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.
Today 03/03/2011 we visited The Giraffe Centre, a habitat made for giraffes that are endangered or orphaned founded in 1979 by Jock Leslie-Melvile a Kenyan citizen of British descent. This habitat’s keepers raise giraffes until about the age of three years old, and then reintroduce them into the wild. Many of the giraffes that are males cannot survive if they do not get introduced at an early enough age, because they have become overly reliant on human aid, and therefore loose resiliency. The giraffes were very friendly as long as we had food to give them. These animals ability to survive nature is incredible. The class had a really good time and took many pictures of the giraffes getting fed. We fed the giraffes via kisses by inserting a food pellet between our lips, and allowing the giraffes to eat it.
When we arrived at the Elephant Orphanage we learned about baby elephants that are adopted by a habitat dedicated to raising them since their progenitors have been killed most often by poachers, for their tusks, which are valuable since ivory is used in many accoutrements and is seen as highly desirable. The handlers fed the elephants milk from bottles; since they are still infants they do not eat whole food generally. After their feeding the elephants wallowed in a large mud pit, in order to cool down. It was funny to watch them try and stand up again since they have slow motor skills and are still not yet fully developed.
Our last stop was Boys Town where orphaned or impoverished boys are given free education, shelter, and food in exchange for good performance in school. All of the boys are required to convert to Catholicism in order to attend the school. Many of them are found in the slums of different areas of Nairobi, one of the boys we interviewed named Yuris was addicted to cocaine and crack cocaine by the age of six years old. The schools staff found him in a slum badly addicted to drugs - many of these boys only sense of potential comes from the dedicated group of teachers, adults, and sisters that work with these boys. All of the boys are very resilient and grateful for what they have been allowed to do. Yuris is now at the top of his class and is working furiously to get into the high school program sponsored by Boys Town. Before we left we donated toys, clothing and soccer balls. Many of the boys are extremely sociable and enthusiastic about their future, Yuris specifically told us he hopes that some day if he is lucky he’d like to work for the U.N. This trip specifically made others and myself extremely grateful for the opportunities that we have been provided.
Jambo! That's hello in Swahili! Today is the fifth day in Kenya. The weather is warm, but breezy and there are beautiful flowers and palm trees. We started bright and early when we woke up at 6:30 to pack and eat breakfast. We left Nairobi shortly after and split up into two groups: The Pink Flamingos and Silent Zebras for the next four days. The flamingos went to the Masai Mara for safaris, and the zebras went to camp in Maji Mara. We are in the Pink Flamingos. Our journey to the Masai Mara was a long and bumpy one. On our way, it mostly through dry dusty fields, but we also passed many villages and even stopped for sheep to cross the road. We also got great photos of people on the street as we drove by. As we got closer to the Masai Mara, we saw zebras and Masai men walking many cows. After a five hour drive, we finally saw some huts up on a hill. It was a strange juxtaposition, the hotel on a hill in the middle of nowhere with nothing around. Once we arrived at the hotel, we ate a large buffet lunch, and some went for a quick swim in the refreshing pool. During lunch, something very exciting happened, a monkey came and jumped onto our table and stole Chloe's potato! This caused a lot of chaos. Soon after, we left for our first safari on the trip! The game drive was about two hours. During which we saw many zebras, impalas, wildebeest, giraffes and even some lions! After we uploaded and critiqued our photos together as a group. Later that night we saw the hyenas being fed meat around ten o'clock at night. Lalasalama, which translates to goodnight!
After waking up, we enjoyed to a delicious breakfast. We then drove to a primary school with some of the Masai people from our camp. The head teacher showed us around and we saw all the different class rooms!The tour was a startling and eye opening experience for us all as the school was in a very bad condition.
The students had only a few small benches made out of wood to sit on, and at least three students had to share a bench. Two classes shared one room, only separated with a small wall in between. The children at the school were very nice and sweet, but we all felt very bad for them because of the conditions of their school and difficulty of their lives. Most of them must walk more than 8 km (almost 5 miles) on their own every morning to reach the school. Additionally, some of must carry and take care of their little brothers and sisters.
After finishing the tour we gave the students balloons and soap bubbles to play with. The children were so happy about it and did a little performance for us.We took our few last pictures and got back into the vans.
