a documentary I narrated this year, will air on Kenya's Citizen TV this Sunday (December 13th), and next Sunday (December 20th), at 12.45pm.
It captures the voices of Kenyan women, across the country, recounting their experiences of the post-election violence. Gang rape, displacement, dispossession, heartbreak - and survival. Their courage and tenacity, as they continue to demand justice, are extraordinary.
It's harrowing to watch, and listen to. Each of the stories reduced us to tears, numbness, incoherent rage. As we worked on it, I kept recalling Audre Lorde:
this eye is not for weeping
though tears are on my face
it must record everythingAnd thinking that the whole work of the mediation agreement, and now, the involvement of the international criminal court, is to bring us to look at the unbearable. Listen to the unspeakable. Feel in entirety what they trigger in us. Over and over again, until our facade of separation crumbles. Until we can no longer believe that we are removed, protected, from violation. Until we cease to pretend that we are not complicit in every violence.
We have chosen each other
and the edge of each others battles
the war is the same
if we lose
someday women's blood will congeal
upon a dead planet
if we win
there is no telling
we seek beyond history
for a new and more possible meeting---
Sister Outsider, Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
The DVD will be available for order shortly, from
Pambazuka Press.
2 Comments:
How fortunate to have your beautiful voice and empathetic disposition to narrate this work. You could make a career out on narration since it is such a pleasure to listen to the clarity and honey in your voice.
Why thank you, Deamer. Someone told me this weekend that my voice made celery sound interesting. Something about my tone and cadence when I said "selenium is nature's valium" :-).
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