Harambee Arts: An Oasis of Joy
During our time in Kibera with Daraja Academy alumnus Irene Kazirika Asuza, we were privileged to visit the Harambee Arts program. This program provides children living in Kibera with a safe place where they can play and explore their creativity. The kids are provided with art supplies, games & activities, and treated to drinks and snacks.
We were invited in by the Mayor of Harambee in Kibera, Brandon Francis Okoth. Brandon in an irrepressibly positive, 19-year old native of Kibera, with an ever-present smile and the ultimate can-do attitude. He’s the kind of young person you meet who gives you some hope for the future, and you can’t help but think “we need more like him”. Brandon sees the challenge of poverty from inside looking out. He spends a good part of his day focused inward on his community and putting smiles on the faces of kids who badly need something to smile about. But unlike many his age, Brandon keeps his eyes on the bigger picture. He knows the cycle of empty promises and corruption that infests the political eco-sytem in Nairobi. His notion of a solution to poverty involves finding a way to gain influence in order to affect policy changes. In this respect, he is wise beyond his years.
I, for one, will be rooting for him. I believe, and I hope, that this charismatic young man with a potential professional career in Rugby can grow to be the leader he deserves to be. Those kids in Kibera need him to get there.
Why We Were There
Our visit to Harambee Arts was a bit of serendipity. We were in Kibera was part of the Daraja Photography Project. It was only our second full day in Nairobi, and as we were finishing up our profile of Asuza, someone in our party (I confess I am not sure who it was) suggested we visit Harambee. The result was planned trip back the following day for a photo shoot with the kids in the program. As photographers, we are nothing if not opportunistic.
Throughout our trip to Kenya, we were privileged to see and meet partners and affiliates of Daraja, and we began to see a sort of “ripple effect” in the surrounding communities. One day on the Daraja campus, I was talking with Daraja founder Jason Doherty, and he made a comment to the effect that Daraja Academy serves as an “incubator” for community programs. I didn’t fully absorb the meaning of his comment. But the longer we stayed, the more clear it became. Daraja says they are “in the business of educating leaders”. If you visit and stay a while, it becomes very clear that the Daraja graduates are becoming leaders and influencers in their communities.
But it goes a bit deeper than that. Daraja generated not only educated and motivated leaders, but also ideas, access to resources, and material support for quite a few initiatives in the community. One clear example is the Twala Cultural Manyatta, an initiative run by local Maasai women that provides cultural experiences, eco-tours, and hand-made Maasai crafts. Daraja was acting as a “feeder” for visits to Twala, and thus actively helping them generate income and support themselves. Everywhere we went, we could see and feel this sort of connection.
Production – How We Shot Harambee
We were lucky to have fantastic lighting conditions when we got to Harambee Arts. The kids were in a large room which was lit entirely by makeshift skylights. And although the light was fairly low, it was nevertheless beautiful – a diffuse light with an ethereal glow, cast unevenly in such a way that it created pools of light in the large room. We had to crank up our ISO a bit and keep shutter speeds at a minimum. And we got some motion blur in our shots, but it was a good tradeoff to take advantage of the light.
There were about 30 kids were on the floor, painting with watercolors. The kids were obligingly not getting all the paint where it was intended to go…as kids will do. Again, no complaints from the photographer contingent. It was definitely portrait-style shooting, but not orchestrated or mapped out. We just wandered the room and shot candidly. Many kids were happy and proud to pose with their artistic masterpieces, and we were of course happy to oblige. We even followed the kids outside into the hot African sun for songs and games. It was creatively fun but more importantly, it always does one a world of good to be surrounded by the joy and laughter of young children. It’s so nice that they have this little oasis of fun.
Thanks to Brandon and his group for all the great work you are doing, and thanks for inviting us in! Please consider lending your support to Harambee Arts.