RWANDAN GENOCIDE SEEN THROUGH CHILDREN’S EYES

By Margaretta wa Gacheru None of the cast that co-starred in the Youth Theatre Kenya production of Kesho Amohoro late last week had been born by the time the horrifying slaughter of more than a million people, mostly Tutsi, took place in Rwanda in 1994. Yet that didn’t stop them from dramatizing the passion, pressure, and pain that the youthful survivors must have felt after they’d witnessed the cruel killings of their loved ones at the hand of men who might otherwise have been their neighbors. The Rwanda genocide horrified the world, including one British woman who couldn’t simply watch man’s malicious inhumanity to men, women, and children without doing something about it. Lizzie Jago went to the region as a volunteer working with refugees. It is from that vantage point that she was able to see the tragic aftermath of the senseless slaughter. She was especially concerned about the irreparable damage done to families since the genocide generated a generation of orphans, children who had lost one or both of their parents. It is their story that she, together with her friend Anna Rushbatch, tell in Kesho Amahoro. She first put the musical production in 2010 when many cast members might have at least heard of the heinous crimes against humanity that took place over that brief but bloody period in East African history. But the cast of over 50 young people who took part in last week’s performance at Braeburn Theatre, Gitanga Road, had only historical knowledge and Lizzie’s vivid script to tell them how to play children very different from themselves. For Jazz Moll, who cofounded Youth Theatre Kenya with Lizzie, the challenge of directing Kesho Amahoro has given him the task to direct as well, if not better than Lizzie who did it when the musical was initially staged at Braeburn. Jazz had the good fortune to enlist the Ghetto Classic band who provided marvelous musical accompaniment to refrains that reflect the chief storyline. And that is all about a family of refugee kids whose lives are profoundly impacted by the loss of their parents and the chaotic life in and outside the refugee camps. Opening with crazy frenetic movement of people running wildly back and forth across the state, the cacophony of sound and light is disturbing to watch. But then, you realize it is meant to disturb since that is comparable to the crazy frenetic atmosphere of the camps. The play itself is meant to disturb by rousing awareness of that historic moment as well as the plight of the most vulnerable in society who are easily forgotten in time of war but who are often the most traumatized and in need of not just blankets and second-hand shirts but kindness and comfort and care. Esperance (Tana Gachoka) is de facto head of their little band who vow to stick together for mutual protection and support. But that’s easier said than done, especially as, in the absence of any organized leadership or government, tribal-like gangs have grown up, many of which are made up of criminals. Ishi (Masud Abdullah) is one who gets involved with one criminal gang who eventually catches Ishi taking a cut out of the sales (of cigarettes) that they’d drawn him into dealing. Ishi is killed violently at the evil order of the gang leader (Dadson Gikonyo) after catching him in the act. That moment when the Boss (Gikonyo) catches Ishi is the scariest moment in the show. For Boss had already threatened Ishi not to cheat them else he suffer the consequences. One could tell this band of Mafia-like boys and girls were not joking. Theirs was a chilling reminder of how dangerous a life in the street can be for the homeless, including orphans like Esperance’s family. We don’t witness Ishi’s lynching, but we do see his body hanging behind a bedsheet that needed to be fixed before show began, not seconds before all sights would be facing the ‘dead’ body. In any case, death brought a heavy sense of sorrow and grief. However, the Red Cross and Red Crescent people managed to locate parents of some of the children in the camps, so, a feeling of hope is revived among the children. “If her parents could be located, then mine could too,” they imagine. There are many other issues that refugees face which are not resolved in this play. But the show closes with the youth starting to move back home, so there’s hope in the end.