NAIROBI
Sarakasi Trust, Nairobi
After an overnight train journey from Mombassa which we both got ridiculously excited by, we arrived back in Nairobi for the last few days of our trip. As well as doing a bit of sight seeing and giraffe feeding, we visited the Go-down Arts Centre in the Industrial Area, and the Kazuri (meaning ‘small and beautiful’ in Swahili) bead factory - a fair trade business set up to provide employment for local women, particularly single mothers.
We were also lucky enough to visit a fantastic organisation called Sarakasi in Ngara. Sarakasi Trust is a performing arts development organization working toward building capacity in the arts sector in Kenya. Established in 2001, Sarakasi runs and outreach and training program working with children and young people in the slums of Nairobi.
Through performance (mainly dance and acrobatics) Sarakasi supports numerous dancers and acrobats from the slums, by providing opportunities where they can use their talent as a source of revenue. They also run a training programme which offers those who show a real commitment and talent to enable them to become trainers themselves, and inturn fantastic role models for the young people they are working with (much like the Barefeet facilitators in Zambia!). As well as all this, Sarakasi runs an annual arts festival in Nairobi (‘The Sawa Sawa Festival in May), and have a well developed international exchange programme which has given hundreds of performers the chance to perform around the world. The organisation has several other projects, including; working with visually impaired musicians and deaf acrobats; a circus dedicated to working with those affected by post election violence and an African Yoga Group.
Sarakasi have recently moved into ‘The Dome’ in Ngara where they have a fantastic space including; a theatre, dance studio, radio station, recording studio, apartment for guests, offices and bar. It was really inspiring to see how their dedication and hard work has paid off, and they now have such a fantastic space to use! We were lucky enough to see the acrobats rehearsing when we dropped into The Dome, and we were so impressed by them! We couldn’t help but think how fantastic it would be for African Dance Factory (from Barefeet) to work with them!
For more information about Sarakasi please visit www.sarakasi.org
Prison Workshop
We were also lucky enough to go along to a workshop with some of the Sarakasi facilitators at a men’s prison in Nairobi. After getting on the most AMAZING matatu (bus) we had ever been on (UV paint inside and out, music booming out, a huge flat screen T.V behind the driver and small TVs on the back of each seat like an aeroplane playing music videos!), we arrived at the men’s prison where James, Morris, and Mark lead a workshop with the prisoners involving yoga, acrobatics and break dancing! We were really impressed by how much the prisoners had learnt in only a few months and how engaged they were with the workshops. It was obvious that not only did the prisoners gain a lot from these workshops, but that they have become an important part of their rehabilitation programme.
Thank you so much James, Morris, and Mark for inviting us to come along and see the fantastic work you are doing!
Hospital Workshop
The following day we were lucky enough to be invited to see another of Sarakasi’s fantastic projects, where a team of performers work in the paediatric ward of Kenyatta National Hospital. Kenyatta Hospital is the biggest hospital in Kenya, with patients coming from all over the country for treatment. The main goals and objectives of the project are to contribute towards a positive awareness of illness and ensure a meaningful stay in hospital. This is done by providing entertainment and activities for the children during their stay including; singing, dancing, drama, clowning, puppetry, magic, storytelling, interactive games and visual arts. Sarakasi also work in several other hospitals and day care centres in Nairobi, offering entertainment and activities to children.
We arrived in the middle of a performance to around 50 children, and 10 minutes later Sian was dragged up onto the stage to dance on her own in front of all the children, parents and staff who were watching! As you can imagine she was mortified by this, but managed to pull out some ridiculous moves to entertain the kids! Mia luckily managed to avoid this embarrassment………next time it’s Mia’s turn!:)
After seeing the Sarakasi group have the children in hysterics and up dancing around with huge smiles on their faces, we were given a tour of the paediatric ward. With around 30 children (plus mothers who stay) in each ward, few resources and not enough medical staff it is obvious that the Sarakasi workshops are the highlight of the children’s week.
Thanks to Ferny and all the others Sarakasi facilitators for inviting us to see their work in the hospital……..a great group of creative people with a wicked sense of humour!
Sarakasi is a fantastic organisation, and an inspiration to us both. It was great to be able to see first hand the work they are doing in Nairobi, and we have lots of ideas about how we could work with them in the future! Thanks to Jane for putting us in touch with them, and to Marion and everyone else at Sarakasi for being so welcoming! We hope to see you again soon!
We had a brilliant time in Kenya, and met some wonderful, creative and inspiring people! Our visit to Kenya will bring a new element to the work of Creative Kids International, not only in links made for the future collaborations, but in the experiences we can now share with children and adults we work with in the U.K.
Bristol, U.K
We are now back in Bristol, England and have already begun workshops/talks at schools, events and festivals. If you are interested in having Creative Kids International workshops/talks at your event, school or group please get in touch with us on creativekids.int@hotmail.co.uk
We will keep updating this blog so you can see what we get up to in the U.K, and how things are going for the next trip to Africa!
Don't forget you can join our facebook group by searching for CREATIVE KIDS INTERNATIONAL, and follow us on Twitter by searching for CreativeKidsInt.
For photos of previous work and events please visit www.myspace.com/creativekidsinternational
Thanks so much for reading!
Sian and Mia.xx
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