Kenya: Day 13

What happened:
- went to Adam's Arcade at 9:30. had breakfast, journaled. Ken was supposed come pick me up for Gwatila's music video
- Ken shows up with Kim, the guitarist, at 11:20.
- get to Gwatila's at 12, start setting up lights, etc for Gwatila's music video.
- I shoot some set photographs
- by 4, we've only finished Kim's shots and he has to go.
- we consider shooting some scenes with Gwatila, but we don't really have the time and start packing stuff up at 5:40
- we sit around and chat about Filamujuani (http://filamujuani.org/) and decide to shoot a quick and dirty documentary this coming week so people can see what we're doing and the sort of impact we're having
- we go to Spice Roots, an Indian restaraunt for Tom and Deb's farewell dinner. we're supposed to get there at 8, but get there at 9. they order food, get some appetizers at 10, get the actual dinner at 11.
- we go to Havana at 12:30, a local bar/club and dance the night away
- i get home at 2

Gwatila (http://http://www.ngwatilo.com/) is an actress, poet, singer and has her first published book of poetry, "Blue Mothertongue" (http://www.ngwatilo.com/blue-mothertongue/). Ken is shooting a music video for a poem she wrote called, "Dear E", which was put to music.

While Ken was shooting with his 5Dmk2, Gwatila was coming up with a shot list. At the end of the 4 hour shoot, we had 6 of 32 shots done for a 2:18 music video.

This is one of the reasons why planning is such a crucial part of filmmaking. In fact, planning starts in the script. The script is a series of descriptions of what is and what isn't on screen. Pre-production takes that concept a step further and figures out, practically, how do we show what's in the script.

Now, there are definitely instances where it takes a long time to even get 1 shot. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm also not advocating sticking so close to the plan that you don't allow for inspiration or serendipity, nor is getting the shot THE primary task.

What planning does, is it forces you to think through everything before actually doing it. It frees your mind so those moments of inspiration and serendipity are free to happen. Since your mind is no longer thinking about what HAS to be shot, it can be freed to wonder, explore, and play. You've already considered the possibilities and tossed out the ones you know won't work. All that's left, are the ones that will.

Planning also frees up time so getting the shot isn't what you're doing. I hate it when I get to the end of my day and I still have a ton of shots left to get, but I can't miss my day either. So I switch into functional mode. I get the shots I need in order to tell the story. But often times, those shots are devoid of life. They work, but they don't have that sense of magic that really connects.

Planning, it's your friend.

Kenya: Day 12

Pray for:
- a vision that transforms the community
- wisdom of how to implement that vision

What happened:
- went to prestige. did my devos. waited for ken, who didn't show up.
- met with Gwatila to talk about Zuki. plotted out episodes 3-4 and started talking about ep 1.
- went to Kibra Academy, taught pre-production: location lists, character lists, stripboards, prop lists, storyboarding, and shot lists. tom also came out and did an exercise with the kids, had 2 actors try to both get what they want
- Tom dropped me off at Adam's Arcade, walked home w/ my headlamp lighting the way
- had first power outage

Today, Tom came out to class. Most of it was pretty uneventful, but as we approached the end, it was time to say goodbye. Tom is moving to Rwanda after spending a year in Kenya. He's spent quite some time with the kids, teaching and helping them work on Zuki.

Zuki started out as a soap opera written, shot, acted, and produced by the kids. The goal was to produce this and sell it to local TV stations as a way to bring money into the community. But as the project went along, many of those goals got put on the back burner.

One of the problems, was that the kids aren't very experienced with writing or production. In fact, they don't have any experience. As much as we like to believe in gold coming out of the most unlikely places, the reality is that screenwriting, video production, and video editing are difficult. Each one is a craft that needs to be refined in its own right through failure, trial and error, and critical feedback from peers and audiences.

In the mean time, writing duties for Zuki have been mostly taken over by Gwatila and Ken.

Another problem is the lack of resources.

A few months ago, a small group of women pooled their resources and bought the school 8 laptops. Then, one day, they were stolen. This is Kibera. It's still a slum with all the things that come with slums: theft, murder, rape... lawlessness.

