We left Nairobi yesterday for the town of Makindu, a couple hours east of Kenya's capital. We were able to travel with a friend of mine who works at one of the many NGOs in the region and it was great having him there for our first location on the road.
For those of you I haven't told, we are working with the International Transport Federation on the creation of a documentary that reveals how the HIV/AIDS has been spread in Africa via public transportation, specifically truck drivers. I arrived in Kenya at the beginning of May and had to establish contacts around the country and organise our travels for when the crew arrived on the 10th.
Our cameraman, Niru, arrived from Mombai a day before the director, David, of Parachute Pictures and Thomas our Bohemian bodyguard/grip arrived from the U.K. and Germany. With our driver in Nairobi, Francis, our little crew is truly unique and beyond the scope of convention. I feel as though I have landed in a Hunter S. Thompson's adaptation of Life Aquatic starring Dr. Strangelove in an east African setting. And I could tell many stories in support of this, but I think last night really epitomised the eccentric/absurd reality in which I am living.

We arrived in Makindu in the early afternoon to meet with female sex workers that are receiving educational support from the German NGO, and after a short meeting with them on the grass outside, we all headed to their homes in town.
The three we chose to follow live in neighboring huts behind a bar/restaurant along the highway. We spent the afternoon with them and the few interested neighbors that chose to come and hang out in the pueblo-like setting with us. As the crew interviewed the women, I photographed those outside and particularly enjoyed watching a small boy carrying a little kitten around like a ragdoll. Poor thing, but it really illustrated how children are children regardless of continent.
We left the women in the early evening and headed on foot along the highway for GVs, General Views for those not familiar with the cinema term, and stills. As the stills photographer, I have a little more latitude because it doesn't take as much time for a snapshot. I usually tend to venture off a little further into the bush, small villages, dark alleys etc to see what I can find.
And today I was lucky. I found a group of kids that hadn't seen the likes of me before and I had an instant little fan club for about an hour. And man we had fun!
For a quarter of an hour they were very shy with me and chose to just stare. Then one came up and asked me about my camera. 'What is that?' So I showed him the images I had just taken and there was an instant chorus of 'more!' So I raised it again and suddenly I had 10 little boys practicing their kung fu techniques in front of me! It was fantastic! And I really could not stop giggling. I was running out of space already on my memory card, otherwise could have spent the day with this little impromptu photo shoot. I instructed them to come a little closer and showed them I wanted them to kick over top of the camera etc. And they followed perfectly!
From there I returned to the little pueblo and met up with the women we'd met earlier in the afternoon and headed to the club for the evening. It proceeded about as can be expected, drinks, food, conversation, filming and pics. Thankfully no fistfights or bar brawls over the presence of foreigners with cameras and we were finished by about 12:30am.
At this point, after having been up since 5:30am, I was exhausted and really looking forward to retiring at the sheik temple up the road for the evening. But no, the boss had other plans. And within ten minute of wrapping, the cameraman and I were suddenly on the 6 hour, overnight bus to Mombasa with all the crew's luggage. 8 bags! I'm not really sure how it all happened and how the director managed to convince us that this was the right thing to do, but, I think as I alluded to earlier the spontaneity, element of surprise and the subject matter are exactly why I've chosen to explore this way of life. (That and being able to spend a day at the most perfect beach waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive)
In the meantime, as I alluded to in my first email, I meet a lot of people that are in extreme poverty and could use help. I can't help them all, but if any of you feel inclined please let me know and I'll partner you with the individual.
Today it's one of the women we were with in Makindu:

Hi everyone,
I'm just going to dive right into this and if you want a background of the project. Please click here.
I will post a bio at a later date, but if you would like an idea of who I am, please click here.

I think to be fair I should post the original letter that I sent to friends on May 11, 2006.

Hi everyone,
As some of you know, I will be in east Africa filming a documentary for the next month. In addition to the main production, I am working on a few little side projects to keep occupied.
Nairobi is a wondrous city of extremes. I've been here a week and have witnessed not only the effects of the horrible poverty in the slums, but also seen blossoming-middleclass Kenyans. Everyone I've met has been incredibly kind and generous and, with the exception of traffic in the city center, I have no complaints.
Over the course of the last ten days I have regularly visited the slums of Lenana, just outside downtown Nairobi. For six hours during the first day, two of which were in monsoon rains, I tromped around in sewage and garbage and what I saw both horrified and inspired me.
The people were lovely. Because of the colonial rule, most of them speak English in addition to Swahili, and so I can listen without an interpreter.
I haven't met my neighbors in London though I've lived there for a year. Yet in that single afternoon, I met many villagers. The generosity and sense of community I experienced in that single day I haven't felt for a long time.
As I walked from aluminum shack to aluminum shack, I received chapattis by a group of women cooking dinner, shared a pair of rubber boots with my escorts for the completely flooded areas and played games with the six children that were around the orphanage for the day.
I met a grandmother who is looking after 5 children and they haven't eaten for days. I met a woman who has suffered from AIDS for 6 years and has three charges. I met a little 3-year old boy who had never seen a wazungu (similar to a gringo) before and wouldn't stop staring up at me. And of course there are the children from the orphanage.

