Sami; finally it is here!
Finally it is here, after two years of discussions, planning and anticipating. The team was seated at Kony Pot Restaurant when I arrived having waited for me for the better part of the day. The first thing in my mind was we were in Nairobi and not Amsterdam; it is no longer an idea but a reality.
It was as if we were getting to know each other again, maybe that had to do with a different environment. Everyone seemed reservedly excited, maybe the anxiety was setting in. For my part the questions which I had always brushed aside occupied every avenue of my thoughts…….. How are the people in Dunga ‘really’ like?........Are they prepared enough?....... Are we going to ‘click’ well as a team as house mates, workmates, friends, mates, comforters….?.......Are the Dunga team in the same ‘Script’ as we?....... By the time we said goodnight it was clear that I will need to get to Dunga, get down with it and hopefully my answers will be realized but for consolation as a four member team we seamed to get along pretty well, all from diverse experience, discipline, social etc background and very much complimentary of each other. On my bed that night I said to myself Sami you can talk and talk and talk talk…call it nervously excited.
Bonding is vital in any collective undertaking. By traveling by road in what you would call a hellish road 350 kilometer that took over 8 hours did a lot to get us bonded. The ‘hardship’ excitement, scenery, circus tic weather all lifted our moods, brought the funnier and adventurous animals out and as for starters we really had fun as we arrived to joyous welcome, great house, happy food and nice hosts. Dunga was opposite of my imagination painting of the place but the welcome, the smiles and hospitality wiped my ‘disappointment’ away.
A walk to Akamba Bus station to collect our luggage, visit to Cyber café and a coffee in the Kisumu ‘city’ helped equate with the place. Meeting the patriarchs ( Alphones and Tobias) and a matriarch ( Tonneke) further made me feel I have always been here but again the need to meet everyone and get down to work was further enhanced.
Friday Eleven the official intro day. 300 + kids lined up as per their classes in front of overbearing Dutch and Kenyan flags, some with schools uniform, some with torn out cloths, others smartly dressed…..tall short, outgoing, reserved, big eyes, broad smiles cautious gaits. A magnificent sight of happiness, hope and dreams against a backdrop of death, poverty, struggle and survival. When my turn to introduce myself come I just found myself screaming and urging them to do the same, a sharing of their energies. I told myself this will be fun, I am sure from this souls I will learn a lot, actually I just had my first vital lesson, despite the odds be positive and take everything and everyone as a chance, Could be this a metaphor for development? We will find out.
As we introduced the ‘Hallo’ message from Dutch kids contained in small suitcases filled with thematic ‘Kid to Kid Goodies’ The two world seemed to either pull apart in terms of material privileges but the commonality in innocence between the two children worlds was evident. Some inherited behaviors of kids rising up to answer questions, politeness, talk only when talked to was part of my life less than 20 years ago but now they all seem like from a lost civilization movie. The discipline in these kids would make a teacher in a ‘problem’ school in inner cities of Holland demand a transfer. But at closer look I could not help ask Are they empowered enough to relate / communicate freely?....... Do they have a chance to define their destiny?....... Is this another big performance with the West pitted against the South on a power, material, dominance game. Slowly our theatrically propelled developmental challenge started taking shape.
When we met the artists and teachers our next two week partners the more questions than answers trend continued but by this time I had resigned to accept that to do anything meaningful in the next two weeks I must seize the opportunity and learn as much as possible about my new found partners through observation to support or refute my earlier hypothetical analysis I had formed.
By the time we met the volunteer group a pattern had emerged. This are very a materially deprived community, faced by enormous life bound challenges of poverty, hunger and disease, clinging on an ‘undemocratic’ power structure rooted in traditional and politico-economic dominance ideology. They are very subordinate people but having said that their will is unbreakable, their hardship promoted wisdom is unparalleled and their intellectual, skill and talent capacity is in abundance. I quietly said to myself. If we can partner together share our experiences, exchange our know-how we can address the developmental themes of environment, Hygiene and Health progressively but most important learn from each other.
As a sipped my drink last evening the whole picture had started to evolve. As much as my hypothetical preparations had helped me beat the anxieties and face the challenge of going to Dunga the reality on the ground though in the same line was much different and theatre being a ‘magnification’ and reproduction of life is best equipped to unravel these life based developmental challenges and by putting children more so orphaned and socially / materially deprived kids in the driving seat to address their own issues with our facilitation the results in two weeks can only be positive.