So what to do?

My recommendation to Ken was to set up a production company. He could start with 2 or 3 laptops, a consumer HD camera, and some Flip HD cameras. The Flips would be used for training and even shooting some low level programming. The consumer camera could be rented out so that they can shoot weddings, documentaries, or whatever other projects. The laptops could be taken in to Kibera as lesson platforms, but more often then not, it would stay at the office for work.

What this does, is it sets up a goal for the students. After they finish school, they have a place where they can actually envision themselves working. Even if they don't work at the production company, they can rent gear or time on the laptops to produce material and bring money into the community.

So, what then of Zuki? Our goal this summer is to write, shoot, and finish the first 42 minute episode and use it as a platform to sell the rest of the 4 part mini-series, potentially leading to a full 13 episode TV series.

I still need to have conversations about SlumTV.

Kenya: Day 11

Pray for:
- pastoring Ken
- those remaining in my classes, that they would learn a lot

What happened:
- went to teach Jah Army, only half the class showed up.
- went home. lunch: meatballs + fries
- went to prestige to journal. saw ken & tom
- went to Kibra Academy. half the class showed up. taught how to write a screenplay. homework: write a 4 pg screenplay
- went to Junction, met up with Ken & tom. they worked on Zuki. we were at doorman's, i ordered tomato soup
- went to Nairobi Java House for dinner, had a burger
- Tom went home
- sat around with Ken talking about life
- went home

From this point on, my blogging is going to become irregular. The only times I'm going to post are if I have a significant thought or comment. I will continue to do weekly reviews.

Kenya: Day 10

Pray for:
- kids have motivation and focus
- against the enemy's tactics of discouragement and distractions

What happened:
- went to Kibera; Kigan and I miscommunicated and he went to wait for me at Kibera Academy; reviewed their loglines; taught about character development; homework: write biography for main character
- some local people heard about what I was doing and came to interview me
- did my devos
- went home for lunch
- went to Pristige Plaza, met with Gwatila and Ken to talk about Zuki. Started getting the overall arc down.
- went to Kibera Academy. Looked at the students' book to see how they were progressing. A lot of them didn't do the homework right. Or others had missed class. So class turned into a makeup session. Ended class early.
- went home

It was pretty discouraging today to see a good portion of the kids not doing their work. This is not to say that all of them are guilty, there were those who did try, and those need to be rewarded.

I just need to remind myself that I can only teach the material, they have to learn on their own.

Kenya: Day 9

Pray for:
- pastoral mentor
- opportunities for God to show up

What happened:
- woke up at 7:10 to travel into Kibera
- Kigan met me at Nairobi Kibera Academy and walked me into the heart of Kibera
- met some of Jah Army; have 6 in this post-high school class; had them share their stories; taught loglines; homework: write 5 loglines
- took the mutatu back to prestige
- did my devos
- went home
- went out to lunch with Ken; went to Westlands mall; had mutton masala
- went to Kibera to teach afternoon class
- continuing to learn Swahili
- went home

Today, I went into the heart of Kibera.

The ground I walked on was covered in garbage trampled by thousands of people. As I climbed the steep slope and crested the hill on to a pair of train tracks, I saw a whole nother world.

I saw the rest of Kibera.

If you've seen Slumdog Millionaire, you'll have an idea of what Kibera looks like.

Kigan, one of the Jah Army, led me to their home, to their HQ. In the midst of the garbage, of the forgotten, of the refuse, there was this group of friends who group up together, who are trying to make it together, who are trying to give back to the community together. Jah Army.

They are artists. Singers, rappers, musicians, illustrators, painters, filmmakers, and photographers.

They use their skill and talent to make statements.

"Burn the rapist"
"Rape is wrong"
etc.

What kind of place is this where signs need to be made to remind people that rape is not a good thing. How does something like that even happen?

Do they embrace their status as disenfranchised? Do they buy into the fact that they are forgotten by the rest of society? Do they accept their lack of dignity as truth?

Whatever the rational responses are, I know that the kingdom of darkness is there. The enemy created the situation and the enemy continues to oppress God's people, keeping them in bondage.

