Erodo s Story - our latest film airs globally

A 20-year film project - blood, land and where Kenya is heading today

Friday 5th April 2013

Blood and Land: Erodos Story

A 48-minute film for Witness

As Kenya swears in its new President, Uhuru Kenyatta, Al Jazeera's, Witness strand broadcasts tve's latest documentary Blood and Land: Erodo's Story. It's a unique 20-year film project which sheds light on a society still plagued by tribal conflict and political corruption - at odds with its status as a democracy and the economic driving force of East Africa.

Although there has been no return to the bloody ethnic violence which followed the 2007 elections, Uhuru Kenyatta's narrow win has been clouded with controversy. The new President and his deputy, William Ruto, face charges at the International Criminal Court relating to post-election violence five years ago.

Over the last 20 years, we've been filming Erodo, a boy born to cattle nomads in 1992, in lawless, remote northern Kenya. His life has been shaped by ethnic conflict and by the tension between his father's desire to continue a nomadic way of life and his mother's belief that settled society and education are the future. Through Erodo's eyes we see Kenya and where it is heading today.

Blood and Land: Erodo's Story will be broadcast in Al Jazeera's Witness strand at the following times: (all times given are GMT - ie UK Summer Time minus one hour)

Wednesday April 10: 20.00;

Thursday April 11: 12.00;

Friday April 12: 01.00;

Saturday April 13: 06.00;

Sunday April 14: 20.00;

Monday April 15: 12.00;

Tuesday April 16: 01.00

Wednesday April 17: 06.00

To view the film online visit Al Jazeera Witness.

Award-winning director Bruno Sorrentino has been filming Erodo and his family for tve, since 1992. They are Turkana one of Kenya's tribes of nomadic cattle herders - and their precarious existence and sheer endurance have been played out against a background of lawlessness, ethnic strife, and political corruption.

Erodo's life has been one of serious hardship, lived in the shadow of violence. When he was still a baby, the community came under attack by armed cattle raiders and each day would bring new risks. The family fled for their lives, and when they returned they found their huts destroyed, their food and cattle stolen and the school, ransacked.

Alongside the banditry, there was also family strife. By the time Erodo was three, Esther, his mother, had given birth to 11 babies. Instead of having more children, Esther wanted to focus on the wellbeing of the ones she already had, but this had brought her into confrontation with his father, Christopher. Believing that the best chance for her son's future was not from herding but through education, Esther left Christopher to build a hut nearer to the school - and the child born into nomadic tribal society was now a schoolboy.

In 2002, we again caught up with Erodo, now aged 10. Esther had established herself as a maize farmer but a settled life didn't offer easy solutions. She had battled three years of drought, while Christopher kept moving his cattle in search of grass. But he and the other herders now made sure they were armed ancient rifles always at their side. When we asked what concerned him most, 10-year old Erodo replied War and hunger and he told us that cattle raiding bandits, or shiftas' should be shot.

It was to be nearly 10 years before we could catch up with with Erodo, transformed into a strapping 19-year-old with much to tell. As a teenager he had come to the local town of Isiolo, to try to find work to help the family. He fell in with a gang of street children. Then by a stroke of luck a small Italian voluntary group rescued him from the streets, and sent him back to school. Although at 19 much older that many of the other children, his education was back on track. My talent is to sing and to draw he told us, but what I'd like to become is a lawyer or be in government.

During filming in April 2012 ethnic unrest was swirling through the district around Isiolo. Erodo had a narrow escape. After being surrounded by a mob and beaten with sticks because he was Turkana, he managed to get free jump on the back of a passing motorcycle.

Erodo's life has bridged two profoundly different ways of living. He started life as a nomad, but through his mother's determination he has chosen a settled way of life and the possibility that brings of education - and just maybe the chance to grasp some of new economic opportunities springing up in Africa. My mother is the most important person in my life. She's never turned her face from me. She's only ever taught me the best she can. She encouraged me to go to school, and always want us all to go to school.

So far Erodo has managed to survive the ethnic violence and lawlessness that's been an ever present feature of his life and which is endemic in Kenyan society and in the country's political system. It continues to plague his life and his ambitions - but it hasn't stopped him yet.

LINK:	http://tve.org/news/erodo-our-latest-film-airs-globally/index.html...
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