It was as if we were getting to know each other again, maybe that had to do with a different environment. Everyone seemed reservedly excited, maybe the anxiety was setting in. For my part the questions which I had always brushed aside occupied every avenue of my thoughts…….. How are the people in Dunga ‘really’ like?........Are they prepared enough?....... Are we going to ‘click’ well as a team as house mates, workmates, friends, mates, comforters….?.......Are the Dunga team in the same ‘Script’ as we?....... By the time we said goodnight it was clear that I will need to get to Dunga, get down with it and hopefully my answers will be realized but for consolation as a four member team we seamed to get along pretty well, all from diverse experience, discipline, social etc background and very much complimentary of each other. On my bed that night I said to myself Sami you can talk and talk and talk talk…call it nervously excited.
Bonding is vital in any collective undertaking. By traveling by road in what you would call a hellish road 350 kilometer that took over 8 hours did a lot to get us bonded. The ‘hardship’ excitement, scenery, circus tic weather all lifted our moods, brought the funnier and adventurous animals out and as for starters we really had fun as we arrived to joyous welcome, great house, happy food and nice hosts. Dunga was opposite of my imagination painting of the place but the welcome, the smiles and hospitality wiped my ‘disappointment’ away.
A walk to Akamba Bus station to collect our luggage, visit to Cyber café and a coffee in the Kisumu ‘city’ helped equate with the place. Meeting the patriarchs ( Alphones and Tobias) and a matriarch ( Tonneke) further made me feel I have always been here but again the need to meet everyone and get down to work was further enhanced.
Friday Eleven the official intro day. 300 + kids lined up as per their classes in front of overbearing Dutch and Kenyan flags, some with schools uniform, some with torn out cloths, others smartly dressed…..tall short, outgoing, reserved, big eyes, broad smiles cautious gaits. A magnificent sight of happiness, hope and dreams against a backdrop of death, poverty, struggle and survival. When my turn to introduce myself come I just found myself screaming and urging them to do the same, a sharing of their energies. I told myself this will be fun, I am sure from this souls I will learn a lot, actually I just had my first vital lesson, despite the odds be positive and take everything and everyone as a chance, Could be this a metaphor for development? We will find out.
As we introduced the ‘Hallo’ message from Dutch kids contained in small suitcases filled with thematic ‘Kid to Kid Goodies’ The two world seemed to either pull apart in terms of material privileges but the commonality in innocence between the two children worlds was evident. Some inherited behaviors of kids rising up to answer questions, politeness, talk only when talked to was part of my life less than 20 years ago but now they all seem like from a lost civilization movie. The discipline in these kids would make a teacher in a ‘problem’ school in inner cities of Holland demand a transfer. But at closer look I could not help ask Are they empowered enough to relate / communicate freely?....... Do they have a chance to define their destiny?....... Is this another big performance with the West pitted against the South on a power, material, dominance game. Slowly our theatrically propelled developmental challenge started taking shape.
When we met the artists and teachers our next two week partners the more questions than answers trend continued but by this time I had resigned to accept that to do anything meaningful in the next two weeks I must seize the opportunity and learn as much as possible about my new found partners through observation to support or refute my earlier hypothetical analysis I had formed.
By the time we met the volunteer group a pattern had emerged. This are very a materially deprived community, faced by enormous life bound challenges of poverty, hunger and disease, clinging on an ‘undemocratic’ power structure rooted in traditional and politico-economic dominance ideology. They are very subordinate people but having said that their will is unbreakable, their hardship promoted wisdom is unparalleled and their intellectual, skill and talent capacity is in abundance. I quietly said to myself. If we can partner together share our experiences, exchange our know-how we can address the developmental themes of environment, Hygiene and Health progressively but most important learn from each other.
As a sipped my drink last evening the whole picture had started to evolve. As much as my hypothetical preparations had helped me beat the anxieties and face the challenge of going to Dunga the reality on the ground though in the same line was much different and theatre being a ‘magnification’ and reproduction of life is best equipped to unravel these life based developmental challenges and by putting children more so orphaned and socially / materially deprived kids in the driving seat to address their own issues with our facilitation the results in two weeks can only be positive.
posted by Ben Hekkema | 8/12/2006
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