as indeed were the kids – but a stand had to be made. Sally has promised a letter supporting our prior verbal agreement.
23rd
Music - Kades joined Lulu to help with Rap. This class is going really well this year (it will mix with STOMP later on when the Stompers get here in November).
Dance - Jessica joined dance to do hip-hop and games. Judy, Consolata and Joseph delighted with her. She is a source of such knowledge and experience with regard to movement and other therapies – but also such FUN. The kids all adore her as she also plays wonderful creative games with them in her free time, and seems to know almost all their names within days of arriving. A true god send.
Art – Steve and Francesca’s kids completed their slum paintings – really good work coming from them. The foundation kids are really getting into the swing of things now and already a few have expressed their desire to be an artist when they grow up.
Circus – This group is as autonomous as last year with the guys running a tight professional ship. We are all SO impressed with Nathan and co, they really are so dedicated and spend much of their spare time teaching slum kids for free in their local area of Dandora. Felix, Nathan’s protégée from last year, is absolutely brilliant on the tightrope. Bob is finally up on his stilts (they made him wait while he learnt some acrobatics and tightrope so he can be an all round performer but his love is certainly the stilts) and we have huge team of GIRLS doing acrobatics thanks to the recruiting powers of teacher Paul.
24th
All classes cancelled except for Advanced Art due to the football tournament. Let’s see if it has the required result???
Steve and Francesca finished their programme and said goodbye.
25th
Steve and Francesca flew home BUT are returning next year we hope...
28th – Valley View
Art - Joni is running both art classes which is hard work for her - but she’s managing brilliantly, with help from Dickson and Babu.
Dance/Music/Drama with the addition of Jessica was even better. The kids are so happy and enjoying every minute – and so are teachers.
Ballet went beautifully with kids now in black leotards, tights and ballet shoes. The kids are very quiet and work so hard. There was a fire in the slums on our way to the hall; billowing smoke and large crowds gathered. Very scary. Finally put out hours later. There are only 17 fire engines in Nairobi and ONLY ONE IS IN WORKING ORDER!!! (This info was in the local paper).
All class numbers same - no drop off from these kids except for illness...
Agreed with Leonard that circus will train on Tuesdays in the hall so they can do tightrope too as there is no space for this anywhere outside.
Nightmare journeys home each time from Mathare – down the very dangerous Juja road and on through another slum before curving around the North east of the city. Takes about one and half hours through crawling traffic and the thick pall of lorry exhausts (no rules here for clean air!!) One night Anna and Joni were stuck in a jam for three hours. It’s too much after a day’s hard work but all agreed worth it for these great kids.
30th and 31st – St John’s
Friday and the great reform. Letters of agreement from the School promising total commitment to us – and – we have a letter stating that that field is ours for the run!! Hurrah.
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Ballet - Anna’s class a noisy nightmare today so she threatened to cut the class and expel naughty girls. It worked. Saturday was a dream.
Music
Percussion; drum making began - very smelly with new cow hides and flies everywhere (hard for my vegetarian stomach to cope with but worth filming as it was sooo impressive). The drums look absolutely the real thing - which they are of course. A marvellous idea for the programme as now Anno’s Africa has six new drums plus the 3 Djembes we bought the first year.
Choir - Bad day on Friday for Lulu too so he also threatened expulsions - lo and behold Saturday was perfect! Makes me realize that these kids really do want to stay in the programme although discipline is an ongoing problem in some groups.
Dance - Jessica set in motion a new philosophy of really helping the kids who were struggling by separating the class and taking them off for extra tuition in small groups. She also dissuaded Consolata from favouring the most gifted and having them always in the front line. Consolota is a professional teacher who filters out talent as part of her job so it is natural for her to spot the good ones, but now she understands that A’s A wants to give everyone a chance. She was totally receptive and now she, Jessica and Judy take turns with all the groups and then put them together at the end of the class. Hey presto it works – the whole group are getting so much better.
As I said before - Jessica’s experience as a movement therapist with the Kids Company in London has paid dividends for us as she is bringing her knowledge to bear in many ways, and she is also encouraging creative games in between lessons in the playgrounds. It is not a play culture that comes naturally to these kids but they are loving it - from Grandmothers footsteps (with mime) to clapping and guessing games a la charades.
