Oct 31, 2014

Discovering Richness


Last weekend me and my good brother Ismail took a trip to Machakos as part of the preliminary activities for shooting a documentary on my historic uncle, which will be done by a researcher and explorer Jonathan. I first met Jonathan at an event several weeks ago now and when I introduced the story of Mathews (my uncle) to him his initial reaction was that of a mixture of skepticism and fascination. The personal documentary on Mathews; an American by decent, Kenyan by birth and Akamba by heritage tells the tale of a life of struggle of identity. A story that describes someone trying to get in touch with his roots and carefully embracing his future. It describes a journey of a white man struggling in a ‘foreign’ land and finding safety in his resolution to accepting the harsh realities of life. It draws the picture of a son who tries to come into terms with the death of his mother while still as a little child, disappearance of a father who worked with the American Navy in the 70’s and detachment of siblings as young kids. Jonathan is really excited about this incredible combination of culture and myself and Ismail are finding this experience of documenting as a whole new practice even with us having known a good portion of Mathew’s life story before.