No amount of NGO work is going to "fix" Kibera or even poverty. Not to say that they shouldn't try. But there is tremendous arrogance in any individual or any organization who says that they know how to solve poverty.

Kenya: Day 8

What happened:
- went to Nairobi Java House at adam's arcade; got coffee, chatted w/ Ken
- went to Nairobi Chapel; Oscar Miuri's, of Urbana fame, church
- went to Ken's parent's home
- lunch: rice + beef stew + fresh banana
- Ken loses his car keys for 20 min
- go to Gwatila's place; met her parents
- went to Junction to watch Robin Hood, but we were already 30 min late
- went to Ken's place to drop off his Redrock Micro rail kit
- sat around and talked about Zuki, film marketing, Nairobi televesion, and the Nairobi audience
- went home

It was interesting seeing Oscar outside of the Urbana context. So far, both times I've seen him speak (the first in class, the second, in person at Urbana 09), he was wearing what I would consider traditional African garb. This Sunday, as he got up to preach, he was dressed in a suit.

I don't know what I was expecting, but that was definitely not it. In retrospect, it shouldn't be all that surprising. You look around the crowd, you look at the people on the street, the majority of people are in dress shirts, suits, or the like. For him to wear traditional African dress would NOT be contextual.

That got me to thinking. Urbana, and Intervarsity as a whole, is really big on diversity. I don't doubt that there are people who still wear traditional African garb, or Japanese people who wear kimonos, but by playing off those stereotypes, perhaps we are perpetuating this idea of differences when, in reality, a lot of these differences have disappeared.

In one of my previous posts, I talk about how Westernized Nairobi(http://www.ninjavspenguin.com/blog/2010/05/21/kenya-day-6-week-1-in-review/) is.

Diversity tends to be a hot issue in American churches. Understandable considering how churches tend to be monocultural. Even the "diverse" churches, still have a predominant culture. Aside from ethnic churches, I would say they are "Amercian". What these "diverse" churches are really talking about when they talk about diversity, is skin color.

This may say more about race and racism than anything else. It is affirmative action as an ethos. But this isn't meant to start a discussion on affirmative action.

I think we like to believe that we are a post-racial culture. The reality is that race has come back into the forefront.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that this pursuit of "diversity" is not a bad thing. And the intentions are often very good. So this isn't meant as an attack on those churches or their pursuit of "diversity".

I can't help but think that if we truly were post-racial, there would be no such thing as race. And genetically, biologically, there is no such thing as race. And just as in the Kingdom of God there is no Jew, there is no Gentile, wouldn't putting an emphasis on "diversity" bring those differences back?

As I said before, these churches are mono-culturally Amercian. They also tend to be homogenenous in terms of socio-economics as well. Of course, this is often a function of the church's location. If it's in an affluent neighborhood, affluent people are going to go. If it's in a poor area, you'll have more poor people. Of course, this is a sweeping generalization, but it paints a stark picture.

In fact, you see the same thing in the African churches that I've been to. You look around and they're middle, upper-middle class people of Nairobi. They have the same misconceptions and prejudices of Kibera as a random person from America.

"They're lazy."
"It's disease stricken."
"It's dirty."
"They're empoverished."
etc.

Some of those things may be true, but it's not the complete picture.

There is beauty. People work hard. There is education. There is life.

The thing that stands out is the community's poverty. Just like there are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation rich. There are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation poor. These are people who, all they have seen and experienced is poverty. They know nothing else. They have no concept of anything else. Therefore, they can't envision a life or even a way to get out of their situation. The very definition of poverty.

Across the street from Nairobi Chapel is a slum. Right there, on their doorstep. And the thousands of people who attend Nairobi Chapel, Nairobi Chapel it self could do some real change.

I think diversity is a noble goal. I believe it's a "biblical" goal. If it were true diversity and not just multi-colored mono-cultural "diversity".

Kenya: Day 7

What happened:
- went to Kibera; kids had an exam so only half came to class; watched Up; cried 3 times
- went home, watched a bunch of CSI