A special visitor to Hot Sun Foundation this month - Emmanuel Jal, South Sudanese former "lost boy", hip hop rapper for peace who lived many years in Kenya, now on a mission for peace (http://www.we-want-peace.com). Jal came to Hot Sun Foundation in Kibera, sitting outside our office in a circle of plastic chairs under a corrugated tin roof
Youth from Kibera, sharing their stories of the post election violence in Kenya (Dec 2007 - March 2008)
- Waking up one morning and your aunt tells you the sad news of the murder of your parents, travelling on the road
- The loss of a friend, chopped down
- Another friend who lost his legs
- A young man whose girl friend was snatched away and raped
One youth from Kibera commented,
Before we had been living in peace and did not know what it was until we lost it in the post election violence now we know. Now we must ensure that the violence never happens again
Talking, sharing, texting, filming for PEACE That is the focus of the young filmmakers at Hot Sun Foundation.
Support Peace in Every Corner (Amani Kila Choche)
Make a contribution today on http://www.globalgiving.com/3632
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Thank you for all you do.
With your help, we are making a difference.
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When you hear the word "slum", what do you think of?
The mainstream media usually depicts slums as places of poverty, crime and violence. But in Nairobi and many other cities in sub Saharan Africa, urban slums are where most of the population lives. The living conditions may be substandard, but slums are home to many talented, creative young people with stories to tell.
Hot Sun Foundation has been working with youth in the slums of Nairobi since 2000. We started the Kibera Film School in 2009.
In August 2011, working with other slum-based cultural groups and with the support of the Spanish Embassy in Nairobi, Hot Sun Foundation initiated the Slum Film Festival that focuses on films made by and about the slums. The pilot edition of the Slum Film Festival focused on the images of slums in Nairobi. For two weeks, audiences in the Nairobi slums of Kibera and Mathare could watch films about their own lives made by young filmmakers.
Here's what Robert, 21, a Kibera Film School trainee has to say about the Slum Film Festival:
For me it meant the passion of art from the youths of Kibera Film School and other slum areas...exchanging our ideas and working as a team to tell our own stories.
The audiences were really motivated and inspired by what the youths are doing. They never thought that youth from the slums could become filmmakers.
With the next Slum Film Festival, we should not only consider the slums… we should move out with the slum perspective to reach the youths in other communities.
Your donations to Hot Sun Foundation make it possible for Robert and many other youth to get the skills needed to tell their stories using digital video technology.
Your donations offer new opportunities for talented youth to become community role models as filmmakers, artists and peacemakers.
Please donate TODAY. All of your donations are USA tax deductible.
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Thanks for all you do.
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Greetings from northern Kenya, near the border with Somalia!
On their last trip, the Survival Backpacks/Global Somali Response team found the situation had changed at Dhobley inside Somalia. Because of conflict, they were unable to return to Dhobley on this trip.
Therefore the Survival Backpacks/Global Somali Response team changed their plans and found a group of Somalis inside Kenya at a place called Daffur, that had no supplies. The 320 people, men, women, and children were not receiving help from any organization and were in severe need.
One Somali explained, " We have lost everything, all our cattle. We came here hoping life could be better".
Watch the short video about the distribution at Daffur on http://globalsomaliresponse.org/?p=186
Thanks for all you do!
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