Stories Untold-The MauMau Resistance in Kenya
Channel: Mavingo Nyaga
Date: 2021-03-29

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60 years after the end of the Mau Mau uprising, 
few young people actually know much about it. 
They might have heard about it, but what the 
fighters went through, what they fought for, against 
whom they fought and how they did that remains 
in the dark. This project will shed light on a war 
against the colonial rule that left about 30 000 
people dead and finally laid the ground for Kenya’s 
independence.
We are Mavingo Dennis and Birte Mensing - a freelance photographer and a journalist - one from Kenya, one from Germany, both based in Nairobi.
Our project will be an innovative combination of teaching history and teaching photography. The core of the project is a photo series on the Mau Mau freedom fighters. The Mau Mau fought for Kenya's independence from the British in the 1950s. And we want to remind people, that without the Mau Mau, life in Kenya today would probably look different.
For the project, we are going back to the area where Dennis comes from, the foothills of Mount Kenya. We already did a sample shoot in December with a local dance group which is trying to keep the Mau Mau spirit and heritage alive. They will be our models. Now, we want to recreate historic uniforms & weapons, bring better equipment so that we can work on the actual photoshoot with the group on the ground. We will then interview their old relatives, who witnessed the independence struggle. Those interviews will be a basis for a set of personal stories about the Mau Mau that will accompany the photos on social media, in a later exhibition and other publications. 
This weekend when we will be working on the photos and the interviews in the Mount Kenya area (Kavutiri) will be acompanied by a scheduled program of camera lessons that will be broadcasted on Instagram. Dennis will be teaching while working - on location scouting, how to work with different lenses, how to work with artificial light. In addition to that, we will broadcast short interviews with the people who still remember the Mau Mau times. Now is the time for that - as most people who witnessed those times are very old, and many have already died. 
We want to diversify the stories, that are told about the Mau Mau – neither were they saints, nor were they evil. We want to tell the human stories of the Kenyan independence struggle.
As a follow up the the photo shoot and the photography classes, we will also give insights in the photo editing process with another few lessons on photo editing in Photoshop. As it is difficult for creatives to build new networks and enhance their skills in times of COVID we want to offer this opportunity to connect and interact with each other while learning together.