Saturday, May 12, 2018

Let's Talk About Samuel

As a disclaimer, I feel that it is very important to share with our readers that I have only recently joined the Art Roamers team. I have not yet Samuel face to face, and I have not yet been to Nairobi or the slums. I've tried to look up information on the Kibera slums, and while there are articles, I don't think that I would be able to do much besides giving statistics. I'm hoping that I will be able to go to Kenya soon, however, and will have an update at that time. I want to start off with that so that our readers will be aware that my perception is limited, but I hope to be able to describe how we met Samuel and who he is. I also want to warn you so that when an update comes, it may be very different from this post, and that there are some things that are being left out, but hopefully not too much. I gave questions to Jeff to ask Samuel to learn more about him, and interviewed Jeff to be able to give you a look at who Samuel is.
Kibera Slum


We'll start with how Art Roamers came to meet Samuel. When Jeff and Susan were driving around the Kibera slums last year, they were actually looking for one of their contacts that was, and still is, working in one of the schools. Trying to navigate the slum is very challenging. There are a few roads, but they are not like roads in America. They are narrow, they probably aren't going to be paved, and there is little traffic control. There are no addresses. The slum is divided into villages to help you navigate. Then, some of the roads have names to help you along, but, again, no addresses. When looking for the school, they were asking locals for help to find it, and ended up getting close after they were in the right village and what roads were near it.
One of the paved roads. The large building in the background is government built apartments
This little girl was directing traffic
While driving down one of the narrow roads, Jeff saw something that caught his attention “like a neon sign”. He asked the driver to stop right away! Samuel was outside of his shop working on a metal ostrich sculpture. Seeing someone working on art on this scale in the slum is quite unusual. Samuel spoke to Jeff about his art, and then joined them in the car to find the school. It still took another day to find it, because the school was tucked away through an alley. You couldn't just drive up to it. We think everything had worked out just fine, because we met Samuel. During the time spent with Samuel, Jeff was able to find out more about him and work out how we could share his art and story.
Picture from the school
Work in progress from Samuel's shop

Samuel was born in Western Province, Busia County, Bumala. Samuel is halfcust, meaning his parents were from different tribes. His father was from the Lukha tribe, and mother was from the Luo tribe. The Lukha tribe is a subgroup of the Nuba, found in the Nuba mountains in Sudan, and the Nyanza province is where the Luo are. Nyanza is in the southwestern corner of Kenya, where Lake Victoria comes in. The Western Province is directly north of Nyanza. In more recent years, more people are leaving the tribal areas and going to the slum and other populated areas, seeking work in order to survive and support their families. In other cases, children may come to live with relatives for education opportunities, or out of necessity.

Samuel came from a large family, 2 boys and 5 girls. One of the girls died, so then there were four. Samuel moved to the Kibera slums when he was five years old after his father died. One of his sisters was living there running a small business, and she took over his care. Samuel did not get to attend school, he worked as a hawker in the slum, selling orange fruit.

After his sister married, his brother in law enrolled him in a welding course. At eighteen, he was able to learn a trade and worked building windows and doors. The windows have metal bars on them. The doors down there aren't like the doors used on American homes. They are heavy, and made of steel. They aren't meant to mark the threshold of where “outside” ends and “inside” begins. The windows and doors that they build and use down there are meant as a means of protection.
Doors built in the slum

After some time, Samuel was approached to do a commissioned piece of art. He was asked to sculpt Jesus on the cross. When Samuel talks about creating the piece, he says that everything went perfectly and what he made was perfect. It was then that he knew that art is what he is meant to do. He has been creating art for ten years, since 2008. When you see his pieces, knowing that they are metal and seeing the scale that he makes them is impressive, alone. But then as you learn more about where they come from, the pieces are made from 55 gallon steel drums. It's not like he can get sheet metal and then start working with it. To be an artist living in the Kibera slum has so many challenges. He works with what he has and what he can get. When describing Samuel and the people living slum in general, Jeff often says, “They just do so much, with so little,” followed by a reflective pause.
Sorting for recyclables

Samuel also has a family that depends on him. Samuel has been married to his wife for seven years. They have three children, ages 6, 4, 2. His family and faith are the most important to him. It is humbling to think about Samuel and his family, living where they do, and that they are happy and Samuel spends his days making art. I hope to get to meet him someday, and I'll get to see the world with a different perspective.



As a final note, we are anticipating a shipment of new sculptures soon! We'll let you know when we'll have them in!

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