Drama

MOBILE ART SCHOOL IN KENYA (MASK)

Registered UK Charity No: 1128734

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MASK Drama

MASK's Lariak Art Club has made film 'KOSA'. The film addressed drug abuse among the youth, insecurity, human-wildlife conflict, and poverty.

Title: KOSA (Swahili "mistake")

Story: KOSA is young boy in class 4. He comes from a poor family and attends a local school. Kosa is used by his uncle who is the borehole attendant to take drugs to the older boys from a neighbouring school. Kosa is naïve, but also glad when he paid 5 shillings for his services. It happens that a community library has been opened in the neighbourhood recently. One of the activities that takes place in the community library is story-telling. Kosa is told about the community liblary by one of his friends and decides to visit the library on Sunday afternoon. Mr. Gatuya, a village elder is the host today and he is going to tell the kids a story about two bad boys. After the story has been told, we see Kosa crying. He is touched by the events in the story and he therefore decides to confess to MR.Gatuya and to the kids.

Kosa promises to change to be better. He joins the art club, and proves to be a talented artist.

The film locations:

Lariak Day Secondary School (the School has set aside several days for shootings during the weekends)

Lariak Primary School

Sipili School for the Deaf

The community library

The government representative in the area

Private home of local residents

Filming crew:

Writer, director and editor: John Githiri, MASK's volunteer teacher.

Filming has started on 25 September, duration of filming - 3 months.

MASK's students are:

Stage manager,

asst. stage manager,

props master,

the call boy

wardrobe mistress

Thomas is doing the general management of people and time

The cast includes:

Two teachers from Lariak Day Secondary School [Thomas is one of them].

Several volunteer actors from the public

Tools and Equipments

Most of the props have been provided by the art club members. We are using a Handy cam to do our shooting.

Budget

Shooting, editing, dvds: Ksh 7,500 [£58]

Posting from John Githiri, October 2008:

"Alla, I feel that this project has helped in popularizing our activities within the community, we have used art to address the issues that face them in their day today life, something they can always relate to. Their high turnout of volunteer actors and actress stands as a prove that they embrace MASK and its activities. This project will be of some help in reaching other needy children. According to the few people that I orally interviewed they feel that MASK through art club has helped in addressing issues of great importance in the society through a positive means. In this case therefore, mask has played a major role in uniting the community by providing a means to address their highs and lows through contemporary art.

We shall be sending the film to you for your approval before it is presented to Lariak Art Club. MASK has worked closely with KIDSLIB TRUST. I usually meet kids at the library on Saturday and Sunday afternoons whereby I teach basic skills in painting and drawing. I also give drama lessons with the children who attend KIDS library. Most of this kids who visit the library comes from the neighboring schools. MASK has therefore managed to reach kids from four more primary schools through the community library. We are proud of MASK."

MASK Poetry

Educational Film on Poetry

MASK intends to made an educational film on poetry and distribute for free to the schools. Poetry is a compulsory subject in Kenyan secondary schools. It is one of the feared subjects which most students believe to be difficult to understand. In charge of this initiative, Thomas Kanyoko Kahari, (right) who himself is a poet.

MASK's Christmas message for the families

(Writen by MASK volunteer teacher Thomas Kanyoko together with children of our Lariak Art Club, 2008)

The Challenge
If you’re the one who bid Lord,
“Every woman should her parents leave,
And to a man attach herself,”
Then Lord,
Why have you given me a thoughtless wife,
The likeness of a babe dressed in an adult’s garb?

If you’re the one who bid Lord,
“Husbands should their wives love,
And love them as much as their own bodies”
Then Lord,
Why have you given me a hateful husband
Whose deeds parallel those of Idi Amin?

If you’re the one who bid Lord,
“Children should their parents heed,
And heed them for long life and prosperity,”
Then Lord,
Why have you given me a heedless swam of bees
Whose deeds hurt like venomous stings?

If you’re the one who bid Lord,
“Parents should never drive their children,
And inspired by the Lord should bring them up with correction,”
Then Lord,
Why have you given us unaccountable parents,
Who like the Babylonians towers builders never come to consent?

But because you’re the one who bid Lord,
“Let them who heavy burdens carry come to me,
And I will make the heavy burdens light”,
Then Lord,
From you a heavy rain of relief we’re waiting
To make us strong like firm trees by the river side.

Other poems from Thomas Kanyoko Kahari "Understand Poetry with Ease" series: © Thomas Kanyoko Kahari, 2008

The Green Belts

A fantastic resource,

Our greatest asset,

Oh, what a wonderful resource,

In green belts,

Lies our salvation and survival,

The beauty of our country,

Its prosperity and future

What beauty surpasses the evergreen belts?

To some,

Trees are homes,

To others,

Trees are medicine

And to all of us,

Trees are a way of live.

When I see ‘them’ armed,

With cutting equipment like soldiers going for battle,

I pity the trees

For some must be made to give away their souls.

Let us plant trees,

For us and the succeeding generations

Trees our lives they support,

And so killing them,

Is like setting a deadly bomb,

When it explodes,

A cloud of poverty spreads.

Let us plant trees for prosperity,

As poverty and prosperity,

Two distinct realities they are,

Not knowing each other till now.

The Land

From the bodily look,

Every characteristic of fertility was quite apparent,

And so,

Dearly I bought her from the landowner.

The world thought and so did I,

That the best land I had purchased,

Tirelessly I tilled the land,

Enthusiastically I hallowed her too,

And when the soil was well levelled,

Brimful of optimism I scattered the seeds.

Oh! Not even a single seed sprouted,

Puzzled!

And hesitant to blame the season,

Some soil sample for examination I collected,

For the first time,

It dawned on me that so acidic was the soil!

And so,

Neither the hard-coated,

Nor the most viable seeds could sprout.

In disbelief,

Standing at one corner of my beautiful land,

I cast an eye at her beauty once more,

And felt like a man at crossroad,

I knew not,

Whether to other men I should dispose the land,

So that they too could their fortunes try,

To find out if interesting results she can produce,

Or retain her though quite unproductive!

Finally,

Considering her beauty and my love for her,

I resolved to retain her and continue the tilling at least for fun.

Registered UK Charity No: 1128734