[Chat] Boys of Baraka

[dawnacobb at mindspring.com]

Emil: It is my understanding that the boys had more interaction with the Kenyans than the movie portrays.  Relative to your point about a school being set up locally, perhaps you have seen the articles about the opening of a boarding school in the City in 2009.   There is one in D.C., the SEED school, which has been very successful.  

The night that we saw the movie, two of the boys from the movie stood up after it was over and took questions from the audience, which was interesting.

Dawna

-----Original Message-----
>From: Emil Volcheck <volcheck at acm.org>
>Sent: Mar 18, 2006 7:45 PM
>To: chat at charlesvillage.info
>Subject: [Chat] Boys of Baraka
>
>Last night, Kathleen and I saw the movie "The Boys of Baraka" at
>The Charles.  It was interesting, but we were a bit disappointed.
>
>The movie is an independent film that has the feel of something
>between a documentary and a TV reality show.  It follows several young
>boys, ages 12-13, from Dunbar Middle School during their year of study
>at the Baraka School, a boarding school in Kenya, in East Africa.  It
>shows how they and their families cope with poverty, drugs, and crime
>in East Baltimore.  Each year, about twenty boys from Baltimore are
>selected to attend the Baraka School for two years.  The boys travel
>to Africa, and we see the beautiful outback surroundings of the
>school.  They have no television reception, and electricity is
>sporadic.  The boys miss candy, soda, and chicken boxes.  The school
>is run by an all-white American staff of principal, headmaster,
>teachers, and counselors.  During their year at Baraka, the boys
>receive a lot of individual attention with their studies, help
>developing communication skills and managing anger.  The boys thrive,
>becoming more fit, more mature, better students.  It's wonderful to
>see what careful attention and tender loving care can do for these
>young boys.  They return to Baltimore for summer vacation after their
>first year.  However, when the US Embassy in Mombassa is closed due to
>terrorist threats, the school is closed for security reasons.  They
>boys return to their old zone schools.  Some thrive.  One makes it
>into City College.  Others go back to their old ways, losing interest
>in school and slacking.
>
>The movie was really about these boys and Baltimore.  Kenya was
>irrelevant.  The boys had very little interaction with Kenyan people
>or culture.  They were in kind of an American enclave.  A similar kind
>of camp or school could be set up in the Ozarks, or even northern
>Baltimore County, and you could expect similar benefits for the boys.
>The important element seems to be rescuing them from East Baltimore
>and providing time and attention from caring people.  It almost seems
>as if the movie misses the point of what happened for the boys.
>
>The movie moved kind of slow at times, a bit pedantic.  The production
>quality was lower resolution, more like TV or miniDV, probably
>reflecting the tight budget of an independent film.  I thought it
>was educational, but it wasn't moving or insightful.  For me, it
>underscored the fact that we are missing opportunities every day
>to make lives better for young citizens of Baltimore through
>proper education.  That is kind of depressing.
>
>--Emil
>
>
>
>-- 
>Emil Volcheck
>volcheck at acm.org
>http://acm.org/~volcheck
>
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