Sam and Julian Visit

At the beginning of Day 5, Sam and Julian roamed the school taking photos of the landscape, the school, and the children. In the midst of their search for stock photos and b-roll, the students began their first break and immediately found their way to Sam's and Julian's cameras. Filled with youthful zeal and exploration they asked to see the cameras and began running around, practicing a new skill, capturing photos of their fellow students and the buildings surrounding them. Meanwhile, Barb and the director of the school, Joseph Akeyo, accompanied a teacher into town to obtain new books for the students, returning with two full boxes - textbooks for the whole year. As the day wound down, the students formed a semi-circle in front of the tree where the school first began it's mission and showed off their choir skills. Three groups consisting of one student to a trio of students performed their own songs which lead to a final euphony of a large group performance, bringing the day to a close.

As Day 6 began, our first interview was visiting dignitary William Onyango Osure, the area Chief for Kochieng, who gave us his official and personal approval for the film project and shared his belief that we and it would yield great things for the children and community. Next we interviewed many of the teachers, who shared their poignant point of view on the importance of the school and the significance of funding, proving their dedication by continuing to teach at times when their were no funds to pay them. As the interviews wrapped up, students and teachers broke for lunch, cooked up by two parents of current students who volunteer their time. After lunch, the students lined up for photo head-shots and performed another dance and song for us, the teachers, and Chief William. The final day at GLAC community school came to a close with a little surprise organized by Abraham Otieno, school chairman. He memorialized our visit with a planting of trees named after each visitor. The students and teachers gathered around the previously excavated dirt and watched joyously as each one of us planted our tree. As we began to put the tree into the ground, cover it with dirt, and water it Joseph Okuiama, headmaster, asked the children, "Whose tree is this?" and they retorted differently each time by saying, "Barbara's tree," "Julian's tree," "Sam's tree," "Directors tree," "William's tree," and "Mary Judy's (Joseph's wife) tree ."

These final two days were impactful on many levels and we can't wait to share not only these photos, but more interviews, stories, and videos that capture the passion and energy of these young minds.