For the last few weeks I have been very insecure about my project, I guess that is why I was feeling stuck and I wasn’t making much progress. So I decided to go back to the drawing board and evaluate whether I really wanted to work on this project for the next 8 months, and whether I want it to be the last awesome piece of work I create for my masters degree, and truth be told I really don’t. So I started thinking of other projects that I would want to work on, and I think I came up with a thesis worthy idea… (note : this is subject to both your approval, I can continue working on my original idea and present it for midterms and then we can talk more about this other idea afterwards)

My new Thesis :
Kenya has 42 tribes in total and over the years we have seen our share of tribal clashes and other tribal related issues from the workplace to the schools, to hospitals. Since I can remember the government and the people have been talking about how we need to shun tribalism and how the people need to heal especially after the last general elections in 2007 where thousands of people were killed, but nothing really gets done!

So my new project is to create a campaign that will empower the youth to take a stand against tribalism. This campaign will encourage other youths to create events that are anti-tribalism and provide a platform where their voices can be heard. In the hope that by doing this we will show our solidarity and reduce the amount of tribalism in Kenya even by an inch.

This will be primarily a web-based campaign, though am also thinking of other small analogue projects that will go along with it.

Different aspects of the project.

Website : This is the main platform where all other projects will be displayed.

  1. The website will map out anti-tribalism events held in kenya, events by other groups that are anti-tribalism, (events like concerts,shows etc) so it will be a sort of one-stop shop to find out information about what events are happening and where. (there is no such platform in Kenya right now, so this will be huge!)
  2. Another aspect of the website will be to map out tweets/texts from young Kenyans about what they think about tribalism, to sort of provide a place where their voices can be heard.
  3. There is currently talk about how many people are arming themselves for more clashes come the next elections(2012). Gangs are being set up and firearms sold on the streets. I hope that when nearing the next elections I can create an alert system for people to anonymously send information concerning this, sort of to warn other people, and this can also serve as a place where the police can get information from the people(anonymously). I want to set up this system in such a way that people can send the information via text since not everyone has access to internet

Alongside the website am also thinking of a series of small projects that people can be involved in.

  1. 100 things we have in common :This will be more of a blog post  where people tweet / email me / I personally write about different things that the tribes have in common, just as a way of showing everyone that we are not so different from each other afterall.
  2. Random acts of kindness : For this project I will ask people to perform different random acts of kindess to a person/people of a different tribe. To start this of I will ask people to hug someone of a different tribe and post the picture on the website, I can curate this pictures afterwards and exhibit them during the thesis show.

I also want to focus on the possibility of working on a documentary (Video /or just a plain sound installation) during my Spring semester.

Right now I want to focus on getting the website to work and designing the proper branding for the whole campaign .