On location with the film SEE YOU among the Maasai, the Meru highlands and the children of Shalom Home
Among the Maasai of Amboseli
The Maasai are famous for the elegance of their bearing and an instinctive, generous hospitality. I had already spent several days living in their bomas in the savannah, but this visit revealed new and important layers I had not seen before.
We are in southern Kenya, on the border with Tanzania, in the region that is home to Amboseli National Park, one of the most spectacular settings in Africa for an unforgettable safari. Here we are filming a documentary with the crew from Due·Due, a Hollywood-based production company built around the idea that art generates emotion, and that emotion can generate real change. The documentary is made in collaboration with the World Women’s Observatory, and its purpose is to bring to light hidden stories of violence against girls, and the networks of support that help them break free and build a better life.
Among the Maasai we meet Peter, proud in his traditional dress, carrying the ceremonial staff reserved for important occasions. He lives with his wife in a well-built stone house and has developed a small farm around it. He is also a schoolteacher. Often he travels beyond the mountains to reach isolated and marginalised communities, promoting education and speaking out against child marriage. He has saved many girls this way. With visible pride he shows us photographs of his daughter’s master’s degree and his son’s university graduation, while serving us an extraordinary cup of tea, typical of the region.
He leads us in the direction of Kilimanjaro, along a rough dirt track. Suddenly beautiful gazelles cross our path, then an ostrich, then a small group of giraffes. We are outside the boundaries of the park now, in nature exactly as it is. Travelling with us is Lydia, a young woman who spent thirty years living in the boma, the nomadic Maasai encampments, moving every month. She tells us how she once feared lions, but the real danger was always the buffalo, encountered on walks of up to twenty kilometres just to fetch water. She shows us what had been her hut in recent times. I look at her, and then at the photographs of Peter’s children and their degrees. The commitment to education here bears extraordinary fruit, even as these communities keep their roots firmly anchored in their culture of origin.
Embu and the Road to Mount Kenya
Our next stop takes us north of Nairobi, to Embu, as we travel toward the slopes of Mount Kenya. The new road from Nairobi to Meru passes through Embu and opens up areas and landscapes that were previously hard to reach. This is rice country, and some local varieties are considered exceptional. We visit a rural school founded fifty years ago by a woman named Mary Magdalene. As a girl she dreamed of an education of her own; today her school fulfils that same dream for thousands of children. The teachers stay closely attentive to what is happening in their pupils’ homes and huts, and through that attention they often uncover cases of domestic violence. Embu and the Road to Mount Kenya Our next stop takes us north of Nairobi, to Embu, as we travel toward the slopes of Mount Kenya. The new road from Nairobi to Meru passes through Embu and opens up areas and landscapes that were previously hard to reach. This is rice country, and some local varieties are considered exceptional. We visit a rural school founded fifty years ago by a woman named Mary Magdalene. As a girl she dreamed of an education of her own; today her school fulfils that same dream for thousands of children. The teachers stay closely attentive to what is happening in their pupils’ homes and huts, and through that attention they often uncover cases of domestic violence. fr David Ireri, responsible for child protection within the Embu diocese, immediately activates pathways for reporting and support. The trauma never simply disappears, but being listened to, welcomed and shown a future ahead changes everything. We travel further still, into remote areas among rocks and pastoral communities, and even there we find powerful stories of resilience., responsible for child protection within the diocese, immediately activates pathways for reporting and support. The trauma never simply disappears, but being listened to, welcomed and shown a future ahead changes everything. We travel further still, into remote areas among rocks and pastoral communities, and even there we find powerful stories of resilience.
Mitungu and the Village of Happiness
We finally arrive in Mitungu, a village near Meru, surrounded by lush vegetation and orchards that flourish thanks to the waters flowing down from Mount Kenya.
This is where we find Shalom Home, the “village of happiness,” where Francis cares for more than six hundred children and survivors of violence. He has built a school that runs from primary level all the way through to a polytechnic college, earning national recognition for excellence. The young people who leave Shalom Home are exceptionally well prepared, equipped to take charge of their own lives and pursue their own dreams. To keep the project sustainable and self-sufficient, Francis has also created a beautiful, eco-conscious café and restaurant, Bella Camp, complete with high-speed wifi, fresh fruit and relaxed outdoor spaces. It is the perfect stop for travellers heading to Meru National Park, one of Kenya’s smaller parks, far from the crowds and all the more authentic for it. As with every protected area in Kenya, tickets must be booked online. Several rhinos still roam the park and are relatively easy to spot, and the roads are comfortable enough that we avoid the crush of off-road vehicles that can crowd around every animal sighting elsewhere.
A Bath of Humanity
Returning from this journey through hidden Kenya, we carry with us the weight of what we heard in our interviews, but also a deep joy at having experienced what I can only describe as a “bath of humanity”: people who greet you warmly, officers who go out of their way to help, a welcome offered in every home. We met resilient girls who refuse to be defined by tragedy, and countless people open-hearted and professionally committed to helping them. The beauty of the landscape and the gentle climate only made this journey more beautiful still.
About the Author
Lia Beltrami is a documentary filmmaker, art director, speaker and social entrepreneur based between the Italian Dolomites and Los Angeles. She is co-founder of Due·Due, a production company dedicated to impact cinema, and has spent three decades creating films and projects that bridge art, faith and social change, including long-standing collaborations with the Holy See and the Women of Faith for Peace movement. Her work has been recognised internationally, including with the Golden Lion for Peace in Venice.
