For just over a month now sixteen students under the tutelage of four local professionals, with the assistance of four tutors from the Ballyfermot College of Further Education, have been able to hone their skills in graphic design, gaming, music and animation as part of the GESCI African Knowledge Exchange project. The overall idea is to empower these students to tell their own stories, to share the Kenyan (or African) cultural heritage and modern vision. Last Friday was not only the occasion for our first field trip, where we braved the Nairobi graduation traffic for a visit to PAWA254, but also the first occasion where the students presented their work of the past five weeks. As we all snacked on muffins and soda, my colleague Lina and I, were entertained by students eager to showcase their development. The animation students had made several short videos ranging from bouncing balls and floating leaves to a more advanced display of two moving objects interacting with each other. The gaming students had created an imaginary world with picture-in-picture capabilities as well as a game where one had to maneuver a character through a world (reminiscent of an old-school Quake setting) to safety, by avoiding an array of obstacles. The music students presented some of their songs and beats, and the graphic design students showcased how they have learned to manipulate photos exemplified in their presentation by how they had brought old worn photos back to life. Personally I really enjoyed the latter as most Instagram users for some reason seem to endeavor to do the exact opposite, a logic that is often lost on me. All-in-all it made for a fun and impressive session fueled by the excitement of our students and tutors. The focus so far has been on developing the fundamental skills necessary, a lesson that seems well learned. With continued dedication going forward it will surely be thrilling to see what the students can showcase by the end of the course. Following the presentations, as mentioned above, we went to PAWA254. Even the shortest trip amidst the Nairobi traffic can stifle the creativeness of most, so I was invigorated to see our students in great spirits, performing card tricks and making jokes, as we waited for PAWA254 to begin their presentations. PAWA254, which name is a combination of the Swahili word for “power” and the Kenyan country code, added to symbolize national strength and unity, claims to be the first of its kind in Africa. The Community Space manager, David Mutua, informed our students how they are a social enterprise and collaborative space for “creatives” and youth to achieve work of social impact and social change across Kenya. The hub facilitates the use of visual and graphic arts, independent and citizen journalism, documentary film and photography, and digital and social media as a means of civic expression and social action. This was further explained by PAWA254’s Sasha Kinney as she exemplified the hub strategy through pictures from the 2007 Kenyan election and how this would eventually lead to the creation of PAWA254. Our students also enjoyed presentations by industry professionals such as the musician Juliani and the photo journalist Boniface Mwangi. The latter not only has an extensive CV, including being awarded the CNN African Photojournalist of the year award in 2008 and 2010, but is also the founder of PAWA254. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the visit. One of our tutors, Allan Mwaniki, described the experience afterwards, saying that the students were “a lively bunch posing good questions as the presentations took root”. GESCI has previously organized similar presentations in our classroom hosted by the Kenyan Institute of Education, but this was the first time the students had the opportunity to be exposed to the ideas and passion of industry professionals on their home turf. Therefore it was exhilarating that the musician Juliani took the time for a one-on-one chat with our students and how some of our music students even used this opportunity to present their work to him for review and critique. The idea behind these sessions is simple, by having professionals sharing their struggle and passion for the arts, our students get an idea of the environment they are to operate in as well as a few tips and pointers, but perhaps most importantly; inspiration. By Mathias Antonsson
GESCI