Rising from the Ashes: Kenyan Artists and Peace Activists Re-Create Community from Conflict
by Janet Feldman
Introduction:
The post-election violence that rocked Kenya to its core during the early months of 2008 left over a thousand dead, hundreds of thousands displaced, and millions wondering how such a turn of events could have occurred in the first place.
While a government of "national unity" has been formed to restore order, rebuild shattered lives, and renew a commitment to peace and development for all Kenyans, there is still a great deal of fear mixed with hope, anger sharpened by grief and pain, and a myriad of pressing issues to address, from government reform to a more equitable distribution of resources, and from ethnic animosities to a better realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Artists and Activists Respond:
One bright spot in these trying times has been the courageous and inspiring peace-related work done by individuals, groups, and nonprofits. Artists, young people, women, human-rights advocates, peer educators, and HIV/AIDS activists have all done their part to calm tensions, reach across ethnic lines, organize marches and rallies, teach conflict-resolution, and promote peace.
REPACTED (www.repacted.org), a theater-for-development nonprofit that uses arts to address HIV/AIDS, has been giving theater performances on peace themes in Nakuru, scene of much violence and destruction. Their use of the "Magnet Theater" process — which incorporates local issues and stories in performances, and includes a post-show discussion with the audience that allows people to share and listen to each other — has been especially helpful in bolstering reconciliation efforts in that area.
Members of REPACTED are teaming up with the Sant Egidio Community (www.santegidio.org) in Nakuru to make Peace Tiles, collaged wood tiles usually displayed in murals of thirty, and ranging in theme from peace to HIV/AIDS to urban visions. The two organizations have worked on this activity before, starting in 2005, when the Global Peace Tiles Project (www.peacetiles.net) — in conjunction with partners such as ActALIVE (www.actalive.org) and Arts for Global Development (www.art4development.net) — first initiated what has become a yearly World AIDS Day event.
The focus of the current initiative will be peace, though HIV/AIDS and other issues are linked to conflict and often exacerbated by it, so these too will be explored. The Sant Egidio administrator working on this project has credited earlier Peace Tiles efforts with helping to save his life, as the young men threatening him saw Peace Tiles in his home, and were so fascinated by them that their attitude and behavior turned in a more positive direction. A "simple" idea, with a powerful result!
A Focus on Youth:
The Odyssey Arts Pioneers in Kisumu, along with other nonprofits--including the Tong N'yang Artists, Deaf Impact Ministry, Pandipieri Pioneers Youth Group, and African Scripture Union — recently organized the "Kisumu Children's Peacebuilding Summit Week", which featured a discussion session on mediation and peacebuilding, counselling for traumatized children, and a presentation of songs, skits, and poems addressing themes such as reconciliation, mediation, forgiveness, and renewal.
Action Africa Volunteers (www.actionafricavolunteers.org), Purple Images Productions (www.purpleimages.com), World Corps Kenya, and the Kenya Youth Employment Summit (YES) are currently co-organizing the "Youth Peacebuilding and Conflict Prevention/Management, Dialogue, Healing, and Reconciliation Arts Project", whose objective is to engage young people in violence-torn areas and in camps for the internally displaced in uplifting arts and sports activities, with the goals of conflict prevention, healing, reconciliation, and peacebuilding.
The project will be implemented in partnership with local artists, organizations working in peace and rebuilding programs, and fifty or more community youth groups and schools in Nairobi, Nyanza, and the Rift Valley provinces, areas of some of the worst mayhem and displacement.
Recognizing that performing and visual arts can greatly contribute to peacebuilding, enhance prevention and resolution of conflict, and can aid in the healing process, the partners propose to use participatory arts and media to initiate changes in attitudes, behaviors, and approaches to addressing differences and grievances. Developing creative methods of communication will be the primary aim of these activities.
The project will use the following intervention approaches: 1) community theater outreaches, as well as arts and cultural festivals engaging schools and community members 2) creation of peace clubs in schools and in the communities to sustain peacebuilding efforts in the future, and 3) painting of peace murals in schools, churches, and other public gathering places to sustain ongoing awareness about peace.
