Down the lane - Nairobi, Kenya
2012
European filmmaker Marijn Poels won an international film award in Canada with his VSO documentary “the voice of 650 million times one”. During the award ceremony in Calgary he renounced his award and waived it to those he filmed in the Kibera slum in Kenya.
In Nairobi, Poels hands over the award to Robert and Pamela Sabwami, two people with a visual impairment living in Kibera. Despite corruption, bureaucracy, gangs and cartels they build a solid monument, together with the local artist Ernest Muyonga, in which they integrate the award. Despite the appreciation towards the film award, the inhabitants of Kibera are obviously more interested in money. A distrust towards the intention of ngo's where the fundament of suspicion has been created by the political and bureaucratic acts where the people down the lane are barely involved.
Finally, the monument is placed in the biggest slum of Africa, where it stands out as a symbol of respect for humanity. A story of courage, the account of the people from Kibera who dare to stand up for their human rights.
* World première at 'picture this...' filmfestival Calgary
official poster