How do you DOEN? - Developmental evaluation of the DOEN Foundation international culture programme Annex C Most Significant Change stories A compilation of the Most Significant Change stories collected during the developmental evaluation of DOEN International Culture Programme. Claudia Fontes, July 2010 How do you DOEN? - Developmental evaluation of the DOEN Foundation International Culture Programme TABLE OF CONTENTS Stories from Kenya!...................................................................................4 THE ARTS CANVAS (The Theater Company)! 4 CCAEA! 9 GODOWN ARTS CENTRE! 13 KWANI ?! 19 PENYA/Up to you too! 21 SARAKASI TRUST! 22 SLUM CINEMA KENYA / BASIC VIEWS! 26 Stories from MALI!....................................................................................30 ACTE SEPT! 30 BALANI#S! 32 BlonBa PRODUCTIONS! 35 CENTRE SOLEIL D#AFRIQUE! 37 FESTIVAL SUR LE NIGER! 40 Stories from Senegal!...............................................................................44 GROUPE 30 AFRIQUE! 44 L#ÉCOLE DES SABLES | Association JantBi! 50 AFRICA CINEMA DE QUARTIER! 58 RAW MATERIAL COMPANY! 64 PORTES ET PASSAGES DU RETOUR! 65 FESTIVAL DE L#EAU! 73 Stories from Uganda and Tanzania!........................................................75 AMAKULA KAMPALA! 75 BAYIMBA CULTURAL FOUNDATION! 78 VODAP org/ SLUM CINEMA! 85 Claudia Fontes, July 2010 ! 2 How do you DOEN? - Developmental evaluation of the DOEN Foundation international culture programme MAISHA FILM LAB! 89 FEMRITE! 95 GODOWN ARTS CENTRE (Kenya)! 100 MUSIC MAYDAY TANZANIA! 101 KILIMANJARO FILM INSTITUTE! 104 Claudia Fontes, July 2010 ! 3 How do you DOEN? - Developmental evaluation of the DOEN Foundation International Culture Programme Stories from Kenya THE ARTS CANVAS (The Theater Company) (1)!We gained access to the right networks Author: Antony Ndungu Activity: Training workshop by The Theater Company, 2002 Story collected by: Claudia Fontes and Yvonne Owuor Date and Place: 19 October 2009 | Nairobi, Kenya My name is Antony Nʼdungu, Iʼm an actor by profession. I do stage acting, screen acting, and also radio. I come from Jericho, a neighbourhood where crime rate is very high. Young people have given up, they have given up hope, so they turn to crime. There are so many guns in our area, when we hear gunshots we donʼt get shocked, we donʼt get surprised, itʼs a normal thing. But in Jericho we have also produced some of the greatest people of this country, we donʼt just look at the negative side! The first African man to win an Olympic medal for boxing was actually my neighbour- Robert Wangila. When it comes to talent, weʼve produced some of the greatest people in this country. Young people there believe that they can never make it academically, even if they go to university, they will soon quit because they donʼt have the right connections, thatʼs what people believe, unless you have a godfather you can not make it, you can not penetrate. So they channel all their energies into the talents they have- acting, football, boxing, basketball, anything, and they do it passionately. Then we decided as young people we can be able to bring change in our community. So we formed a drama team, a drama group, and we accommodated everybody regardless of their denomination or religion. We just wanted young people from that community to come and exploit and explore their talents, and thatʼs what they did. So we were tackling issues like drugs and substance abuse, prostitution, abortion, many other things, things that were affecting our society, our community. And it was powerful, it had a really great impact because it was young people talking to young people- young people in our area have become rebellious, they wonʼt listen to anybody, and thatʼs why they resort to bad, bad things. It was interesting because many people changed, including myself, because I used to take alcohol, I used to abuse drugs, but then again nobody told me to stop. Then I realized, here I am telling people that drugs and substance abuse is bad, but Iʼm also in that. So itʼs difficult just to preach with your mouth, but your actions are very powerful. So I changed. Many other people were watching, many other people were informed in our area, and many young people started looking at us as role models, and they thought “oh yeah, we can also stop that and do something meaningful with our lives”. But weʼve had so many challenges. One of our lowest moments was when our chairman committed suicide, we never knew why, it just happened and we almost gave up. But then again we said, we will still continue. After around 2 or 3 years one of our girls, while we were coming from rehearsals, she