JAL, JULIANI AND BONNY LAUNCH SMS PEACE LINE

In a collective effort to engage and empower youth across Kenya, Kenya’s most inspiring and social conscious lyricist Juliani, Emmanuel Jal,artist and award‐winning photo-activist Boniface Mwangi held what was a first in a series of youth meetings.



In the country's hip hop capital of Dandora on Sunday 4 September 2011. Dedicated to positive social change, Juliani's 'Kama Si Sisi’ initiative Emmanuel Jal's 'We Want Peace' campaign, and Boniface's Kenya Ni Kwetu movement came together on this momentous move of inspiration to engage, discuss and enlighten on the holistic elements of peace, reconciliation and development in Kenya.
Influential youth, Kenyan Hip hop pioneers Ukoo Flani Mau Mau and Robah of Kalamashaka joined Juliani, Emmanuel and Boniface on a tour of Kenya's biggest dumping site in Dandora.



On arrival at the Mau Mau studio, Kenya's hip hop birthplace, Juliani welcomed and hosted all those in attendance to his hometown, while Boniface Mwangi screened Picha Mtaani’s touching Heal The Nation documentary, focused on the tragedy that befell Kenyans after the 2007 December elections.



Thought provoking conversation ensued, with a generic understanding on the urgent need to forge new mind‐sets across Kenya, adopting and embracing a culture of responsibility, accountability and change. "This is a project of champions’ said Juliani, "We will lead the realization in responsible living, education and work."
"Dependency as a way of thinking has to stop," continued Emmanuel Jal. corroborating this, Boniface added, "2007 can never happen again, it's time to bring about meaningful, long term change."



Following what was a historic discussion, documented on the social network, twitter, and triggering further debate online, the We Want Peace 'Commitment to Peace' pledge, via the SMS 595 was officially launched by Juliani and Jal.



"As of now, we are rallying the 595 army, 1 million Kenyans for peace,who will create a positive energy throughout the country in run up to the elections, they will protect Kenya responsibly and become inspiring leaders in their own communities" said Jal. "By texting 595, you have made a promise,through your quote, statement or thoughts, you've made a solid commitment, we want to know what you're doing to ensure peace and development in Kenya."



Juliani weighed in, "All 1 million submissions if not more will then be handed by Emmanuel and I to the Government."

NGUGI WA THIONGO FOR POST ELECTION EXHIBITION IN THE US

Author and professor Ngugi Wa Thiongo will be taking part in the exhibition in America called Never Again, of photos taken during the post poll violence by CNN photojournalist of the year award winner Boniface Mwangi. This will take place in Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey) at The Center for African Studies (CAS) from February 14 to 28.
Ngugi who recently launched his childhood memoir Dreams in Times of War, is particularly pertinent to the theme of this exhibition. He be joined by another distinguished scholar, Gabriele Schwab, Chancellor's Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California at Irvine, is currently completing Haunting Legacies her latest book on trauma and healing.
Boniface who will be leaving for the States on Saturday February 11 said, “I will engage in conversation with scholars, students and the American public about the subject of the exhibition. CAS also plans to have two distinguished speakers at the launching of the exhibition who will make presentation on the theme of Violence and Healing.
“Never Again is a collection of my work that captures the tragic moment of ethnic violence in Kenya in the immediate aftermath of the 2007 Presidential Elections.”
Over a period of close to three months, over half a million Kenyans were displaced and nearly two thousand people were reported to have lost their lives in the violence. Guided by the adage that “a picture is worth a million words” this collection of forty photographs captures the multifarious effects of this tumultuous period on the lives of average Kenyans.
The exhibition will be accompanied by the showing of the production “Heal the Nation,” a 30 minutes documentary providing eyewitness accounts of the tragedy that befell Kenyans in 2007-2008. New Jersey and its bordering state of New York have one of the highest concentrations of Diaspora Kenyans in the USA.

EMMANUEL JAL TO FEATURE IN PICHA MTAANI DOCUMENTARY

Emmanuel Jal will feature in the upcoming documentary Picha Mtaani, initiated by CNN photojournalist of the year Boniface Mwangi.
The initiative is a youth-led national reconciliation initiative established to “to engage the Kenyan youth in finding lasting solutions to attaining peace and reconciliation; to healing the nation”.
Jal speaks about how he witnessed his auntie been raped at the age of five, losing his mother in the war and the anguish he went through during the Sudan Civil War as a child soldier. He narrates how hard life as a refugee was and why young Kenyans should stop do their best to avoid a recurrence of what happened in 2007.
The deal to appear on the documentary was stuck after Picha Mtaani Founder Boniface Mwangi and Emmanuel Jal met in London. Boniface was in London after attending the TED conference in Oxford as one of the 2010 TED Global fellows. London based Kenyan Filmmaker David Mbiyu of 601 TV shot the video.
The documentary brings you the human story, an eyewitness account, of the tragedy that befell Kenyans after the 2007 December elections. His song We Want Peace will also feature in the movie.