In Circus there are now five tightrope walkers in training and the acrobats’ pyramids are getting higher and higher! These classes are a joy to watch and not one kid has dropped out in spite of the intensive and hard training.
Art - Joni is holding the fort with both classes and supervising the advanced art’s preparation for the arrival of their next teacher - Olivia. On Friday I took 2 groups of 10 from the advanced class to the slums to take photos for Olivia in preparation for her first class with them on Saturday, Nelly (visiting French photographer) and Art assistant Ben came too, and the kids did so well with their very original images of the slums. I will put some up on the site later on as I think there are at least six budding photographers among them. Photography is up for discussion for next year if we can get a second hand computer and cameras donated.
Olivia arrived in Nairobi on Friday night and was in at the deep end on Sat. Of course she was magnificent!! All her years of teaching experience showed and the kids sensed her quiet authority. In the afternoon she took them to the field to draw the circus performers - mainly tightrope walkers and acrobats. This was a great idea as it meant the mixing of disciplines which is one of the things we are finding hard to fulfil although it is in our “manifesto”.
Ned arrived Sunday 1st - sadly without Natalia who was due to come for a month and teach circus “silks”. She had to cancel for personal reasons but WILL come next time!! We were all terribly disappointed but Nathan will compensate I am sure and we can send the silks kids to Sarakasi to train until Natalia is able to come back again.
2nd and 3rd November
Ned settling in and others doing prep/ having a couple of days to get ready for week 3.
Anna and I visited The Tree House - an arts project in the slums run by Mdogo (circus trainer) and Kamau (artist and drum maker). We have asked the multi talented Kamau to make a wooden Stomp Stage for us out in the field and so we met up to buy wood and have a look at the incredible place they have built amongst the trees overhanging the Kikumba (market). The tree house is worthy of a blog in its own right and in fact Nelly the French photographer is doing an article about it so I will just say that it is an incredible place with its own creative force that bows to no convention, and it is a haven of light and life amongst the chaotic noise and bedlam of the market that rushes beneath its protective branches.
4th and 5th – Valley View
Art – Olivia’s first day at Valley View School. She took it so remarkably in her stride that one would think she had been working in slum schools for half her life - which in a way she has as she keeps stressing that it is not so far removed from some of the scruffier inner-city Liverpool schools where she has spent her teaching life. She has brought these kids a wonderful programme which entails building profiles from slum images in various ways (film, sketches, printing etc ) and then using these for landscape painting. They will use all these images as inspiration when they finally come to decorating the cotton bags that she has brought out for them and which they will be allowed to keep for themselves after we have shown them at the open day on Thursday 26th.
Ballet continues down in the church a few minutes’ walk away. Anna now has all the kids in their “smart” (a favourite word in Kenya) black ballet uniforms which make them all LOOK like the dancers they will become. She loves these girls for their quiet enthusiasm and for the delight this class brings to head master Leonard, who is always there escorting the class to and fro and joining in, pointing his toes very unsuccessfully in his heavy black shoes.
Dance/Music/Drama - This class is spectacular. They are so quick to learn and are already doing amazing harmonies, dancing like professional traditional African dancers and loving the rap and beat boxing that are now part of the songs they are going to perform at the open day,
The Circus troupe was happy as they have been able to swap their class days and use the hall on Tuesdays (on Wednesdays the dance group occupy it). They can now have tightrope too as there was nowhere to fix the rope outside by the loos where they have to station themselves on the other days. The area where they work is swarming with flies which they seem to be able to ignore. These flies are everywhere - they love the art class too and go for the water in the paint so the pallets and kids paintings are literally covered with them until they dry!!
Ned is now covering the filming of the project which is a great relief to me as I am trying to organize things as well as take some stills. We hope to put some clips up soon.
