Support the Kibera Film School.

This is a project that my lovely Nate dreamt of a while back. The need to give an opportunity to the lovely youth of Kibera a chance to tell their stories. The need to get off the television the negative images of Kibera. Yes, there is poverty, yes, the sanitation is zero, but yes, there is so much talent its unbelievable. He founded the Hot Sun Foundation, which enabled them to make films and work in little projects. Now it is a reality. The Kibera Film School is up and running, one month and counting.

The instructors are drawn form the Kenyan film industry, practising professionals who are dedicating time and resources, and knowledge to give these kids a chance to tell their stories, make films and earn an income.

So you are wondering what you can do to help? How about donating as little as $10, or as much as you want. $10 will buy lunch for 10 students. What would you have done with that $10?

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That was meant to be for you to state the things you can do without that you spend your $10 on. Now, this is what we spend the $10 on:

1. $10 - Buys a nutritious lunch for 10 youth trainees at the Kibera Film School. Yep, $1 for each trainee!
2. $25 - Buys filmmaking materials for one youth trainee at the Kibera Film School.
3. $50 - Provides a youth filmmaker trainee with a monthly stipend. Remember, most of them are the breadwinners. As much as they love and want the chance to train at the Kibera Film School, they have to provide for theirs siblings. To keep them in school, we provide a monthly stipend for them that will at least help them in taking care of their home expenses as they come to school
4. $60- Buys a rechargeable video camera battery
5. $100 - Buys fuel to a generator to provide electricity for one month. Given Kenya's current situation, no rains, no water, hence no electricity as this is generated by water... the govt has resulted to power rationing. The school, which runs from Monday to Saturday, gets power twice a week, which means that we have to use a generator on the other 4 days. This is costly, given the price of fuel in Kenya.

I encourage you to visit this the the Global Giving site - link on the widget below- to see how else the money is used.

Go on, support this worthy cause...invest in the future of a youth that is determined to change the way you look at slums.

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Sad Saturday

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon, and having just done a productive instructors meeting at the Kibera Film School which is opening on Monday, ( a story for another day Nate and I are lying in bed watching badly produced afternoon TV shows. I flip the channel and there is the breaking news.

A plane has crashed over Nairobi's Highrise Estate. The plane owned by AIM was on its way to Kibera to take pictures / film. The plane, with 4 on board, hit an electricity post, caught fire, and then crashed next to a house in Highrise Estate the middle class apartments adjoining Kibera. The plane came down at around 3PM (Kenyan time, +3GMT) having taken off Wilson Airport.
It is feared that 2 of the passengers have died on the spot, while the other two have been rushed to hospital with intensive burns.The nationalities of those on board is yet to be established.

I don't normally report any news here but this is very close to me. On July 5, less than a month ago, I was on a mission similar to that - filming over Kibera on a plane that we had hired from ALS, an air charter company based at the same airport.

Whatever caused the crash, it is still sad.

Later I will post photos I took from that filming trip

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