Today we were presented with a particularly sobering example of the youth crisis in Kenya. Images of rioters gone wild, young men wheeling machetes, shops being looted and citizens beaten to death. It had a major impact on us all!
These were images taken by Boniface Mwangi, a photographer who documented the post election riots in the slums of Kenya. From the frontline he bravely captured the images of death and destruction taking place in his country so the world could see the truth for itself. Since then the Kwani Trust (a Kenyan based literary network) has toured the country with their exhibition. The Kenyan govenment has refused to accept any of their publications.
This is the film we saw.
It was an extremely powerful, and at times harrowing, example of the violence and brutality that disempowerment and corruption can lead to. We need to become active citizens to stop politicians exploiting our tribal heritages and seeing these images repeated, not only again in Kenya, but across Africa. Our quest to move from subjects to citizens is an ever urgent one.
Read more at http://kenyaburning.org and http://kwani.org
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