My only worry about Ned is that he appears to have his father’s independent spirit and was spotted wandering the slums with his camera on his shoulder in one of the most dangerous areas - but as Mike the ballet teacher says “Ned is BIG!” so hopefully no-one can reach to grab the camera from him. Mind you size won’t help against a gun or razor and we hear that is the main manner of a hold up. Even though many guns may not be loaded they do proliferate and who would want to risk it? We have been advised strongly just to let go if someone wants to take our belongings as the consequences of not doing so could be fatal.
Ned and I visited (and filmed) the plot where a new school is being built by Valley View. It is in a wonderful location high above the valley with some fresh clean air and a view across the Mathare river to the trees on the far hill side. Below, the slum crawls it stuffy, shit smelling way west along the valley floor through Eastleigh and towards the city centre. To the east too there is no respite with one slum melting its borders into another:- all equally squalid – each one with its own special vibe and SMELL.
But now the new Valley View school pushes its optimistic metal fingers up through the cement towards a new future. And Ned and I stand and look, somewhat discouraged by the enormity of their plan and trying to contain a fear that for Leonard and the kids this is all it will ever be - a concrete space with piles of bricks and rusting metal. A pipe dream.... BUT that makes us all the more determined to keep faith with the school and its ambitions... and do whatever we can to help the dream to become a reality. But for now the place is silent, with one lone Askari guarding over the piles of grey bricks standing dusty in the afternoon heat.
However, with the first stages completed with the cement foundations solidly built into the hillside that was once a rubbish tip all they need now are the funds to start on the bricks and mortar. Even with a few classes erected they can move and begin to save the money that is haemorrhaging out each week on the rent they are having to pay for a row of stinking corrugated iron huts - each the size of a garden shed and housing over 30 kids in an airless, unhealthy and dusty squalor.
The children at Valley View are from one or no parent families - about 40% unable to pay even the small stipend asked - so the poor are supported by the less poor as the head teacher refuses to turn any child away it seems - as long as they have the commitment and enthusiasm to learn. The state gives this school NOTHING even though they keep shining in all the football and choir competitions and have a cupboard full of cups to prove it. Every time they win another competition some dozy politician mutters about helping them but nothing ever happens to alleviate the situation.
This school is so special to all of us as they are amazingly talented kids - hard working and brilliant. The music/dance group have come up with a wonderful song composed by music teacher Lulu (and donated to them by him), it is entitled “Watoto - tunalia sana” which means “The children We are crying”. It has a hypnotically beautiful and anthemic chorus interspersed with some brilliantly eloquent rap composed by the kids themselves about their lives, the conditions in which they live and what it is like to try to survive in the slums. Swahili lends itself so brilliantly to rap and the kids are COOL which has a lot to do with Jessica’s enthusiasm and the hip hop and beat boxing she is adding to the dance “curriculum”. We plan to record this song and get it played on air here, and in the UK if we can, and hopefully make some money towards the school’s building programme.
Back to the blog!!
6th and 7th – St John’s
All continues well. Field is now ours with no-one competing for it. Classes continue steady and good with no real drop in numbers (even an increase in foundation art). Saturday lunches are greatly appreciated by the kids. In fact I can now say that the whole project is running really well and as planned. No huge problems on the horizon - just the slight pressure of open day but I keep stressing to everyone that THE JOURNEY IS ALL and the destination - i.e. parade and show - just a nice perk for the kids and the community...
The rains come and go - heavy at night and in the day interspersed with hot sunshine. Now everything has turned green. The jacaranda trees are in their full blue flowered glory. The cattle that wander the roadside grazing seem to be fattening up a little - but not enough to stop one wincing a little as they wander past, bones jutting out like pictures of cows from cowboy cartoon drawings. You really CAN see the full skeleton underneath. There is a corpse down on the road side towards housekeeper Jane’s place which is now beginning to rot... quite a whiff. One wonders what it must be like in the bush; reports of hundreds of elephants dead. But how quickly we recover our equilibrium and begin to ignore the ever present signs of the terrible drought - as long as we have water in our tank - which we do – at some cost. But there is a sense of relief that the worst is over and that if the rains carry on a little longer the country can revive.
7th
Night before anniversary of Anno’s death - remembered by us all with supper at the house with the “residents” plus Lulu (and his guitar), Kades, Mike and Dickson.
