This year’s Kenyan
Global Dialogues contest jury process took place on May 9-10 at Oak Place
Conference Centre, organized by HIVOS. There were more than 3000 entries from
young people of ages 25 and below. The members of the Jury were from diverse
backgrounds- journalists, members of the civil society, film makers,
academicians and even health care practitioners.
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| Kenyan judges- Global Dialogues 2014 |
The opportunity to be
part of this great team came for me for the second time by virtue of being a
former contestant. I was part of the national winners during the 2008 Scenarios
from Africa competition. Back then it was a simple ceremony. Now it has evolved
to Global dialogues.
The top twenty entries
are going to be adapted into a short film to get the conversation moving. Last
year’s competition gave rise to the film ‘Walk with me’- on the issue of
disability, HIV/AIDS, sexual violence and secrets that young people struggle
with.
A number of the Kenyan
entries this year came from primary school children, a good portion came from
high schools while a few came from out of school youths. The beauty with this
contest is that it is an avenue for young people to express the issues
affecting them.
There’s something about
writing that is magical. The things that one cannot voice loudly suddenly come
to life. This is what we the judges were privileged to read for two days. Some
good pieces that made it to the top twenty, some not so good scripts and other
ugly ones that were totally misinformed on HIV/AIDS and sexuality.
I had the opportunity
to mobilize entries for the contest prior to the judging process. One 16 year
old confided in me during the process that they were in love and having sex.
The contents of our conversation will not be divulged here. This is just to
show that young people need to air their voices in a safe, non- judgmental
environment. The early sexual debut is just one of the challenges facing young
people.
Another issue that came
up in the entries was young people asking their parents tough questions. It was
evident that there exists a communication gap between young people and their
parents when it comes to matters sexuality. Parents are scared to start the
discussion, while young people feel that they are not understood by their
parents when it comes to such matters.
The fact that domestic
violence is rampant in the Kenyan society could not be overlooked. Several
scripts had Female Genital Mutilation, rape and incest. At some point, we were
of the opinion that maybe during the mobilization; the notion was created that
articles that depicted such gory details would stand a chance in the contest.
On second thought, having watched the goings on in the media, I guess the
entries were just a mirror of our society.
A thirteen year old
girl being defiled by her mother’s lover, a 15 year old girl being impregnated
by her ‘pastor’ father who has been defiling her together with her sisters and
in these cases, the mothers assist the men in escaping the arm of the law. Who
speaks for these teenagers?
Back to the Global
Dialogues contest which was dogged by plagiarism. The education system prepares
students for exams making them copy to become ‘the best’. This limits
creativity and originality. One of the recommendations I have made is that
there should be creative writing workshops in schools during the mobilization
process. Another great idea by a Kenyan creative author is to have reading time
incorporated into the lessons of the school timetable. This will improve the
students’ writing abilities.
Deciding the top
entries was not an easy feat because all fifteen members of the jury had to
come to a consensus. Of course there were lively arguments in support of the
scripts which each juror thought deserved to make the cut. That is the result
of putting together a team that’s united by one passion- the young people. The
winning scripts are going to go through an international jury process.
A parting shot is to
our Kenyan men. The wining script was ‘A letter to Dad- my hero’. There are
several men who are role models to their families. The few who have developed
deviant ways of handling their families should not spoil the image of the
African man. We join the young people in the dream of an Africa of positive
masculinity.
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