let’s get awesome

I’ve been awake since 2:30am (fought sleep until 10 in attempt to beat the jet lag) and cannot get back to sleep. This was originally drafted as an email update for folks at work (and this intro bit was me explaining that i’m taking the day off today so i’m not a drooling mess at the office)… so the tone of the email is a little worky worky, especially towards the end. but a good vehicle to share some thoughts and some photos– and i’m too lazy to rewrite.

Begin forwarded message:

From: Todd Chandler
Date: February 27, 2006 5:17:51 AM EST
To: xxxxxx@witness.org
Subject: zzzz

2/22/06

I’m sweating it out in the Rift Valley with little cell phone and no email communication. I’ll likely send this out when we return to Nairobi on Friday.

Things are going really well so far. Sunday we left Hakima, piled into the station wagon and drove down into the Rift Valley to Lake Bogoria. The Great Rift Valley stretches up from Zambia all the way to Lebanon, and the small portion that we drove through was breathtaking—a massive sprawl of land framed by mountains on either side, snaking up the country. I made a film on the Canadian Great Plains last spring, and the floor of the Rift Valley makes those prairies feel like a community garden.

We’ve spent the last few days shooting with members of the Enderois community, who are totally committed to their struggle for self-determination and have been spending a lot of time talking with us, taking us around and doing everything they can to support the video. The other day we drove all the way to the far side of the lake through ravines and narrow rocky paths until we arrived at the former meeting place of the Enderois. A couple of community elders were with us and we interviewed them close to the shore of the lake. The interview took about 45 minutes, during which time they covered almost every angle around their displacement: water, grazing, culture and identity, education, health, work…the elders were probably in their late 70’s or 80’s and have lived through so many changes. They had a lot to say.

Lake Bogoria is salty, briny, like the Dead Sea. It’s a nesting ground for flamingos of which there are thousands lining the shore. There are also zebras, warthogs, some kind of antelope, and amazing hot springs and geysers. Some of the Enderois’ hot springs have been diverted to feed the hotel’s hot spring swimming pool. Every night, the CEMIRIDE team and I take a swim in this lovely pool, the source of which has been essentially stolen from the people whose case we are trying to support. Oh the irony… I keep bringing it up to people when we’re swimming, but no one really bats an eye– and I end up feeling kinda absolutist and rigid in my politics. But really, it’s strange, and fucked up right? Oh well…swim on…

((this not really our hotel. i didn’t take any pix there. these are roadside restaurants, which are called hotels, back in nairobi near where we were staying.))

Beyond the area surrounding the lake, the drought is severe. Everything and everyone is coated with a fine red dust. There’s little vegetation and less water. The Enderois have been ‘relocated’ to dusty slum settlements just off the main road, where small clay and corrugated tin houses, fenced in by branches are spaced about 30 meters apart—these are different from urban slums where people are piled on top of each other. But for pastoralists, herders, who’s livelihood is their livestock, 30 meters apart IS living on top of each other.

Since they were evicted, the Enderois have to travel quite a distance to fetch drinking and cooking water. We spent time in a small village yesterday and walked out to where the water source is. Deep in a ravine and in direct sunlight was a small hole with a bit of water at the bottom. There were about a hundred people waiting with jerry cans. There are also huge beehives by the water source, so people scooping up water have to compete first with the sun, and then with the bees. Yobo (one of the CEMIRIDE people), along with an Enderois liason, interviewed an older woman who explained the situation very articulately (according to the translator). Yobo then we stayed with her, shooting, as she filled her container, lifted it onto her back with the carrying strap wrapped across her forehead, and trudged through the dust, back to the village. (Meanwhile, the hotel that we’re staying (the only one in the area) has lush and beautiful grounds that are watered by automatic sprinkler twice daily. )

The next day, we interviewed her grandson (at first we didn’t know they were related– but then he took us to his home and there his grandmother was!) and went with him as he walked his goats to the grazing ground.

Their family was one of those who used to live along the lake and were displaced. They seem very close to each other (the grandson, now 18, was abandoned by his parents when he was very young and has been raised by his grandparents) and want to be a part of this project.

Right now the team is logging their footage and later on this afternoon we’ll do a few more interviews. I reviewed the footage this morning and it looks great. In three days of non-stop shooting we’ve covered a lot of ground. The folks from CEMIRIDE are staying focused on the outline and shotlists that they’ve developed and are doing a great job behind the camera. There are the usual challenges, particularly the blazing sun as well as the tendency for beginning videographers to rely heavily on zooming, panning, and hosepiping to catch the action. But, overall I’m totally impressed. We’re all very happy with the footage and I think that by the end of the week (and, if needed, a few more days shooting on their own), we’ll be in good shape to cut the evidentiary piece in April. Being out here working with CEMIRIDE has been amazing on so many levels. Just seeing them so excited about the power of video and really gaining an understanding about how they want to use it, is inspiring. Working with Hakima on the training really grounded me in some of the WITNESS methodology. The training was thorough and effective (especially based on how things are going now) – and it was nice for me to co-facilitate using WITNESS materials while also integrating my own strategies and experiences as a filmmaker and educator.

Alright, that’s all for now. I’ll be back on Sunday– or is it Saturday? Have to check. Anyway, I may take a few days to recover from travel, but I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s shining faces in the coming weeks. You won’t believe me, but I’m really looking forward to getting back home (and back to New York City pizza).