This morning when I visited I saw feeding time. I haven't cried for a long time, but when I saw the excitement over a cup of wallpaper-paste/gruel by 60 children it was too much...
Prior to leaving London I met Hanne, a German-born-Columbian-raised Canadian who has been working with the orphanage for the last 4 months. She has a fascinating story, which I will tell at a later date via other media, but her and her husband have contributed immensely to the improvement of the school all out of pocket.

There are 60 vulnerable and orphaned kids in the village. Most have members of the community that look after them, but as you may imagine there is not a lot of anything to go around and without proper education these children will never get out of the slums.
I was lucky enough to have been adopted at a young age by loving parents that could easily afford to educate and provide for me. We also had the opportunity to travel extensively, experience other cultures and meet people from around the world.
Over the course of my life I have met many wonderful people along the way and have come to appreciate the many similarities of life on different continents, regardless of race, religion and income.
Furthermore, I believe we are all connected, whether through six degrees of separation or through the air we breathe and the planet that we collectively share.
Although we are rapidly reaching the maximum capacity that the planet can handle in terms of natural resources due to the ever-increasing population, I find it appalling and disgusting the amount of people that live at this level of poverty. It is not right.
And I know that despite the heavy NGO presence in the region and the millions of dollars coming in through donations, it will be a long time before these people see even a shilling of it.
Corruption is rife.
We cannot as humans expect our governments to take care of things for us and, the bottom line is, this planet cannot sustain the high level of consumption in the west and lack of preservation and care of environment.
We really need to work towards finding some balance. Now I could go further, but my desire is not to rant, but to provoke thought and perhaps prompt some sort of action.
I firmly believe that the actions of the individual can make a difference. And the collective actions of many individuals can exact change. The people I've met in the past ten days have given me hope. From the initial contact I had with Hanne, to the lengthy interview I had yesterday with Kenyan MP and humanitarian Ruth Oniang'o.
I mentioned that we are all connected. As a photographer, during the course of my stay in Africa, I will bring some of the items that I have collected from people over the years to people I meet in the community and photograph them, like a visual prompt for a remembrance of things past.
While I am here, I have access to resources I won't when I return to the UK in June. If there is enough interest I am happy to stay on and continue work for a little while as a photojournalist and as a human.
Also, as you may have noticed, I am writing from an address I don't usually use. If you have any thoughts, comments or would like to help in any capacity (IT, creative inspiration, financial, educational, moral support, etc) please email me here. Otherwise, we'll still chat through our regular channel.
hope this finds you all well.
Love and Smiles,
Dana

May 12, 2006

So after an evening spent mulling things over, and arriving at the cyber cafe this morning to find an inbox with the most beautiful letters, I've decided to work on a blog, (or at least post regular pics) and although it will be quite brief and infrequent, after yesterday, I feel like I should share a few of my experiences. (At least those that mean the most to me.)

I went to the Lenana slum, on the periphery of downtown Nairobi, for the third time since my arrival at the beginning of May, and though something really touches me each time, yesterday my heart was ripped out. I want to try and convey what it was like.
I know as a journalist I’m supposed to be neutral, but if newspapers can be politically alligned, I don’t see any reason why I can’t venture into advocacy every now and then.
Every time I venture out to the slum, I always come with a full bag of food, clothing for my little ‘connection project' and money for someone or another who either hasn’t eaten for days or who’s mother/wife is now hospitalized for Aids. Where do you draw the line?
I know that we’ve seen images like these a million times. With Band Aid, Live Aid and the recent Make Poverty History campaign, but until you are in a room vibrating with 60 kids that can’t contain their excitement over the anticipation of consuming what, in my mind looks like wallpaper paste, and then vying to get the first cup but having to wait because it’s too hot…
But really what really got me was the little boy that licked his cup clean of the bits that had dribbled on the outside.

Lenana is one of many slums in the country. For those of you that saw “The Constant Gardner,” Kibera is just across town and has about 5000 inhabitants, which is about 5 times the size. It is heartbreaking to meet some of the people and inspiring to see the energy and life. Here are 3 of the older orphaned boys in the hostel (with Hanne-donated bunk beds).



Aside from the slum, I have been busy with the groundwork for the main film project that centers around truck drivers and AIDS. I had to add a photo of one of my main contacts, just because for the next two weeks he’ll be my main man on the inside and this will probably the first of many images of him.

And perhaps most importantly in many ways, I want to show a side of the country that not many have seen. So I’ve added a couple shots of downtown Nairobi.

I guess I'd just like to say I’m inspired by the country and it’s inhabitants and want to share. It’s been a long time since I’ve been at an event where I haven’t had to struggle for a shooting position alongside 6 - 60 men twice my size.

I guess perhaps I’m finding my niche.