was shot dead, and we were together with her, it was so painful. We contemplated quitting and saying ʻto hell with this thing, itʼs not helping us at all; here we are, weʼre trying to do something good for the community, and one of us died in her quest for trying to change the environment, trying to change the communityʼ. But we still went on, and we were able to change so many young people in our area, we have changed so many, some of us are living off from what we started during that time, and thatʼs what is supporting us, paying our bills, so many people from our area have benefited from that. Another thing, we became a family, we became so closely knit together that if one of us had a problem weʼd go and help each other any way we could, and weʼve grown with that culture up to now. For instance tomorrow, we want to do a skit and then shoot it, then produce some cds and sell, because one of us is having a wedding in December, and heʼs really depending on us, and we donʼt have that money to support that wedding because his family is not that strong financially. So we want to produce cds, sell them to the Claudia Fontes, July 2010 ! 4 How do you DOEN? - Developmental evaluation of the DOEN Foundation international culture programme community, and all the proceeds to channel them to the wedding, and see how we can help him. Because itʼs good when a young person in our area is doing a wedding, thatʼs something great, as it is an area known for teenage pregnancies and stuff. So we have to make it big and we have to do all we can to support him. I can say that art, acting, has changed my life, has made me change other peopleʼs lives, and is already changing the lives of so many young people in our area. Contributing to this change, in 2002 I attended one of The Theater Companyʼs workshops, and through that weʼve got some training, whereby whatever you gain you go ahead and disseminate it to other people in the society. I gained so much information, I also got contacts because you get to meet with people, thatʼs how we got to meet people like David Ojay, we acted together. It helped us to grow, because we were doing things, but we had never received formal training, so we were just doing things the way we thought they were to be done. But when we get to meet people like Mumbi Kaigwa you get the training and you get to know how things are supposed to be done. And to do that you get the right networks, you know how to market yourself, because we were just used to acting for our community. If you donʼt know how to market yourself, you donʼt go, you are just there, you stagnate. After the workshop weʼve worked with professional theatre groups in Kenya. I have worked with Heartstrings Ensemble in Kenya for 5 years, I have worked with Phoenix Players, they are the best theatre companies in Kenya. Right now I must say the theater industry is really kicking, so we talk to the youth groups, motivate them, show them how they can make it in this industry. It is tough but itʼs very interesting. (2) It"s in the past Author : Lydia Nyambura Activity: Performance Skills Training Programme of The Theater Company in 2006. Story collected by : Claudia Fontes Date and Place : October/November 2009, by e-mail When we did the performance skills training project back in 2006, the play we came up with was from our own stories. We all sat down one rehearsal day and each one of us told our life story. I came to realize that we all had something similar that each one of us had gone through despite our diverse backgrounds. It made me become a very open performer, holding nothing back when on stage because I donʼt have to be afraid anymore. There is nothing to hide. It was so meaningful to me because it was like a therapy session. Today, I and my 4 friends go to high schools and do motivational sessions and I tell the students about my life as an encouragement that they can make it in life no matter what. All this thanks to the day I opened up and told everyone around my story. [For instance], I went to a school in Thika town where a student had been raped, just like I was, and when she heard my story, she came to me after the talk and opened up to me. Her uncle had raped her and when she told her parents, they beat her up calling her a liar. Her performance had declined since then but I have kept in touch with her and sheʼs working on her grades. There are others who come from physically abusive homes, like I did, quite a number who I currently keep in touch with. It means the world to me to be an example to young minds in that they can believe in the importance of the present, learning from the past and preparing for an informed future.