I recently went to Brightlights, a Catholic youth festival in north London, and met some incredible people...One of the highlights was hearing Delia Smith talk about her faith and then spending some time one-on-one with her discussing Catholicism, football and modern life. She was very open, interested and friendly.
The most inspiring speakers of the weekend were Barry and Margaret Mizen. Their 16 year old son Jimmy was murdered in May 2008. Somehow they've been able to forgive his killer. After their talk about Jimmy, I asked them for an interview for this blog which I recorded on my mobile. (Although the sound quality isn't great - I wish I'd chosen an iPhone - it shows you that you can interview or capture audio anywhere.) I was so happy to meet Barry and Margaret; their message of forgiveness and hope was inspirational.
Another speaker at Brightlights that really impressed me was Kepha, a young leader from Kenya. He lives in Kibera, one of Africa's biggest slums. Kepha set up Kibera Community Youth Programme with a group of friends to help other young people from the slum succeed in life. After the violence which followed Kenya's 2007 elections, their peace project brought young people together for healing and reconciliation. I wanted to find out why he feels so passionately about young people being key to tackling poverty and hardship and ask him his thoughts on our culture.
As well as recording both interviews on my phone, I also took all of these photo with my Nokia E71.
Hey Mark,
ReplyDeleteI saw the link to the interview clip and downloaded it. its wonderful Mark. i cant believe that you did that from a mobile phone. well but in this age of technology, almost everything can happen. Thank you so much for posting it.
Kepha Jalango Ngito.
Kibera Community Youth Programme.
"When i feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when i ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a disturber of peace."
What an inspiring young man Kepha is. How did he learn such expressive English from such a poor background.
ReplyDeleteI liked the fact that you asked him about his experience of England as well as about his project in Kibera - both aspects are important for us to hear.
Yes Christianity helps us to prioritise, as Kepha says. He has reasoned himself to a very positive and dynamic attitude to life.