KENYA'S CNN JOURNALIST WINNERS 2010

Winners in the individual competition categories are:

MOHAMED AMIN PHOTOGRAPHIC AWARD
Winner: Boniface Mwangi, Freelance for The Star, Kenya
Title: Body of work ‘The Boy Child in Sub Saharan Africa’
Judge’s Citation: The set of pictures bring us directly to the life of the African child. It is a piece of Artwork achieved by the quality of the photos, the angles of contrasts between colourful light and shadows, which suddenly capture a particular moment of Africa’s future. To get this result, the photographer has undertaken a patient search of such magic moments in life, where he could find some light next to the face of a particular child with a particular secret in his life revealed by the camera. These particular pictures tell us what cannot be said by any written article: despite the uncertainty towards the future, African children are forging their self-protection and safety, so they are clever in search of a light in the social darkness.

RADIO GENERAL NEWS AWARD
Winner: Kassim Mohamed, Star FM, Kenya
Title: I am Married to a Pirate
Judge’s Citation: “Kassim Mohamed escorts us into their world by escorting the listener into Puntland, Somalia, and the homes of two pirates. They’re not home, so he interviews their wives. The first wife shows listeners her and her husband’s twin Prado’s – a fancy sports utility vehicle – he sits on their luxurious couches and is shown the family AK-47 which is used to protect the ill-gotten gains. It’s a fascinating insider account.

TELEVISION - GENERAL NEWS – NEWS BULLETIN AWARD
Winner: Roseline Wangui, NTV Kenya; and Charles Kariuki, World Vision Kenya for NTV
Title: Undying Quest for Education
Judge’s Citation: The story is balanced and comprehensive. It is a compelling piece of journalism, a simple story told in such a gripping manner.

ECONOMICS & BUSINESS AWARD
Winner: Kaara Wainaina and Francis Mugo Mwangi, NTV Nation Broadcasting Division, Kenya
Title: Granny’s Bank
Judge’s Citation: The journalist took what appears to be a simple story and painted a beautiful picture. He told the story of women’s friendship and also highlighted the business aspects, without labouring the point. This story shows business and finance.

BONNY’S STRUGGLE TO GET MPS TO SEE KENYA BURNING

Boniface Mwangi, the CNN photojournalist of the year, exhibited the gory images from Kenya Burning, which is a collection of post-election violence photos taken by the photojournalists at the height of the violence early last year when the country teetered on the brink of civil war.
The exhibition dubbed Conference On Citizenship And Development: Reflections On Change was at the Hilton Hotel Ballroom for two days, October 28 and 29.
This comes at a time when their attempts to have the book delivered to the MPs had been thwarted.
Boniface says, “They refused to our request to have the book dropped at the MPs pigeon holes at the Continental House offices because parliamentarians don’t accept free things.”In support of the cause, the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission chairman Bethwell Kiplagat’s attempts to have the post-election pictures displayed in Parliament for MPs to have a feel of what political violence means, hit a stone wall.
“That book needs to be taken to Parliament. It should be exhibited there. Let all the MPs see it and see what violence amounts to, let all others, business people and all, see this and see what Kenyans went through last year,” Bethwell said earlier this month.
Veteran political cartoonist Gado will also be exhibiting at the same venue.

Read more about Boniface Mwangi
((((()))))==== Post Election Through The Lens
((((()))))==== Facebook bans Boniface

Photographer Boniface Mwangi banned by Facebook

The first Kenyan photojournalist to win the CNN Multichoice Journalist Award has been banned by social networking site Facebook. Boniface Mwangi who won the CNN Africa Photojournalist of the Year 2008 is starting up a new Facebook profile after his was deleted last week due to his radical status updates.
Commenting on the issue he said, “I was removed from Facebook due to controversial updates calling for political change and the youth to stop hero worshiping tribal leaders who have messed up our country.” One of his last comments before his profile was deleted was “Kenyans elect criminals to parliament all you need is money to get elected.” He had over 1,500 friends.
Boniface is known for his crusade against tribal politics. “I see myself as a visual artist using photography as the vehicle for social change in my country, which has experienced a lot of impunity, the latest manifestation being 2007 December’s political convulsions that left over 1,000 dead and half a million displaced.”
Boniface’s post poll chaos photos have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Sunday Times, International Herald Tribune and BBC Focus on Africa Magazine among other publications. Facebook has meanwhile declined to take down several Holocaust denial sites known for their anti- Semitic statements.

Post Election Violence Through The Lens

Boniface Mwangi, known to many as Bonny is 25 year-old Kenyan who has been
doing photography since 2005.
His book, The Price of Tribal Politics, is the story of Kenya’s post‑election violence through the lens of a photojournalist.
Mwangi has received several awards including The CNN Photo Journalist Award Of The Year 2008.
He has also worked as a stringer for the major wire agencies during the recent election violence in Kenya, Mwangi’s work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington
Post, The Sunday Times, International Herald Tribune, and BBC Focus in Africa Magazine.
Last year he won third prize in the World Health Organization photo contest in Images of Health and Disability 2007. His coverage for Kenya post election violence won him “Award of Excellence” America, Pictures of the Year International (POYi) and was short-listed for Sony World Photography Awards 2008
and Nominated for Joop World press Master Class in 2008 as one of the 132 finest and most promising young photographer from around the world.