First Day of Placements

Tuesday was the first day of our placements. We all had to wake-up bright and early, eat breakfast, and hop on the CCS van to our placements. My placement started at 8:30am. I got onto the van packed with some of the other volunteers and we were off. I was the first to be dropped off. I was pretty nervous considering I wasn’t at all prepped for what I would be doing for the Baobab Studio. Most of the other volunteers were going to be teaching, so many of them had lesson plans set and materials with them to share. I was literally left in front of my placement to go off and do what I can. So I went.
I met Nasa the day before when I went to Baobab Studio with Mama C and Ahmani. Nasa is a soft spoken, meek kind of guy. His English is not too good and my Swahili sucks, so you can imagine the interaction we’re going to have. You would think it wouldn’t be so great. Nasa and I got a long just fine. We figured out that with the help of my Swahili Phrasebook (Thanks Sandy!) and his limited English, we would communicate just fine.
The first thing that Nasa did was show me around the studio. The walls were just filled with art from floor to ceiling and even some hung on a make shift half-wall off to the side of the space. We went to the back area, outside, to go up some rickety and very narrow stairs to the area where the paintings are done. It is a small space with a slanted roof. There was paint everywhere. Nasa had been working on a sign for a local store. Many times he or the director of the studio, Kingston, would be commissioned to write and paint signs for local businesses.
Our next stop was to go to another nearby art studio that is connected to the Baobab Studio. The resident artist here is named Manduly. Not only does he paint, but he also crochets handbags, bracelets, and clothes. The place was very dark and not really Art Studio-esque. It looked like an abandoned 2-floor apartment building. I was invited to come upstairs to where Manduly, and apparently some other guys, hang out and sleep. This was when I was introduced to the Swahili Hip-Hop group Serious Manizzle. Manduly was also a rapper along with Sidaz, RH, and a few other guys I hadn’t met yet. A gentleman broke out a drum and the guys started to freestyle rhyme. It was great!
After hanging for a few minutes, Sidaz, Nasa, and I went back to Baobab Studio. Sidaz brought me to the back where the music studio is. They had a computer set up where their beats and instrumentations are created. Sidaz, who is also another visual artist, wanted to show me their music video and another song Serious Manizzle had done. They are both great! The one that they are very proud of, I assume because they play it repeatedly throughout the day, is Hip-Hop Bila Madawa Ilawezekana (Hip-Hop without Drugs is possible). I was surprised and thoroughly impressed with this song. They are trying to get the word out about the harm drugs can do through their music. I thought it was very cool.
While I was listening to the music, I couldn’t help but dance to it. The guys had noticed and started to mimic me without me noticing. After I finally did notice, I choreographed a short bit on them. They loved it. There they are, Sidaz, Manduly, and RH dancing my choreography to their song. I was very excited as were they. They asked me if I would show them how to dance hip-hop and of course I said yes. So for one hour of the placement time, I have been teaching them hip-hop in a very small room in the back of the Baobab Art Studio.