Anno’s candle burned brightly and we all drank lots of Tuskers...
8th
I flew to Berlin for the Exhibition of last year’s art classes’ work to celebrate the beginning of ONE FINE DAY, Marie’s and Tom’s foundation that will sister Anno’s Africa for the future, sharing the loads both financial and artistic.
I arrived in Berlin where Marie had set up the most brilliant exhibition in one of the leading Art galleries. The kids’ art work looked amazing and sold really well. Tom also screened a trailer for the film, “Soul Boy”, he had made last year with the Kenyan film students. It looked marvellous – and I gather it will be screened at the Berlin Film Festival. If you want to know more about the exhibition and indeed the work of the foundation please Google the “One Fine Day” web site and you can read all about it.
Sally and I had a wonderful three days, with Marie gloriously pregnant and Tom a kindly host in spite of being in the midst of night shooting for his current film. So thank you Marie, Tom and Berlin for filling the coffers with enough Euros to run all our Saturday clubs for the next year.
(Marie had her baby on December 19th – a nine and half pound boy called “Toto”)
12th
Back to Nairobi with a light heart and not too much guilt as the fort was being held very efficiently by Anna, Joni and Ned.
I flew back in on the same flight as the two volunteers from the STOMP Theatre troupe who had kindly offered to come out and work with us for a couple of weeks. They were called Fraser and Paul and the day after they arrived they were thrown in at the deep end at St John’s. They began by showing the kids the “hands and feet” rhythms that form the basis for many of the STOMP routines. The kids and the trainers all fell completely in love with the two guys; with their humour, amazing talent - and their unbelievable stamina. They were an inspiration to us all and a fantastic addition to the team. We spent Saturday morning in the huge Kikumba market buying brooms so the kids went on to learn the classic stomp “broom dance”. We had also been lent basketballs from Braeburn school but these routines were much harder and had everyone hopeless with laughter at the attempts at catching and bouncing. So we ended up concentrating mainly on the stamping, clapping and brooms.
The schools workshops were interspersed by two days of adult workshops at the Sarakasi Dome (on the Monday and Tuesday). These adult classes were made up of 12 actors from Safe Ghetto, 12 Sarakasi dancers and about 10 trainers from the Anno’s Africa group. The training sessions were exhausting but tremendous fun - and left us with about 20 possible new Stompers if ever STOMP decide to set up a troupe in Africa. The Safe Ghetto actors are going to introduce a routine into their next show and the Anno’s team are now able to carry on the STOMP training with the kids and may decide to set up their own Stomp style group during the next year and see if they can start performing for other schools and events.
We missed Fraser and Paul dreadfully when they left and the kids at Valley View and St John’s continued to ask wistfully if they would be coming back next year - so we hope the children’s cries will echo across to the UK and like siren songs lure the boys back again... with reinforcements.
Our friend Patsy Pollock arrived on the 17th of November and promptly set to work helping Anna with the ballet costumes. We all spent hours stitching roses from crepe paper and creating other head bands and wrist ribbons for the girls from both schools to wear on the open days.
18th and 19th – Valley View
Patsy, I and French photographer Julia went into the slums below the school with 20 kids from the advanced Art class to give them a photography master class. This expedition came just a day after a massive fight in the slum, right bedside the school, precipitated by a gang avenging a theft and then the whole thing escalated into a three day riot over the weekend which had almost prevented us from running the workshops. But it seemed to have calmed down by the Wednesday although the school closed early to allow the kids to get home before it got dark. These children brave such dangerous situations so much of the time and it was only when we saw the wreckage of the 60 houses that had been burnt that we realized the severity of the situation that we had heard about on the news during the preceding days. It was rather frightening going down into the streets and alleyways below the school as there was a very tangible tension in the air. Some of the people whose houses had burnt were sitting on the blackened ground looking desolate and lost whilst others were sifting amongst the debris trying to retrieve anything that might be left. The school teachers and trainers who accompanied us were very wary of us straying from their sight and we didn’t stay too long. But the photographic results from the children were wonderful and Patsy and I (and the kids themselves) were very glad we went and extremely impressed with their work. It confirmed to us all the importance of photography as one of the art forms we would like to offer next year. Patsy is going to set up a small exhibition of the photos from both schools and we may possibly make them up into a book to sell at our next fund raiser as well. .
