Hopefully by the time you are reading this we will have posted our fourth video- hip hip hooray! Check it out on the LVP4P youtube channel! Chris, a former street boy, shared with us his opinions on Kisumu's street boy programs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFhCuZiIJng&feature=youtu.be
Wed. June 13: Today was a special day because…well…we got CHINESE FOOD! (Ok, so maybe it was the second time we got chinese food, but it was still special!) The power was out for most of the day and we weren't able to get much done for the project, and we hardly spent any money, so we decided to treat ourselves to sweet and sour chicken. It was a combined lunch and dinner experience.
Today was also special because, after trying to get an interview at an orphanage/street boy home and school, we stumbled upon Christ's Hope, a Christian organization which deals with HIV and AIDS patients and their children. We also found KEFEDO, a Kenyan organization which deals with women's empowerment, leadership, LGBTQ issues (Lesbian, Gay, BiSexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning), and human rights. Finding this type of organization in Kenya was particularly interesting to us because the social environment here tends to be less accepting (an understatement?) of people who challenge gender roles and/or openly identify as anything other than straight.
After signing the visitors book that we have to sign at the gate of every organization we visit, we entered a lobby full of political posters and informational packets on everything from domestic abuse to the differences between gender and sex. Finally, a feminist organization! The staff at KEFEDO were extremely warm, and one staff member sat down with us to hear about our project and explain what initiatives they run for the community. We made an appointment with KEFEDO for the following day, hoping to interview the director.
We were both feeling good after leaving KEFEDO. We thought that we finally found a bold organization really pushing for culture change in Kenya. Evan even began scheming at how he could suggest a Skype brown bag at Colgate's Center for Women's Studies with the organization. Little did we know how difficult this organization would be!
Thursday June 14: We decided to wake up early today, to get as much out of the day as possible before our 2:30 appointment with KEFEDO, the "gender concern" organization. We found out that our building had no power -a frequent occurrence in Western Kenya during the past month (see our News Blast 1 Video!)- and promptly decided to make the most of the situation. After waking up several hours later, we found a tuk-tuk and rushed to KEFEDO with high hopes.
We stepped in to KEFEDO's lobby and again admired the posters advocating for an end to sexual violence, female genital mutilation, and political corruption. However, this time, we were only allowed to speak to the receptionist. She told us that the director refused to meet with us, and that we were rejected permission to speak with any other staff members. Evan got really mad, but Cal kept her cool and prodded further. The receptionist would not give Cal an answer as to why we could not meet with the director, so we walked out. After debriefing the situation, Cal reentered the lobby and insisted that we were entitled to know why the director had refused to meet with us even after we were granted an appointment. We had gone all the way out to their office, after all! After some further prodding, the receptionist finally "admitted" to Cal that the director refused to meet with us because organizations from the United States never agree to fund KEFEDO.
In retrospect, it is probably a good thing that the director refused to meet with us, because we would have perpetuated the director's perception that US organizations will not fund KEFEDO's work. We are not here to sponsor projects, rather we are here to talk about those people who do sponsor projects. However, after our interactions with other American organizations in the area, we believe the "US Organizations" which the director may have been referring to are likely a type of Christian based ministry which would refuse to donate to a group fighting for LGBTQ rights. We were totally speculating on this, but it would make sense. Regardless, we were upset that the director would assume this fact about us without even meeting with us or finding out about our project.
After assuring the receptionist that we are students on an independent video Project for Peace, Cal was able to sweet talk her into giving us an appointment for the following morning, presumably with the director. However, this time we were going to be prepared. Cal exchanged numbers with the receptionist so that we could call the office before our 9 AM meeting, and they could call us if anything came up. This way, we would not waste the time and money it took to get out to their office.
Frustrated from the day, Cal decided to buy a new book ("A Thousand Splendid Suns," which she is almost finished with- Edit: which she already finished!). We also made a 60 second news blast of aid related articles from the Daily Nation newspaper which you should totally watch on our YouTube channel!
