Children's creative thinking in Kenya.

Within the traditional Kenyan society, children were perceived as precious beings highly prized by the community at large. As such, a child's early education was everyone's concern. The nurturing of children's creative thinking, however, was a responsibility especially reserved for the elders - men and women held in high social esteem who were recognized as reservoirs of rich oral traditions and fabulous folklore. More precisely, grandparents held the essentially oracular role of imparting the community's (or clan's) values and vision of life to youth. Using songs and spellbinding stories, wily riddles and proverbial rhymes, elders conveyed the joys of creative expression and imaginative thinking to their children's offspring.

Poets like Uganda's Okot p'Bitek and Sudan's Taban lo Liong, as well as novelist-playwrights like Kenya's Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Nigeria's Nobel Prize-winning Wole Soyinka, all have recorded remarkable accounts of their upbringing under the care and cultural guidance of elders who enriched their early lives. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, this time-honored method of introducing creative thinking to Kenyan youth has all but vanished throughout much of the Republic. Despite the fact that many of the region's finest poets, playwrights, and performing artists have acknowledged the immense debt they owe to their elders for having given them such glorious tutelage, this singular approach to education has almost died out.

Aghan Odero, a contemporary Kenyan storyteller who had the good fortune to grow up under the wise and whimsical eye of his paternal grandmother, says the training his Mama Misca gave him was rich in imaginative charm and ethical insight. It was also highly interactive. Misca not only shared a seemingly endless stream of stories, songs, riddles, and rhymes, but also expected each listener to take his or her turn retelling a tale or two to siblings and cousins. The children had to pay attention to the details of Misca's storylines and learn them by heart. Aghan loved taking special note of the cadence and imaginative phrasing that Misca would use when telling her most spellbinding tales. In fact, he claims that in spite of his having studied with some of Africa's finest performing artists, he has yet to find one more compelling or charismatic than his Mama Misca.

With the coming of Western education to Kenya, however, the value of storytellers like Misca began to diminish - at least in their traditional forms - as did the oral traditions they shared and the local languages they used. The vital role that the storyteller played in nurturing both the character and creative thinking of Kenya's children and young adults gave way to Western educators who could not begin to replace this traditional oral interpreter and the rich legacy she offered. As the social value of these traditions, languages, and local lore depreciated, Kenyan youth began to distance themselves from their own cultures (including their native language) and adopt, through formal schooling, Western cultural values and lifestyles. This kind of schooling, with its emphasis on logic and the memorization of facts, did little to kindle the imaginative and creative power of Kenyan children.

For many years after Kenya obtained its independence from Britain in the early 1960s, critical and creative thinking were not taught within the national school curriculum. Instead, Kenyan youth were taught to absorb information and study to pass final exams. The need for a more creative framework and orientation to genuine learning - one that recovers some of the diminishing traditions of pre-colonial Kenya - is increasingly obvious to educators.

The Kenya Schools Drama Festival

Although many aspects of colonial education persisted beyond the time that Kenya won its independence, an extra-curricular activity in the performing arts gradually became the means for addressing the creative needs of Kenyan youth. Established in the late 1950s, the annual Kenya Schools Drama Festival initially was modeled after a performance program designed in the United Kingdom. Set up in Kenya to allow children of European settlers and expatriates to partake of Britain's great theatrical tradition, particularly the plays of William Shakespeare, the Drama Festival was (and still is) an essentially extramural activity. However, the Government Ministry of Education does provide a modi-cum of funding that enables primary and secondary schools from all eight provinces to participate in this high-profile cultural event.

In 1963, the Government made a conscious decision to continue supporting the Festival. In the late 1970s, an African team of artists finally took charge of running the Festival and began revolutionizing the role of theater and the performing arts in Kenya. Perhaps the most radical step in this process was the appointment of Wasambo Were as Kenya's first African Chief Inspector of Education in charge of the Drama Festival. He set the stage for a new kind of theater arts; through him, performance became one of the most crucial vehicles for inspiring creative thinking among Kenya's young people.

Were had always loved theater, including all the works of Shakespeare. He also was committed to "indigenizing" the Schools Drama Festival. Once he recognized the tremendous power accorded to the Chief Inspector, he immediately began to turn the Festival around - changing it from an ongoing extension of colonial policy to an avenue for communicating authentic Kenyan creative expression.

Instead of letting the Festival showcase the works of Shakespeare, the Chief Inspector used the Government's nationwide network to inform teachers that the Festival would begin featuring original Kenyan scripts. The Festival was to become a platform for showcasing vital aspects of Kenyan indigenous culture. Were also stressed that the Festival should foster critical thinking among Kenyan youth through the performing arts, as students aimed high and worked to see their plays reach the national finals.

In setting out such an ambitious agenda for one annual national drama festival, Were never anticipated achieving his goals without a strong support team. He established and implemented his goals by creating a committee composed of headmasters (principals) and teachers from primary and secondary schools. The major criteria for making it to his Festival Support Committee were a sincere love of theater and a deep desire to make the Festival into a vehicle for unleashing Kenyans' untapped creative talents.

Practically overnight, Were was able to encourage teachers throughout the nation to put down their published plays and pick up their pens. His intent was to encourage teachers to write scripts that would mirror aspects of Kenyan everyday life. The resulting scripts not only were enjoyable, they also challenged students to think creatively. Soon, students began writing scripts of their own.