Altogether, the last week of classes in both schools went pretty smoothly - but with everyone gearing towards open day we did feel the tension in spite of the fact that we all kept insisting that “it’s only an open day for the children and their parents”. This need to perform really well is inherent in both kids and trainers so we just have to accept that whatever we say, it IS of course a SHOW - and the kids love that excitement... And it does need a lot of preparation.
The lead up to Mathare’s final day was hiccupped on the 19th in rather a splendid way by a visit from Ginger (the producer from Ginger Ink productions - who is running the aforementioned One Fine Day’s film school project for Tom & Marie) to Valley View where she heard the kids singing and was so impressed she immediately decided they should be the ones to represent Kenya for the World Aid’s Day concert funded by Starbucks (!?) and transmitted live worldwide on Dec 7th. It had been organized by Bono’s AIDS charity RED and had representatives from all over the world singing the Beatles song “All You Need is Love”. You can see the end result on www.starbucksloveproject.com but sadly you only catch a glimpse of the kids as there were 156 countries participating. However, I am getting an edit of the whole song with just the Kenyan group and will put it up on You Tube. The Valley View children were backing a young girl group called the Moipei Quartet, who comprise of 16 year old triplets alongside a younger sister. They are not only very beautiful but have amazing voices and play ten instruments between them. They were charming to the kids who were all very excited to meet them as they are folk heroines in the slums. We are hoping that the appearance of the Valley View kids will raise interest in Valley View school - and maybe this too might precipitate more donations to the school to help towards the new building. They have already received $500 from the Ginger Ink/Starbucks budget which is a start. The children were coached by a famous black Kenyan opera singer (who has her own slum project for raising interest in classical music) along with Lulu whose talent and encouragement got the children the gig in the first place. Anna and I were still in Nairobi for the performance so we were there to cheer them on as well.
25th and 26th – Valley View
Valley View’s open day on the 26th dawned hot and bright. We had spent the previous day preparing and praying it wouldn’t rain. Our prayers were answered rather too well as the heat was almost unbearable (“Beware or you may get what you want” indeed).
However, the whole event went incredibly well with terrific performances from the kids in spite of the fact that they were crammed, along with the audience, into the rather small hall for the show itself as there was nowhere outside with a smooth safe floor to dance on. They showed off their achievements in ballet, circus, music and dance and then we all collected downstairs for the giving out of the certificates for completing the course. Downstairs was also where the art classes’ labours were beautifully exhibited. The certificates were designed by Ned and painstakingly stuck onto pieces of card as we couldn’t afford to print them onto card individually but had to photocopy for economy’s sake. However they looked splendid and the kids received them with huge pride under the baking sun on the school “terrace” where they were all congratulated by the head teacher and all the trainers. Certificates are extremely valued in Kenya and make a huge difference to a child’s CV and subsequent work opportunities so they are an integral part of our end of course ceremony.
We really missed our “advanced art” teachers; Francesca, Steve and Olivia at this moment as their work made up such a grand display, covering all available space across the walls behind the terrace and making the place unrecognizable from the scruffy, dirty old building we are used to.
We always had nightmare journeys back home from Mathare as it entailed driving down the very dangerous Juja road and on through another slum. It would take about two hours through crawling traffic and the thick pall of lorry exhausts (no rules here for clean air!!). On our very last journey after the open day our car was “mugged” and a front headlight removed whilst we sat locked inside unable to move, stuck in the most fearful traffic jam, and unable to get out and do anything about it as to get out would have been asking for serious trouble and would have tempted a carjacking (carjacking is common occurrence in this most dangerous city with two people shot the previous week for resisting the thieves). Thankfully it was our last visit to Mathare!!! Until next year...
27th and 28th – St John’s
St John’s open day followed two days after Valley View’s on Saturday 28th November after a Friday spent in frantic preparation. After such perfection at Mathare, we feared a disappointment. And things did not bode well on the morning of the open day...
