James is one of the kids from Elimu’s Nyumbani Kwetu Home who are currently at home after the eventual closure of schools due to the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has always been a joy to our founder to tell the story of how Elimu started with taking two boys to kindergarten. Well, James is one of those little boys that is now all grown up and currently at college pursuing his dream of becoming a renowned journalist majoring in investigative journalism and documentaries.
As the world at large adapts to “the new normal” James was curious to know how this “new normal” looked in Malindi. Photography has been his passion long before he even joined college to pursue his media course, and now as an aspiring journalist, James was bold enough to armor himself with a mask, gloves and sanitizer and hit the streets of Malindi with camera in hand to tell the story of the drastic change of lifestyle, uncertainty and constant changing situations in town through pictures.
“Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.”
A picture is worth a thousand words, cliché as it may sound it remains a fact. James managed to capture beautiful pictures of the deserted Malindi town. People are indeed following the directives being given to them by the government in order to fight this threatening disease. The pictures clearly show how stalls have been shut down, how tuktuks, which usually carry up to three passengers, are now only carrying one passenger at a time and how people have taken to wearing masks. Matatus (the public 14-passenger mini-buses that provide long distance transportation) are parked during day time indicating no travel due to the new “cessation of movement” directive. Here are the pictures of what life looks like in Malindi currently. We are proud to have James telling this story for us through his exceptional talent for imagery and storytelling. We look forward to seeing him graduate and realize his dream of becoming a renowned journalist!