My Time with Pamoja
By Connor Snelgrove
Well, it all started way back in the beginning of July, 2006. I left the comfy atmosphere of wonderful Canada and headed to the country of Tanzania located close to the equator and along the eastern coast of Africa. I went with a heart and desire to learn more about filmmaking and all the aspects it incorporates and, in the end it was a tough process, but I left with a feeling of completion and sense that I had learned many things in terms of working with people, camera work, video editing, and all the little challenges that can come along the way.
I arrived on the scene and saw the few different things that were going on in terms of preparation for us video guys, Luke and myself, and realized that there was still work to be done before we could begin with the plans that we had. In Tanzania, you need to be flexible in terms of your schedule and what you plan to do because, as we learned, many things change once you get on location. The studio that was being built for us was close to completion and it also doubled as our living quarters for the duration of our stay. It actually turned out quite nicely and I was happy to stay up there in a loft above the studio. Once the studio was closer to completion and we could move in, we began to figure out what we needed to do to get going with our video projects.
When I first decided to come to Pamoja we were hoping to produce a series of television shows for children, but after some time we realized that we were not going to get started on it for awhile, so an idea popped up about doing a documentary with a Christian group of Maasai who called themselves MAPED (Maasai Pastoralists for Evangelism and Development.) We saw this as a wonderful opportunity and after some meetings we decided to go ahead with the project.
In the beginning of August we packed up our vehicles and headed way out into the bush and arrived in a boma with our Maasai friends. We stayed with them for a period of five days and I must say it was a life changing experience. Aside from all the filming we were doing, we got many chances to see the way their culture operates and the beauty that surrounds it. That was never more apparent than with the choir that these Christian Maasai had formed as a tool of evangelism and a way to communicate to other Maasai that their culture is in need of change. On a few of the nights that we stayed with them, they would gather together around a fire and begin to sing praises to God. It was truly amazing to witness this and the passion that drives them to do it. Watching them sing and dance was another amazing thing for us wazungu (white people.) Just the way they shook their shoulders and jumped up and down. It was a little hard for us to follow along. Throughout the five days we had opportunities to interview various Maasai and hear some amazing testimonies and we understood that these people had a heartfelt desire to change areas in their culture and lives. At the end of our stay we traveled with the choir to witness a choir competition. It was a long competition and after all the other choirs, we watched our choir perform and in the end, they won. Then came the long journey back home and the long journey to complete what we had started.
After returning from our trip, myself and a few others took a quick trip to the tropical Island of Zanzibar which is off the coast of Tanzania. It was an amazing trip and I was so happy to have been able to be a part of it. We enjoyed the wonderful sunshine, (some ended up a little more burnt than others), getting the chance to ride mopeds up to the point of the island and just to admire the beauty that was laid before us. Another bonus was the wonderful seafood that we had many opportunities to eat. I absolutely love seafood and I enjoyed almost everything I ate in Zanzibar. The sunsets were gorgeous and the atmosphere was exceptionally nice. I almost didn’t want to leave, but work needed to be done and I had to get back to what I was sent there to do.
Once I arrived back at Pamoja, I started helping Luke with the beginning of a very long, long process. We first had to translate all of our video into English on paper so that we knew what we were working with. Then came the long process of putting all the clips together. Once we had that task completed, we could begin audio recordings of our English voiceovers. It took us a little bit of time to find the right people to do it, but it worked out. After all this, we could start pasting it all together to try and produce our finished product. It took boat loads of work and it had its frustrating moments, but it was all worth it and I can definitely say that I had an awesome time being a part of that project. The name of the documentary is "Engata", which is the Maasai word for time. We called it "Engata: The Changing Times of the Massai". At this point it is being developed into a DVD format and will be available for distribution in the near future.
Overall, I had an amazing time in Tanzania and enjoyed working on this project. We may not have accomplished all that we set out to do but we did accomplish something and I know it is going to do well.
