8mm ELPH

11/02/05

I'm still all tore up about the project. I woke up this morning, and for the first time the thought, 'you failed, give up, go home' came into my head. I'm not used to that thought. I shook it off, stepped on it, and then swept it out the door. But it was still disconcerting that it was there. But if only I could go back, knowing what I know now, and start again! But I cant so there's no sense in thinking that way, but the desire is certainly there.

Anyway, if I just keep working hard for 6 more weeks I can go home happy with what I have accomplished. Its obvious that the movie isn't going to be winning any Oscars, but as long as it reflects all the work I have put into it and helps to raise awareness for the situation, maybe inspire so more aid work, it wont have been in vain. And at least I've got some good stories to tell…

The fruit here is so amazing. Passion fruit, papaya, pineapple, guava, mango, oranges, bananas and huge avocados. So fresh, so much flavor. Amazing.

I interviewed Robert this morning, I realized I haven't interviewed him enough, considering he's such an integral part of the project. I lit it really well.

I went down to Rongo with Othies. It's their big market day, he was doing veggie shopping for mama, I just wanted to see if the posta office had got their computers working yet (they haven't.) I wandered around, looking at all the second hand American clothes for sale, walking by the piles of cabbage ten feet high, the radio repair shops and hawkers walking around with socks or ties or greeting cards. All of a sudden, I saw a white couple! The guy had a video camera and dreadlocks, the girl was very pretty. I thought they must've got lost on safari or something. Other than once or twice in Kisii I haven't seen any westerners in these parts, especially not Kisii. We got to talking, and it turns out that he and his wife are Peace Corps, and have been stationed in Rongo for two years! We chatted for a while, it turns out they are just done with their contract and heading home. It was obvious that they would miss it and more obvious that they were ready for home. Two years is a damn long time (although, having a wife here would make the time go by a lot faster…) Talking to them was good though, it got me more excited about the potential of the health center. And they also told me that there is another Peace Corps guy in Rongo and a girl in Ranen and another guy in Awendo, and another guy coming after a while. I got contacts for everyone… The clouds were dark and heavy, and we knew it was about to pour, so we parted. As I was walking back to the post office the wind came up out of nowhere and the rain started coming down. Vendors along the road were scrambling to pack up their goods, cover them with tarps or put them in boxes. I walked up to the bus stage and pushed through the touts to a bus heading my direction.

I got home and had an afternoon of major breakthroughs. There is something about being trapped inside by the pouring rain that gets me thinking well. First off I started playing with the video function of my new ELPH, and I realized that while it looks a bit like 8mm home video compared to the 24P DVX footage, its actually high res enough to be usable for the film, and its so small and discreet I think it may become very useful to get those shots that I simply cant get with the big DVX. Second, I poured over my notes, calendars, lists, etc, and I think I see a way to still make this documentary good, and still accomplish what I hope to with the health center, all in the remaining time. Basically I film a woman doing the whole VCT process, getting counseled and then testing and then post counseling and then adjusting her life accordingly (ie starting ART if she is positive.) Then I will spend a week following around not an orphan, but the guy who takes care of the three orphaned girls, and has the young family of his own. There will be plenty of footage of the girls mixed in with that, but it will be much more interesting this way. Then its two weeks in Uganda. Then I'll come back, and have two weeks, all the orphans will be out of school on vacation, we can open up the center, we can do a lot of counseling and sensitization, we can do lots of activities with the kids, life skills like poultry farming and shamba farming and HIV education and games and art sessions… I don't know why I never thought about art sessions. I'm going to go buy a bunch of paper and colored markers and maybe even paint from Kisii. I'm thinking that kids can make HIV awareness posters to hang around the village. That will be fun.

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