16may08-kenya

Kibera Stories on YouTube

2008-05-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

TODAY!

2008-05-16T04:16:00.000-07:00

This is it: 16 May 2008, the International Day for Sharing Life Stories. This morning I went to one of the largest slums in Africa to videotape some stories of people who survived and even thrived in Kenya's post-election violence.

Special thanks to Kevin Oduor for shooting the video, Caz for setting up the meeting and dedicating so much time and energy to the people of Kibera and Prof Murphy for being supportive in so many ways.

Here's a list of the participants:
Talib Mubira
Joel O. Ouko
Sebit Said Sebit
Jane Anyango
Rose Nbuku
John Anam
Nzomo Ndunoa
Solomon Kihima
Stephen Juma
Joshua Otieno
Pamella Adhiambo
Grace Nyaboke
Mary Kakai
Jackline Anyango Ogolla
Faith Afandi Chagali
Solomon Muyundo (aka SOLO 7)
Bishop William Abuka
Dorcas Abuka

The videos will be posted on YouTube.com soon.

The Bow Tie Story

2008-04-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

Bridget McGraw has posted her story on youTube.

Kuona Trust Digital Stories on youTube

2008-04-22T01:44:00.000-07:00

Look at these videos that came out of the first DIS KENYA workshop:

Boys Will Be Boys

IDA—Internally Displaced Artists

Kenya's Story

Living on Leaves

Storytelling Circle in Kibera

2008-04-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

As part of the International Day for Sharing Life Stories, Bridget McGraw will conduct a storytelling circle in Kibera at Bishop William Abuka’s Church, Faith Community Fellowship in Toi Market.

Please gather at 9 AM for tea and snacks. We will begin promptly at 10 AM. Each participant will be asked to tell a 2-5 minute story. A video crew from Kuona Trust (an arts organisation based in the Industrial Area) will document the event and post it on the Internet.

People are invited to speak in Kiswahili or English.

Artists from Kuona Trust to create digital stories

2008-03-21T03:29:00.000-07:00

Kenyan artists will be taking part in a digital storytelling workshop. It will run from 7th to 9th of April at the Kuona Resource Centre at The GoDown in Nairobi.

They will create a digital story to share with the world via the internet on the 16th of May as part the International Day for Sharing Life Stories.

www.kuonatrust.org

DIS KENYA workshops

2008-02-28T12:11:00.001-08:00

It was a good omen that the very moment I was discussing the logistics of conducting a DIgital Storytelling in KENYA (DIS KENYA) workshop with visual artists, I heard that a deal had been struck between the feuding leaders of this fragile country. Sweet relief! I will post details of the workshops as they emerge.

The plan is to conduct one DIS KENYA workshop with some of TICAH's Body Mapping participants and another with some computer savvy Kenyan artists.

Thanks to Peter & Lummen for the photograph of SOLO's fine message.

Body Mapping

2008-02-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

A friend from New Orleans told me about the forthcoming "International Day of Sharing Life Stories" that Museum of the Person and Centre for Digital Story Telling are organising for May 16th 2008. I have worked with an organization called Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH) here in Kenya for the past few years and we would like to like to share some visually stunning and emotionally inspiring stories with the world as part of the event.

TICAH'S mission statement reads:

We work to strengthen our understanding of the positive links between cultural belief, practice, and knowledge and the attainment of health.

One of TICAH's many projects has been to conduct Body Mapping workshops with HIV+ women and men in Kenya, Thailand and India. Body Mapping is a technique that has derived from the Memory Work that was pioneered by an HIV+ Ugandan women’s group, NACWOLA. This work originated as a means of helping HIV+ women cope with the fact that they were dieing and leaving their children behind. By writing in Memory Books, they were able to process their own fears and feelings, to leave memories and identities for their children in these books and to plan for their children’s futures as orphans. From these origins, Memory Work has evolved to look at how people are choosing to live with HIV, including the exploration of their health and treatment experiences and options. By drawing life-size silhouettes of themselves, many HIV+ people have been able to explore the longer-term realities of living with HIV and share their spiritual, nutritional and emotional health strategies in an imaginative way.

We would like to share the Body Maps and the stories of the positive people who created them. Please see the TICAH web page for more information about the Body Mapping project.