The approach will be personal and interactive, allowing community members to directly participate (by acting, painting, role-play, singing, dancing, and discussing) in the design and development of relevant messages, thus enhancing a sense of ownership of the same messages and increasing the relevance and effectiveness of these activities.
Y-TAP (Youth Talent Advancement Programme, at www.y-tap.org), a youth-focused arts and entrepreneurship initiative in Nairobi that just completed a successful European tour, have been meeting to discuss how they might contribute to peace efforts through the talents of their young affiliates. In early May, Y-TAP is organizing the 2008 edition of the Kenyan Artists Forum and Festival (KAFF), with "Peace, Reconciliation, and Reconstruction" as the theme, culminating in a Peace Concert.
KAFF aims to bring young artists into contact with players from other sectors of society, in order to interact, share, and exchange ideas on how the arts and young artists can be engaged and promoted to use their talents to participate in the development of their communities.
Helping the Internally Displaced:
Nafsi Afrika Acrobats (www.nafsiafrica.org) — working individually and in conjunction with the Amani (which means "peace" in Swahili) Circus, Sarakasi Trust (www.sarakasi.org), REPACTED, Voluntary Youth Philanthropists, and the Tears Theatre Group — have been promoting peace while helping to bring joy and relief to those in camps for the internally-displaced.
On one Sunday this spring, a group of acrobats, dancers, drummers, thespians, and comedians — drawn from these Nairobi and Nakuru based nonprofits — came together in a show called "A Collaboration for Peace", to bring hope and laughter to people currently living in makeshift facilities at a Nakuru sports stadium. A large crowd gathered, and one Nafsi performer described what followed: "high and positive emotions engulfed the air, the displaced forgot their sorrows and revealed huge smiles that had been hiding behind the sadness in their faces … a multitude joined the artists in singing, chanting, and playing games".
The Amani Circus performers — Americans working with Kenyans to create performances which incorporate local stories and speak to the issues of the current time — have recorded videos of what they have been doing with the local communities, that can be seen at YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ef _nmJf21Y&feature=related).
The Nafsi Afrika Acrobats have developed an act called "Pyramid for Peace", which they have performed for delighted audiences. This name, changed slightly to "Pyramid of Peace" (or POP), was chosen by an international group — including many Kenyans — linked to the Minciu Sodas Laboratory for Independent Thinkers (www.ms.lt).
Pyramid of Peace:
Pyramid of Peace members developed a bold and innovative response to the crisis, including an emergency phone network on the ground; an online forum which served as the meeting place for strategizing and moving from ideas to action; and a fundraising campaign that channeled needed donations to recipients at the grassroots.
Artists and groups using the arts and media to address peace themes and the MDGS are among those connected to the Pyramid of Peace initiative (www.pyramidofpeace.net). REPACTED, Voluntary Youth Philanthropists, Nafsi Afrika Acrobats, ActALIVE, and other nonprofits worked together on a daily basis during the crisis, and plan to continue their collaborative efforts for a long time to come.
Peace Camel Caravan:
Voluntary Youth Philanthropists — a Kenyan nonprofit focusing on young people, HIV/AIDS, peace, and the MDGs — is now on the first leg of its signature project, the Peace Camel Caravan (www.peace-caravan.org), that this year will take place not just once but twice (in May and September), due to the increased need for peace education and related activities for and by young people.
The main objective of the caravan is to lobby and advocate for youth issues. The project aims to create awareness about existing national youth policies and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by sensitizing youth on issues such as HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and information and communication technologies (ICTs). It also aims to bring youth issues to the center of national debate.
Activities during the Caravan include highlighting National Youth Policy documents and proposals; addressing peace and development issues; and disseminating information to youth on HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and other pertinent needs and matters. Drama, poems, dances, and art graphics are all used to create awareness and stimulate action.