We arrived on Saturday - our BIG day - at 10am to a torrential downpour, and the very real threat of more rain forcing us inside for the show, only to discover to our horror... that a wedding had been double booked in the school hall! We already knew that there was a VCT (Aids testing) training programme going on in one room at the school but this wedding was an absolute nightmare as Kenyan nuptials are HUGE events with loads of cars, noise and partying. I called Sally who was on her way in to find that she knew nothing about it and neither did the head teacher. It seemed that although the school had informed the St John’s Committee that the hall and field were to be ours until the 30th November, somehow, this information had not filtered through to said “Committee”. Whoever this rather Orwellian sounding group are I have yet to discover but, whatever the cause, the effect was that we were lumbered with a wedding invasion on our day of days and we were mightily pissed off.
But we all controlled our indignation and set off on the parade, praying that the heavens wouldn’t open again. Bob led us all, striding along on his stilts with the kids singing and chanting their way through the slums. It was great fun and cheered us all up – and in fact from then on the day went really well. The lowering cloud continued to just lower and didn’t let rip again and the community - if somewhat bemused by the parading kids - seemed interested never the less and quite a few followed us back to school and stayed to watch the show. We also collected a gang of glue sniffing street kids en route, who live nearby in some large concrete pipes lying not far from the school. One of them had a shrivelled goats head as a “ puppet” which was rather macabre and all in all the group were a bit intimidating en masse. However they too followed us “home” and behaved remarkably well at the show - considering their glue-ey state. In fact there were a couple of older kids amongst them who were really interesting - VERY bright and really worth bringing in to a street kids programme if we can set it up next year. Our trainer from the Tree House Art Centre is already rehabilitating glue sniffers so maybe he can help us start working with them when they are clear of the effects of the glue which really does leave them fairly comatose. Since coming home I have heard that one of them – Salim; a.k.a. Obama because he had one white parent - has already been to check out the Tree House and may well become one of Kamau’s reclaimed children...
Thanks to the delayed start of the wedding until the early afternoon due to heavy traffic, we had time to complete our performance before the full onslaught of guests overtook the school yard. The performances were really terrific with the circus show being followed by African drumming, then ballet, traditional African dance, hip hop and then ending with the kids and trainers version of STOMP. The choir sang Lulu’s Swahili song followed by “Stand by Me” in English and then we gave out their certificates. Last, were speeches of appreciation and thanks to the team from Sally and the headmaster.
However there was a small drama when one of Joni’s foundation art group kids collapsed on the art room floor just as the show was about to start. I arrived at the classroom to find Joni taking care of semi-conscious Lukas who was burning up with a fever and unable to stand. Joni and a teacher carried him to the local hospital where they discovered he had a severe chest and throat infection that untreated could have easily turned into something very serious. The mortality rate in the slums is so high and an infection untreated so often leads to a child dying from something that in Europe would be a minor sickness. As it was they gave Lukas a large dose of intravenous antibiotics and a prescription for more and he was allowed back to school a couple of hours later, although still very wobbly. Sadly this all meant that Joni missed most of the afternoon’s performances but luckily for the other children she had already set up her most beautiful and spectacular exhibition of their art work beforehand, which she had strung with clothes pegs on washing lines around the school courtyard.
(We will put up some photos of the Art exhibition and the show onto the web site as soon as I get copies from the two young French photographers who were covering the day for us).
The VCT group turned out to be really good news as they kept to themselves and then had loads of food left over after their meeting which they kindly donated to our team and our hungry kids who, in spite of the picnic we had supplied, were by then ready for a proper meal.
So this open day too was a great success and all in all I think we can feel VERY proud of what Anno’s Africa has achieved, and what everyone’s help and support has meant to the slum children for these eight weeks. There were over 400 children who received their well earned certificates, a further 30 who attended the Kibera Saturday Art club (and have been doing so for the past year), and we gave 2 months of employment to 14 Kenyan artists/trainers who are all extremely grateful to have had the work – especially in such difficult times as these. We feel very blessed to have had such an enthusiastic and talented group working with us – and they will now continue the project through the Saturday clubs that they will run on our behalf, starting in February.
Kwaherini -- and love from Bee.
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