When we reached a very bumpy road, the drivers dropped us off, and we had to walk back to the camp. The sun was burning on our shoulders, but the leader of the Masai people explained much about the natural world around us and its animals, which was really interesting. The walk to camp took us three hours and was exhausting. Although tired when we reached camp, we were happy and proud we made it.We enjoyed a well earned lunch and then had a little break to rest!
Once we were rested, we drove to a Girls Boarding School. We waited a few minutes for the head mistress who soon arrived by car. She seemed surprised to see us! The leader of the Masai people talked to her for a second and then she led us into a big room in which all the girls had an assembly.
Our teacher Kerry presented us by quickly telling them our names. Next, we were given a tour of the campus by a small group of girls. Again we have to admit that we were shocked! The student dormitories were two huge rooms in which little walls gave three of them a little bit of privacy. The beds were also in a terrible condition. But the girls were all so friendly and sweet and were fascinated by us and our cameras.
We talked to the students, took pictures and conducted interviews. We contemplated all we had seen that day as we walked back to our cars and drove back to our camp. The day had been long and exhausting. After dinner we promptly all fell asleep in our tents.
Pia and Sarah
Day 6 - Pink Flamingos
Today’s adventure started in the early morning. We got up at 5.45 am to head to a safari in the morning at 6.15 am. Without having had breakfast we got onto the safari vehicles and headed out into the wild. The first thing that came into our eyes once we left the lodge in the vehicles was a incredible sunrise.
The first animals we saw were small antelopes and gazelles. As we continued driving we spotted lions! Everyone grabbed their camera, no sooner than had we started taking photos, the adult lions walked away. Fortunately a small lion cub stayed in the open in front of the bushes and allowed us take photos of him. Soon after, another cub joined him!
Once we had taken our photos and marveled at the cubs for a while, we left the spot and continued on our safari to search for more types of animals such as zebras and birds. Suddenly someone in the vehicle shouted, “Stop, look what’s there!” When we turned to look, we saw elephants! We were all excited because this was the animal we were probably most waiting to see. Everyone took lots of photographs. As exciting as this was, it would not be the last time we would see elephants today.
As soon as we were done taking photos we continued driving and saw gazelles and zebras and after a while we spotted more elephants and lions! And this time there were also adult lions! The large number of animals there was incredible. Continuing on with the safari, we left this spot and found a huge group of buffaloes. There were birds on many buffaloes either picking on their head or in their ears. On the way back to the lodge we saw more gazelles, zebras, and also monkeys.
When we returned to the lodge we finally had breakfast. We stayed at the lodge until lunch. Then, we brainstormed about what to do at the Maji Moto, the traditional Masai village we planned to visit the following day.After that we discussed what we are going to do when we will return to Boys Town before we leave.
Once we had completed our conversation, we went for another safari. During this safari we saw lions, gazelles, antelopes, birds, elephants, giraffes, jackals, zebras, and buffaloes. Once we returned to the lodge we had time to get ready for dinner. When dinner was over we interviewed the naturalist of the lodge who is a real Masai. Before we could start filming we had to set up the equipment perfectly because of the dark light conditions. Then the Masai answered some of the questions we came up with during brainstorming in the afternoon. It was such an interesting opportunity!
Once we were done with the interview, we participated in a critique on our images taken in Boys Town and those taken earlier today. And that is how another nice and interesting day in this beautiful country ended.
How hard is it to/how do you hold onto your traditional culture in this modern world and globalization?
What is the most important traditional thing for you?
Is family an important part of your life?
Describe your family structure.
What are your religious/spiritual beliefs?
Who created humans?
Describe a typical day.
Do you have a personal connection to wild animals?
If so, do they have an impact on your culture?
What is the situation with water in your village?
Do you have guilt in your culture?
Are men and women equal?
What do you spend money on?
What is your most important material object?
How do you deal with death?
What do you do with dead people?
Do you believe in the afterlife?
Are there special traditions when someone is born?
Are there rituals depending on age?
How do young people become adults?
What is the significance of clothes, accessories and paint?
What are your biggest challenges in life?
What are your expectations for your culture?
What is the appropriate age to get married?
How is a wedding arranged?
What are the society rules?
If so, what are the punishments?
How does your culture deal with diseases or natural catastrophes?
Where do you get your “energy” from?