Rediscovering Traditional Storytelling 

The resounding response that Were received from both teachers and students, as well as from school administrators, validated his new policy. At the same time, it reflected a wider trend in university circles of Kenyans reaffirming authentic aspects of their own indigenous cultures. This trend subsequently has been described in a work by the former head of the University of Nairobi's Literature Department, Professor Ngugi wa Thiong'o. His book De-colonizing the Mind (1986) offers advice for scriptwriters/schoolteachers and university scholars and writers who are trying to re-integrate local traditions and cultural practices into the theater experience.

This move to find new uses for traditional culture has been critical to the process of inspiring young people to create their own theatrical ideas (drawn from their own cultures and traditions), rather than imitating Western performance styles. The most exciting aspect of these cultural trends has been the students' enthusiastic response. The young people are the ones who have become most fully involved in using theater as an avenue for creative thinking and artistic expression.

Although the Drama Festival is an extracurricular activity and drama is not one of the "examinable subjects" included in the national school syllabus, increasing numbers of primary and secondary school children have participated in preparations for the Festival. They not only learn their lines, new songs and dance steps, but also gain practical knowledge in various aspects of stagecraft - everything from stage management to set design, costuming, make-up, and sometimes even scriptwriting. In many instances, teachers write the scripts and choreograph dances. The students frequently contribute cultural material of their own, however, by researching the dances, songs, stories, and oral histories of their communities and sharing them with their class. This becomes a way for children in a multi-ethnic country to appreciate their own and others' cultures, expand their creative thinking, and find diverse material for composing original theater productions. Traditions from a variety of ethnic groups can be integrated into a particular story or theme; the teachers and students synthesize their research and use it as a resource for addressing contemporary Kenyan issues.

The "drama bug" has become so infectious that rural schools in the most remote corners of Kenya are signing up to take part in the theater competition, and teacher training colleges across the country have established their own annual drama festivals. Outside the perimeter of the national schools and colleges, increasing numbers of private schools have become active participants in staging school productions. In addition, this national fascination for drama has spilled over into the churches and social halls. Several church organizations and social groups are now conducting annual drama festivals of their own.

The Kenya Drama and Education Association

One organization that has had a marked impact on the quality of school productions being staged during the Schools Drama Festival is the Kenya Drama and Education Association (KDEA). Composed mainly of school teachers, KDEA was formed in the early 1990s by two local university lecturers who wanted to create a nationwide network of teachers with a love for children's theater. Its purpose is to advance theater in education throughout Kenya, promote theater as a tool of enlightenment in all disciplines (not just the language arts), advance freedom of expression, and cultivate creative capabilities (dance, song writing, acting, art, stage craft, storytelling, writing).

Since its inception, KDEA has enlisted "lay" drama teachers from across the country, and the group has conducted a variety of workshops in different provinces. Most have been aimed at enhancing teachers' ability to produce quality theater of social significance. Several have focused on scripting plays that inspire student thespians to lend their own imaginative talents to school productions.

KDEA has organized several regional and sub-regional workshops that have enriched Kenyan teachers' perspectives of teaching methods, scripting, and staging school productions. Just recently, KDEA held an international symposium for drama teachers that offered Kenyan teachers/producers fresh views of how to strengthen the national theater movement.

One trend that has clearly emerged in Kenyans' efforts to indigenize the Drama Festival is a focus on themes reflective of current social issues and events. In the process, while the students have acquired considerable theatrical experience, the school productions are gaining national attention as well. Many shows have touched upon sensitive social issues that are not widely reflected in other media. In fact, observers now feel the Schools Drama Festival serves as a social barometer, reflecting the most heated public issues and the most troubling social trends. In recent years, school productions have examined issues ranging from child abuse, polygamy, and corruption in high places, to the tragedies of reckless driving, gender inequity, increasing drug abuse, and the AIDS epidemic.

What may be one of the more fascinating features of the Schools Drama Festival in recent times is the way teachers and students have begun collectively creating scripts that reflect wider aspects of oral literature. In fact, in 1996 it was the award-winning musical production by Nyeri Girls School that best revealed the way students have begun "going back to their roots" to consult with their elders about the stories, songs, riddles, and rhymes that grandparents used to regularly hand down to younger generations. In a sense, the Nyeri Girls' production revealed the way the Drama Festival encourages and enables young people to participate in Kenya's cultural revival, leading young people back to a deeper appreciation of their own cultural roots.

Staged in the local language of Gikuyu and including traditional songs and dances that rarely have been performed in recent times, the Nyeri Girls' production was a rich learning experience for both students and audiences. The students not only learned new elements of their own people's culture, but also gained deeper insights into the way elements of the old culture can be blended with aspects of the new to create a musical production that is fresh and fun to perform.

In 1998, Kenya held a second international Theater and Education Conference to coincide with the Schools Drama Festival. Such events will extend the influence of young Kenyans' affection for theater to hundreds of other theater lovers both at home and abroad. Without a doubt, one reason the Drama Festival has gone from strength to strength since the 1970s is because its organizers consciously sought to infuse children's critical thinking into the whole theatrical program. The impact of such efforts continues to reap benefits for students, teachers, parents, and the community.

Reference

Thiong'o, N. W. (1986). De-colonizing the mind: The politics of language in African literature. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Margaretta Gacheru is Feature Writer and Fine Arts Editor for The Daily Nation, Nairobi, Kenya. Mumma Opiyo is Lecturer in Theater Arts, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. Joan Franklin Smutny is Director of The Center for Gifted, National-Louis University, Evanston, Illinois.