Friday June 15: We woke up early for our meeting with KEFEDO, and called them to make sure we were still on for 9AM. The receptionist said she would have people there waiting for us to interview. We were really excited to finally get a chance to interview what seemed like an awesome organization. We also thought the organization would be a perfect fit for our project because, well, culture change often involves conflict between where the society has been and where they are going.
We arrived at KEFEDO for our meeting, and the receptionist asked, "how many people would you like to speak with?" SCORE! We could speak with as many people as we wanted! We told her that we would like to speak with as many people as they could gather together. The receptionist went into the back and there was some discussion between the women working in the back room. Being skeptical of the situation already, we thought they were asking around for the person who could just talk to the crazy white students and get them to go away. They ended up sending out the same person who spoke with us the first day- a confident, poised woman with excellent communication skills. She told us that she could talk to us about the organization as she had the first day, but the director refused 1. to speak with us and 2. to allow anyone to speak on film.
Are you kidding us?! We politely told her that, as interested as we are personally in their organization, our project is to record interviews so that the rest of the world can see what they are doing, and how their work brings peace and/or conflict into their community. She repeated herself by saying that they are not willing to speak on camera. Cal asked why they were unwilling to speak on camera- after all, it would take the same time to speak with us on camera as it would off camera.
Now…of course we understand that people might not want to speak on camera for a multitude of different reasons. And we completely respect many of these reasons. Perhaps they cannot speak with out the permission of their head office, and the head office happens to be closed? Or, maybe they don't want to give an interview to someone who may try to splice their words into a video which incriminates them in some illegal activity, or to argue for a personal political agenda? Maybe they want to remain anonymous? We know that dealing with LGBTQ issues can be a sensitive subject anywhere, but especially in this part of the world; therefore we can also respect any attempt to shield their organization or those they partner with from political pressure, or even violence, from being exposed as a more liberal/progressive group. We totally understand these concerns, and of course we are ready to deal with them- we can record only their voice, we can disguise their voice, we can omit names, etc.
But no. Their answer, after several attempts to force one out of them, was not even the previous answers of, "she is in a meeting," or, "the director refuses to meet with you because organizations from the US never fund us." Rather, her answer was that our project, and YouTube, "are not substantial enough. There is nothing in it for us."
Excuse us? So, apparently our project is not substantial enough because we don't have thousands of dollars to throw around. Gahh! We could not believe it. Needless to say, we left their office pretty upset.
We decided to make the best of the situation. The area around their office is NGO central- the land of white people riding white Jeeps with organizational stickers on the sides. We thought we should just stop in to some of the other organizations who might be more transparent with their work than KEFEDO.
Well, of course, we were wrong. After visiting the Family Health Initiative, an Educational Development organization, Concern Worldwide, and several others, we were refused interviews with every one. So much for organizational transparency!
After discussing the direction of our project over an ice-cold Black Current Fanta, we decided that we might have enough footage from our previous interviews to make a few short videos, and then we could move out of Kisumu. We spent the rest of the day working through hours of footage and even got a chance to eat lunch in town with our friend Shelby.
Saturday June 16: Today was spent looking through our footage and creating our "Kisumu Street Boys" video. Hopefully you have watched it by now! We also took a 5 hour break to visit Lucy and Ted, Anna Dodor's host parents (she was on Cal's study abroad program last year). What amazing people! After drinking a glass of mango juice, Lucy asked us "Where are your bags?" She had assumed that we would be staying for the week. What a sweetheart! Maybe next time we will have the honor of staying with them. Several hours later, Lucy and Ted convinced us to come back tomorrow at 11 AM to slaughter some chickens for a huge feast.
Sunday June 17: We planned to spend Sunday working on the video, but instead we ended up at Lucy and Ted's place for a feast. And a good thing we did, because our building had no power for the entire day! Even if we had stayed to work on the video, our computer would have run out of battery and we would have wasted the day. Thanks Lucy and Ted!
The feast was amazing. We had two chickens and lots of company. We met several Americans who are doing research with NGOs for their masters programs. After probably too many hours, we came back to our hotel, the power finally turned on, and we were able to (nearly) finish our latest video!
Monday June 18: Video editing day! Spent the entire day editing our latest video, and we have now begun our next video which will hopefully be done tomorrow.
