KENYA: Workers from Film Aid International have been screening films to thousands of refugees in Kakuma Camp

Record ID: 362653

  • Title: KENYA: Workers from Film Aid International have been screening films to thousands of refugees in Kakuma Camp
  • Date: 28th March 2002
  • Summary: MCU (English) NATALIA TAPIES, FILM AID SAYING "Our main purpose here is to entertain people, to send a message as well, to give some sort of joy to refugees who are here actually for years with nothing to do."
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KAKUMA, KENYA
  • Country: Kenya
  • Reuters ID: LVABAZ5N9BV2KK6HAYHC2FY16MR3
  • Story Text: Workers from Film Aid International, a humanitarian non-governmental organisation have been screening films to thousands of refugees in Kenya's Kakuma camp. They have been showing entertaining and educational movies aimed at alleviating the feelings of despair, boredom and trauma, which are a normal part of life in refugee camps.
    Dusk falls on the Kakuma Refugee camp in Northern Kenya, home to nearly 85,000 people. The sounds of reggae icon Bob Marley are in the air, and people are getting ready to go to the movies.
    Many have come long distances on foot and by bicycle. A majority have come early - they've heard that some new films are about to be shown and they don't want to miss out on the excitement.
    Workers from the humanitarian organisation, Film Aid International, are busy preparing for this, their first outdoor screening in Kakuma. They're all nervous about this first show, they don't want anything to go wrong and disappoint the crowd.
    Film Aid International has been set up to educate and entertain refugees through the use of film and video.
    They hope to ease the feelings of despair, boredom and trauma, which are a normal part of life in refugee camps.
    They already run similar projects in refugee camps in Macedonia and Kosovo.
    Now they are becoming active in various parts of East Africa where nearly 300,000 people have been forced to take refuge from different conflicts in and around the region.
    "We are not just showing films. We are here educationally, I think they are going to be used as a tool in a very profound way," Mary Soan, who is on the executive committee of Film Aid said.
    It's Wednesday night, and the mood has already been set in this remote location, for the first screening of 'Yellow Card', a prize-winning African film about sex, soccer and life's little secrets.
    This funny but serious film about 17-year-old Tiyane who becomes a father, cautions youth on the consequences of unprotected sex.
    "Our main purpose here is to entertain people, to send a message as well, to give some sort of joy to refugees who are here actually for years with nothing to do," says Natalia Tapies from Film Aid.
    Tonight's screening has attracted a crowd of nearly 8,000. People here see it as a welcome relief from the boring routine of daily life in the camp.
    "That is why I came and look for and get, it is exactly what I want," said a refugee who has come to watch the shows.
    Another refugee at the camp is happy that the films are being shown, because there is always something to learn from them.
    "It is okay for me to come and see so that I can get some knowledge, so that such kind of life will not happen to me,"
    the refugee said.
    The screening goes off without a hitch and there's joy at the way tonight's show has uplifted the audience's mood.
    "ust to hear everybody laughing was just a magical gift.
    It was the most magical night. You could see the children, the stars, it was the most magical night - the way the image appears in the dark and to see the little faces waiting and when they shriek out laughing, it's just great," says Mary Soan.
    It is doubtful that the type of screenings put on by Film Aid will replace the normal entertainment here. Small screening rooms showing shoot-em-up and karate films have become a type of cottage industry here in Kakuma.
    The type of movies being offered by Film Aid however, present a welcome change for the camp's residents.
    "Anything goes, they need recreation so anything goes whether of quality - education or anything," says Kofi Mable from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
    For the Film Aid crew, who have seen the project take off from small beginnings, the achievement of being able to draw crowds of up to 10,000 people is going to make it difficult to break away and move on.
    But move on they must - next stop Tanzania where they'll spend another six months, bringing their own brand of Hollywood entertainment to yet another group of people adrift in the world.
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