Shutter Speeds
We're seeing a tidal wave of new stories coming into the West out of Africa, of both the visual and literary varieties. Namely, we note that a number of efforts are aimed at countering the stereotypes of constant war, poverty, and famine on the Continent. First we saw Charlayne Hunter Gault's new book, then we caught up with Ozii Obiyo's student TV show in Austin, not to mention the bevy of large survey shows designed to re-situate Africa for the 21st century.
Add to this effort the work of Emily Verellen, whose recent coffee table book Lighbox features the autobiographies, essays, interview responses, and photography of several 13- to 18-year-old girls living in the Kibera slum region of Nairobi. Emily told us that although focused on the poverty-stricken region, the book is not designed simply to document misery. Rather it is, in her words, "about the hope, strength, and resilience inside the young women." This alternative view, Ellen notes, is critical. "Or else, why have hope?" she says.
The book is a project of the Binti Pamoja Center, which among other activities, provides scholarships to send young women to school as a way out of poverty. In fact, the zero-overhead enterprise means that 100% of the book sales support the scholarship program directly.
Emily told us that sales from a mere 3 copies of the book are enough to send a girl to school. Her goal: 3,000 copies sold. We think she's dropping the Christmas hint and note that we'd rather see people send a Kibera girl to school than shell out dough on whatever X-, Y-, or Z-box kids are currently killing each other over. Word.
18 December 2006