This year, the Peace Camel Caravan will travel to areas where the post-election crisis was particularly severe. In addition to peace awareness and education, arts activities will be utilized to bring people together, to help them express their thoughts and feelings, to bring about reconciliation and healing. Peace Tiles, theater performances, visual and video arts, and the making of a large fabric banner — with "peace" spelled in all of the forty-two of languages of Kenya — are some of the current and future projects and plans.
Other Arts Do Their Part:
Other activities include radio script-writing and programming (Sombeza Theatre Productions in Mombasa and Ghetto FM, the radio station of SIDAREC, a youth development agency in Nairobi, seen at www.sidarec.org); filmmaking ("Living in the Bucket" by young filmmakers in Kibera, produced by Felix Masi of Voiceless Children in Nairobi, www.voicelesschildren.org); graffiti and murals; and music.
Qiujing Wong (Borderless Productions, www.borderlessproductions.com), Felix Masi, and the production team of "A Grandmother's Tribe" (www.agrandmotherstribe.com) — a 2007 film focusing on Kenyan grandmothers caring for their HIV/AIDS-orphaned grandchildren — have been raising funds to help the grandmothers featured in their film, and others whose lives have been made even more challenging by the post-election violence.
Artist Solomon Muhandi has been painting signs throughout Kenya's largest slum, Kibera, scene of some of the earliest and worst violence, continuing sporadically to this day. "Peace Wanted Alive", "Kenya Needs Peace", "Police: Don't Kill Kenyans", and "No Justice, No Peace" adorn pock-marked walls, burned-out cars, and homes and businesses that now lie in ruins. A triumph of hope over horror, and of life over death.
Music too has been prominent in peace-related efforts: in late April, a concert dubbed "Freedom and Unity for Kenya" brought together twenty-five Kenyan bands in different venues, who played a variety of styles, from rap to hip-hop, pop and jazz, blues and Afro-fusion. Rap artists in particular used the occasion to engage in socio-political criticism, something the whole country needs to do for a true and lasting peace to be established.
An Arts School for Peace:
Kitche Magak — a community activist, reproductive health expert, and communications specialist who is Executive Director of Integrated Community Health Services in Kisumu — has long had the dream of opening a school focusing on arts, culture, and creative communications. Called "Dunia Moja (One World) International", this initiative will now include peace and related themes more fully in its mission and activities, given the terrible destruction and loss of life experienced in the Kisumu-Eldoret area during the early months of 2008.
For more on the school, please read:
http://www.brandeis.edu/coexistence/linked%20documents/Draft%20 proposal%20Dunia%20Moja%20International%20School.pdf
This project will serve as a follow-on to "BrooKenya" (http://www.brookenya.org), an interactive storytelling experience linking residents of Brooklyn, USA and Kisumu, Kenya. Kitche is working on Dunia Moja with longtime friend and collaborator, Kate Gardner, founder of Community Theatre International (www.communitytheatreintl.org), World Ensemble (http://www.worldensemble.com), and producer of BrooKenya.
When the two started working together, they had little idea that the sharing, harmony, and mutual understanding they were hoping to cultivate between cultures and countries would someday be needed at the grassroots in Kenya. Thankfully, these caring individuals — like many other artists and peace-loving citizens — are rising to the occasion in inspiring and meaningful ways, leaving no doubt that the nation will heal and grow to greater heights of productivity, purpose, prosperity, and peace.
Conclusion:
The above outline has barely scratched the surface of activities and responses developed by Kenyan artists and peace activists to the upheaval the country has experienced in the early months of 2008. While the immediate and long-term challenges presented by this post-election crisis are myriad and daunting, it is clear that the array of talent, creativity, and caring marshalled to meet these difficulties is equal to the tasks ahead.
Anyone who questions the essential and life-changing role arts can play in these situations has but to look at Kenya, and it will be evident that we as human beings cannot truly survive — let alone thrive — without them.
Janet Feldman is founder/director of KAIPPG International (www.kaippg.org), the international branch of a Kenyan HIV/AIDS and development nonprofit, and ActALIVE (www.actalive.org), an international arts coalition and nonprofit, whose members in 30+ countries use arts and media to address HIV/AIDS and the MDGs.