Video visit

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In the summer of ’06, WKCD returned to Awet Secondary School in Kambi ya Simba. This time, we brought a video camera. With a handful of students, some from last year’s book writing team, we filmed scenes and sounds from the village and the school. We also interviewed students, teachers, and the school’s headmaster.

The lack of electricity in the village meant that we had to work off the three batteries we had packed in with us. There was no chance to practice. It was point and shoot, plain and simple. 

Back in the U.S., WKCD culled and edited the eight hours of video in our camera bag to create the “virtual visit” you find here.  The video clips, thirteen in all, appear without narration. The sounds you hear—crickets, livestock, a maize grinder, voices, laughter, music—are what you would hear if you were in Kambi ya Simba yourself.

In the case of the interviews, we have added subtitles where we felt they were needed. The first language of the people of Kambi ya Simba is Kiswahili or, often, the local dialect, Iraqw; English is a second language. Also, in some of the interviews you will hear questions asked by one of the two U.S. college interns who were part of our video team.

Welcome to our school

• Student greetings and school song
• Morning porridge
• Choir practice
• After school soccer
• Best friends

Village scenes

• Fields and paths, livestock, and maize harvest
• Stores and the daily pool match in the village center
• Village health clinic and doctor

Student Interviews

• Thomas on poverty
• Halima on family planning
• Romana on culture

Faculty interviews

• Herieli Malle, Headmaster
• Joseph Ladislaus, Science Teacher