boys of baraka

Today I saw the movie called the Boys of Baraka at noon in the Union Theater for free, and it was definitely worth my time. It was about a group of 12 to 13-year-old at risk boys from inner city Baltimore, Maryland who got to go to a school in Baraka, Kenya. It showed the urban setting and how the kids were basically all still hoping to get out of it. It was saddening to see how that environment could break you down into a state of hopelessness. Of course everyone knows that there are neighborhoods like that, but it's quite another thing to see it in action and see what it does to people, and especially children. At the school, a lot of the boys struggled at first because the school was pretty strict and structured compared to the schools they were used to, but by the end of their first year their skills improved so much that they placed nationally. Unfortunately, after the fitst year the boys' parents found out that the school was closed just before they were set to go for their second year, which greatly upset everyone. The film showed some of the boys nine months later, and while some of them were doing quite well and getting good grades, a few of them had clearly given up hope, which was depressing to see. It was also depressing to see what some of them had to deal with on the home front, such as some of their parents being in jail or on drugs. At the end of the film there was a minister and former public officer who was starting a boarding school for inner city school kids. It felt good to see someone doing something about the problem instead of just talking about it, because I feel that what a lot of people do is say, "That's terrible," and then continue on with their day, and just forget about it. Here's a clip: