Bozzaya

Last week I attended a meeting in Kangemi, one of the slums outside of Nairobi, where I met some of the Youth Ambassadors we have trained in that community. I am starting a new project that involves setting up a system for NOPE employees and trainees to have their own blog and obtain access to important HIV/AIDS resources and training material. It is the beginning of a new web site for NOPE designed around easily updateable content. Currently it is a nightmare to update the website so I thought I would let everyone be responsible for their own. Anyway, I went to meet some of the youth and get some of their feedback, the experience was one I will never forget. First off, they do not see too many mzungus in the slums, so my presence was a big event. The realization that these people would not have any IT skills had previously occurred to me. That was what I was there to figure out. They loved my idea, but confirmed my fear. I told them that I could show them how to use this system, its designed to be easy. Their eyes completely lit up and they all cheered for me. So that was the beginning of my ICT training program, to be initiated later this year with the launch of the new website. I believe it will make them better Ambassadors for Change (NOPE initiative) and ultimately improve our impact.

While I was in Kangemi, I met Bozzaya (on the right). He is one of our Ambassadors for Change and uses his talents to send the NOPE message of abstinence (talk to George W.) and HIV/AIDS to his community. He is a reggae artist, a pretty good one too. Living in the slums is a difficult place to start from, especially the slums in Kenya. Somehow, Bozzaya has managed to record some songs on a CD, which he gave to me on the day of my visit. He now wants me to be his manager and help him to make it big. Essentially, he wants some money, something I don’t just hand out. I would rather give him something a little more tangible, I was thinking about making some copies of his CD or something like that. Production quality aside, the songs on his CD are really good.

Bozzaya is a rough looking kid; dirty, skinny and scarred. The day I met him he was all scraped and bruised. Some kids had tried to steal his phone and beat him up real bad in the process. He still had his phone though. He used to have a problem with heavy drugs, until his best friend died right in front of him. This was the turning point for him in his life, he has since found NOPE and became an Ambassador for Change.

He invited me to one of the clubs in town last Sunday that has an open mic/talent show type night. Mostly younger people show up to this thing and Ugo and I were definitely the only white guys there. I was constantly reminded by security to watch my phone. It was funny, our presence seemed to help Bozzaya ensure his registration in the event and get an early spot. Some dancing groups were up first, they received a mild applause from the audience. Then it was Bozzaya’s turn. Several hundred people surrounded this skinny street punk with his green Ambassadors for Change t-shirt on and I wondered how he would cope. He was more worried about whether or not I could see. He was amazing! The crowd went nuts. He sang, in Kiswahili, a song about how HIV/AIDS effects everyone. “Your grandma will cry, your mother will cry, the children will cry” and he asked the audience what they would do, “will you cry?” He got down on the floor and soulfully screamed “I will cry!” It was a powerful message, exactly the type of event NOPE wants their Ambassadors to perform.

The next day he phoned me up and asked for $2000 shillings ($30cdn) so that he could record a new CD. I was not surprised, I immediately said no, but it gave me a new idea for NOPE, one that will help him and us…..