To Be Somebody
'Tis the season for documentaries. TVOntario, Ontario's regional television station, aired a short story on one of the most popular documentaries from last year called "The boys of Baraka".
Twenty inner-city Baltimore pre-teens were chosen to spend a couple of years in the Kenyan country-side near Mount Kenya. They were to participate as students of an experimental boarding school. Needless to say, they were all black.
The extracts played by the TVO story were endearing and funny. Even in moments of sadness, there is a sense of charm about these young boys.
Here are some quotes from the boys:
"It's sad, that somebody else gotta take care of me, and my father, who can't, 'cos he in jail."
- "Look at the clouds!"
- "Dang!"
"We're going there so when I grow up, I be somebody."
"I didn't know it rained in Africa!"
"I would like you to send me some gum, some soda, some chips, and some candy."
"Something better than the cat, a hedgehog. See?"
"I'm in Africa. What else can I say?"
- "I'm going home...I didn't know it was going to be like this."
- "You cannot walk all the way from here all the way down to no airport!"
Final scene of Richard, hauling his brother Romesh's packed bag back into the building.
Postscript:
The school shut down a year early because of terrorist scares in the country.
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