Ross School - Kenya 2011: Mar 16, 2011

Ross School to Kenya

This intensive course will focus on documentary photography and filmmaking. We will travel from Nairobi to Mombasa. Students will create either photo or video essays and perform community service in the form of collaborative educational experiences.

Introduction

Ross School students will engage in collaborative workshops with three groups in Kenya to produce a series of short multimedia projects that highlight the current issues facing these groups.

In Kenya they will work with Boy’s Town Orphanage outside Nairobi, the children of the local Maasai tribe on the Maasai Mara and the Yatta South Women’s Group in the Machakos Region. The most pressing issue facing the orphans outside of Nairobi is the pervasiveness of HIV and a dire lack of education. The Maasai struggle to preserve their culture while learning to embrace globalization, and the women of the Machakos region have the rare distinction of being the main bread winners in their society because a majority of the men have been lost to the AIDS epidemic. They survive by selling hand made goods, and struggle with the lack of easy access to water. Their region contains only a single well for potable water within a 50 mile radius, and access for many is only by foot.

Through these collaborative workshops, Ross School students will facilitate the opportunity for each group to explore their own world by photographing scenes from their lives and using their own images as catalysts for verbal and written expression. Ross School students will work in collaboration and peer-teach these groups, providing both technical knowledge and narrative storytelling skills. Framed around the themes of self-portrait, community, family, dreams, and current needs, both the Ross students and the indigenous groups will create a series of multimedia works in an effort to bring awareness to the daily challenges faced by their communities, with the final product to be hosted off a website set up for each group. Additionally Kenya is widely considered the forerunner in the development of eco-tourism on the African continent. Some of the world’s most innovative and promising community tourism projects have been developed in Kenya. Their new Safari Camps employ state-of-the-art environmental technologies and initiatives that enable local communities to benefit from their natural resources. This encourages the sustainable preservation of their country’s wildlife-rich tribal lands. The students will have the unique experience of a photographic safari through the Maasai Mara and , and the opportunity to learn about the vast array of environmental projects being developed there from our highly knowledgeable Kenyan guides.

Students will also be required to create either a personal photo essay or video montage about their travels through Kenya.

We are currently on the bus to JFK. We arrived at school and used the five hours in the morning to prepare. This morning we brainstormed ideas and questions that would help the boys of Boys Town successfully do a project that we are giving them. Once we arrive to their village we will be giving them laptops and cameras to do a photography project. We will also donate clothing and toys to them. After our brainstorm session we work on the song that we will sing to the different villages throughout the trip. It is a custom and tradition for African tribes to preform for their visitors and for the visitors to preform for them in return. We decided to sing "Stand By Me" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". In addition to our group singing those songs Geige and Gabby will be preforming an acrobatic routine with Kenny improvising on the harmonica. We practiced our performance a countless number of times until Alexis accepted our challenges. After completing our rehearsal it was time for us to have lunch, finish up last minute things, and say goodbye to our friends and family. We packed the bus up with our luggage infront of the CWB and boarded it. Every student was assigned a "baby" bag (aka another suitcase that is filled with camera equipment or things we will donate) to check in with our own. We are all aboard the Jitney now and on our way to JFK Airport.

Today we arrived in a London airport after a 6 hour flight from New York. Upon arriving in London we had some breakfast and got some snacks for our flight leaving for Nairobi. The flight itself was a little bumpier than our first flight but overall was fine. We watched an array of new release movies some of which are still in theaters. We were also able to catch up on our sleep. After arriving in Nairobi and going through customs we gathered our bags after a long wait and then met with our main guide Peter and the rest of the guides/hotel employees. We packed all of our big bags in a van and then piled into the vans and after a quiet drive ended up at the West Park Royale Hotel. We were then assigned our rooms and settled in for a much needed shower good nights rest. We our all excited for the adventure ahead.

Ross School - Kenya 2011

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Ross School to Kenya

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Ross School - Kenya 2011

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Kenya Syllabus

Ross School to Kenya

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