Do you fight?
How do you solve conflict?
Do you interact with other villages?
Do you work together/collaborate with other villages?
Do you trade? If so, what?
Are you informed about current events around the world?
What do you think about colonization?
How did you gain your independence?
After a beautiful sleep in the Masai tents, a few students awoke at 5:30 am to run through the land with our Masai guide, Sankale. Everyone else sprung to life a bit later and enjoyed a homemade breakfast from the Masai cook. This delicious breakfast was followed by a trip to a girls’ secondary school. The students were thrilled to receive the donated bags. Their excitement filled our hearts with happiness.
Our next stop was a co-ed primary school. As part of our visit, the head master provided us with a tour of the school and classes. Even with a language barrier we immediately bonded with young Kenyan children. We were all inspired to take many pictures, and we so enjoy playing with the kids. Our visit to the school lasted much of the day.
When we arrived back to our new Masai home, we explored the beautiful land with our Masai guides. They showed us a cave where they train their warriors and taught us a song. We were introduced to more herbs and plants and were told of their medicinal purposes. After the walk some students played an archery game with a Masai, Tomboi.
After, we headed down to a Masai village and met the locals. We documented their living situation with still shots, audio and video. Our guides translated our questions and their answers. We came back home at nightfall and ate dinner. For some students, sleep came easy while other students visited the hot springs and others sat by the fire talking and singing to some Masai. Eventually we all returned to our tents and fell into a peaceful sleep.
Gaby and Ashley (Flamingos)
We stayed in the Sopa Lodge for two nights, after visiting Maji Moto a Masai camp, and outfitter destination where ,Sankale Ntutu, our guide and a Masai Warrior Chief instructor who is about to join the elders council in the Masai community, since he’s trained three generations of Masai warriors, and is about to finish training the fourth generation.After arriving at Masai Mara and getting some much needed rest in a bed we did not feel quite as fatigued coming from the tents and basics at Maji Moto.Even though we woke up as always early in the morning to get a full day of safari from 7:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m.Which saw a miscellany of animals grazing or hunting.Some of those animals included:zebras, gnus, gazelles, black rhino, lions and even leopards.We were extremely lucky to see three black rhinos, since there are only two thousand black rhinos in all of Kenya, and only eighteen in the whole of the park we visited.The exact number of animals we saw was difficult to calculate.Although it was challenging to stand and shoot in the vans, we got some amazing shots and footage of gorgeous wildlife and terrain before heading back to our hotel.
After a great lunch including many native Kenyan dishes, we broke off in order to experience the second round of safari periods known as “magic hours”- (dusk and dawn)- when many of the large grazers and predators are most active. The safari started as usual with gazelles and gnus, followed by zebras and different kind of birds. We drove through the beautiful Kenyan landscape getting many good photos again. All of a sudden, our driver Felix stopped next to another car not belonging to our group. The two drivers were talking about something in Swahili. I concluded that their conversation might be about trying to locate a cheetah because right after their talk, we made a u-turn and followed the other car. Immediately after, we saw the cheetah. This was a fantastic start to the afternoon because it was difficult to find and even harder to take pictures of the cheetah, since it was hiding so well. We were able to take some nice photos of the cheetah. The driver left this spot soon after, knowing where to go next. Suddenly, we saw an animal we haven’t seen before on our trip, a leopard – the most illusive animal in the reserve. The leopard looked so amazing and stunning especially in its natural habitat, but photographing it proved to be extremely difficult. Although everyone got his or her images, I felt sad for the leopard, since we were clearly invading its space. Of course everyone wants to have the perfect images and the best views but also should respect the life of animals. We then headed home. It was dusk and so the sunset was exquisite. Halfway back, we saw something everyone dreamt of seeing but would never believe that we had the luck to see it; lions eating, and they were right next to us! The lions were eating the gazelle and making loud groans and guttural sounds. Despite this unforgettable situation, we had to leave the reserve. We left, but seconds later the driver stopped again because we saw elephants. We shot a bunch of nice images of an entire elephant family, with a beautiful pink horizon in the background. We had to leave this spot earlier than we wanted to, but the park was closing. It is hard to believe that the beginning of our day both started and ended so extraordinarily. For all of us in the group “Silent Zebras”, today was the best day in Kenya so far.
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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.
