Edupuppets 2002: The First International Puppet Festival in Kenya, Africa

by Judith O'Hare
YOU AND ME PUPPETS
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Reading, MA 01867
781-944-0965
jaohare@gis.net
www.youandmepuppets.com

In February 2002, I was invited to give teacher training workshops for Edupuppets2002 in Nariobi, Kenya, and to give workshops at two colleges in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was an experience that brought into sharp focus the power of puppetry in education and the power of puppets not only to educate but potentially to save lives.

Edupuppets2002 was conceived by Dr. Erik Krystall, director of Family Programmes Promotions and Services ( FPPS). He created CHAPS, Community Health and Awareness Puppeteers as a celebration of the puppetry achievements in Kenya as well as an introduction in Kenya to the world of International puppetry. He believes that education awareness is essential to combating issues such as AIDS/HIV, female genital mutilation, reproductive health, family planning, wife and child abuse, conservation, corruption and serious social issues. He was struck by the power of puppets as a dramatic and expressive medium to teach children, teens and adults when he met Gary Friedman in South Africa in 1993 and saw his puppetry work on AIDS/HIV.

Erik invited Gary to Kenya where he and his team began training for what is now 400 puppeteers in 40 troupes who perform in urban and rural areas throughout Kenya who have won UNICEF recognition and help;and have helped train puppetry groups in Uganda, Eritrea and at the Ngara refugee camp in Tanzania and have performed in South Africa and the Netherlands.

Edupuppets 2002 brought to Kenya over 10 Kenyan puppeteers, and about 80 puppeteers from Germany, South Africa, Finland, Uganda, Holland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Belgian, Wales, and the US. The International puppeteers gave performances and workshops in many sites for the Kenyan and Ugandan puppeteers and for teachers and hospital personnel.

I gave workshops at the International School of Kenya for teachers and students, kindergarten to grade 12. I also gave a series of teacher training workshops for teachers from private schools. ..we saw a performance by the local CHAPS puppeteers called "Dustbin Streets" about the effects of AIDS on the children and their choice between living with their aged and poor grandparents or living in the streets. (The country has lost to AIDS the parent generation aged 40-50 and it has left grandparents and children. There are 8 million children in Kenya who do not go to school.)

As the week came to an end the Kenyan puppeteers were eager to learn more about the art and craft of puppetry and to enter the International stage and share their work and energy for bringing about social change through puppetry.

When the Festival ended I continued on to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for 4 more days of workshops and performances where I gave a workshop for the University of Dar es Salaam Drama Department outside under a portico. The drama students had little or no puppetry experience. They were curious but hesitant to try them on and make them move and talk, but once they warmed up to the idea of animating the inanimate they were smitten.

I ended the workshop with a demonstration of Toy Theater and Shadow puppets that fit into the small Toy Theater. As the demonstration came to an end all the lights in that section of the University went out. We finished our discussion and questions and answers by flashlight and headlights from the Embassy vehicle.

At the end one of the workshops faculty members approached me and said he was very excited about puppetry and he wanted to come to the US to get a Masters in Puppetry. We are still communicating and the head of the department said they have begun to experiment with puppets at the University. I am hoping that the spark of interest that has been ignited will continue to glow and they will add puppetry to the drama department work.

It was a powerful 19 days. Puppetry in Education is growing in Kenya at the social activist level and they want to introduce puppets into the schools for the children. As Edupuppets 2002 was ending the puppeteers got word that they had received a grant to work in the streets with the street children teaching them how to use puppets to tell their stories and give expression to their thoughts. Puppetry is alive and well in East Africa and I was honored to be one of the International puppeteers to be a part of this historic Festival. Edupuppets2002 was the First International Puppet Festival in Kenya, but they all hope it will not be the last.