February 9, 2008
On our last night with everyone we had a party to say thank you to all those amazing friends, both old and new without whom this project would not have gotten off to such a successful start. We enjoyed a delicious Kenyan meal that drew on the traditions of a number of tribes and also featured Indian recipes. We showed the film to all those gathered and had a very productive discussion about how it might be perceived by a Kenyan audience. It was evident that everyone was very moved by the piece which we had cobbled out of footage gathered in the preceding three weeks. The younger generation (in their 20s and early 30s) were particularly supportive of the film's discussion of violence against women which they clearly consider to be one of the most topical and significant issues in Kenya today.

The discussion of the video was followed by a very intense conversation about tribal identity. our guests were from various different tribes, Luo, Kikuyu, Kamba, Kalenjin, Nubian and Muzungu (all whites are grouped in this category) and they all shared sterotypes about their own tribe and various other tribes. We spoke about the inherant contradictions in many of the steretotypes, for example Luos are said to be lazy but are also known to be stonecutters, one of the hardest manual labor jobs around. Kikuyus are said to be thieves but also of entrepreneurial spirit. And the list goes on, with some quite funny stereotypes that we all couldn't help laughing about.