Calling all Hippopotamus-Whisperers

FROM PHILIP HIMBERG (Producing Artistic Director):

Calling all Hippopotamus-Whisperers! I kid you not. Two male hippos have mistakenly swum over from the Mainland to Shela Beach across the way, and they are apparently MAD as hell to find themselves in salt water, and quite poised to chomp to bits anyone in their way. There is talk in town of whether to “herd” them back to the mouth of river from which they came (no one knows how to herd a hippo), or to simply kill them – and eat them! We are told “not to worry,” but still, we spend our time near the beach scanning for tiny ears perched above the water. Losing a leg, or more, to a hungry pissed off hippo might get us a write up in Playbill.com – but it doesn’t seem worth the attention.

At breakfast, over eggs, and the ubiquitous and delicious passion fruit juice, fresh mango and papaya, we begin our conversations about the weeks ahead. There are so many questions – most of which will remain unanswered until we share this place with our Fellows and their artistic collaborators. We discuss “Framing the Experience” and how we wish Deborah to begin that conversation, with some of her personal history and her connection to Sundance and her hopes and dreams. I will give a broad overview of the Institute and my own path to our International work and together, Roberta and Christopher, Deborah and myself, will pose questions, listen to questions and try very hard to communicate what a Lab experience can be for artists. We want to impress on our guests that this is a rare opportunity to not simply rehearse their projects, but to do what our American Fellows do – take chances with their work, not to be afraid to go down new and uncharted pathways, and know that this is a safe environment in which to test their boundaries. This may be quite new for this community and it may not be simple to simply ‘say it’. We need to find ways to model it. We are very conscious that there will be concerns and fears, and perhaps even some suspicions, but we are also quite assured that, as we have done before, we can make a ‘home’ for these amazing artists here on Manda. Our conversation goes much longer than expected, and Deborah and I move over to Diamond Beach Village to check out the rooms and to ‘match’ our artists to the spaces – much as we ‘slot’ at the Sundance Resort.

Diamond Beach Village is amazing – an eco-resort that is as charming as you can imagine – 17 separate grass huts, with private baths and showers, but fairly “simple” and straightforward. This is not the Four Seasons. It’s better. Think exotic camping in Paradise with running water and a bar, and you get the idea. The compound is right on the beach, landscaped gorgeously. All of our lunches and dinners will be here, and many gatherings. We cannot fit everyone at Diamond so we have three other houses nearby. On the way back from scoping out the place, I walk the road behind the beach homes, rather than on the beach, for it is high tide, and I pass a friendly cow and a hut that says “Rough Hands” – and is a gathering place to watch local football and now, the World Cup. Deborah departs for the Manda Airstrip to head back to Nairobi where she will rendezvous with all of our artists tomorrow.

Robert, Christopher and I get onto the Dhow (boat) for our trip into Lamutown – which takes about 40 minutes and is about as stunning a vista as you can imagine. The Dhow guys talk to us about life in Lamu, sings songs in Swahili, and French and a bit of Bob Marley too. I make a movie. (Cooper – its coming your way.)

In Lamutown, Christopher goes off to retrieve a piece of luggage we mistakenly had left at the little airport (safely stored for us at Air Kenya’s tiny Lamutown office). It contains the Lab Books because we can’t print them easily here. Roberta and I go off to the little print shop and stationery store (we call it Kinkos: Lamu) to get copies made of our Lab scripts. I cannot truly describe this place amid the narrow paths of this 18^th century town, but scores of Donkeys wander about (there are no cars, only Donkeys and the Donkeys know how to find their way about on their own and their way ‘home’ to the Lamu Donkey Sanctuary which sits on the waterfront). There are people of so many backgrounds, many totally veiled women and then women in tight jeans, and women in colorful scarves, and children in worn out school uniforms, and many beggars, and a lot of handsome young men looking for anyway to bilk a Mzungu (white man) for money. They are fantastic talkers, and hard to escape. The copy machine looks ‘normal’ but has never been asked to print 1500 pages. And as it begins its work, we can see we will be here for hours and hours. SO – we head off to the famous Lamu Fort where we meet Mr. Abdullah, who is Senior Coordinator and Manager for the Lamu Museum and World Heritage Site. Roberta and I had individually contributed some modest funds to the Islamic Poetry Reading Event last year, as a gesture, and he remembers this and he is happy to offer Sundance Institute the Historic Fort as a venue to hold some in-town workshops with young people, and for us to present our ‘performance sharing’ on July 26 and 27. We talk about the town and its impending huge international cruise port (being constructed some thirty kilometers north by the Chinese) and what that means – positively and negatively – for this fragile community. We are honored to be allowed to use this ancient fort for our connection to the people of Lamu in week three and feel quite welcomed and accepted.

Back at the Print Shop there is another hour or so to go, so Christopher, Roberta and I make our way to Jannat House, a wonderful modest hotel and restaurant we had visited a year back. The food is great, but even being the only patrons there, we know it will take at least two hours for the food to be prepared and get to our table. We are far from bored. We meet with Hadija, an American woman who is a convert to Islam. Raising her four children in a Lamu school (Lamu public schools, she tells us, are second to the bottom of the rung in ‘quality’ and she is on the PTA now – very stressful as ‘transparency’ is not yet a value of life here). Then we are joined by the “hooker from A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT”, as she introduces herself to us. From Montana, Margo was an actor and found herself in Tanzania and now Lamu. She writes for the East African and has many a story to tell. Our dinner of Barracuda and Snapper and Calamari and Rice and Chapati is quickly consumed as we trade tales.

The ride back on the Dhow at 10pm, no moon, total pitch blackness, is magical. Gliding through the waves of the Indian Ocean, our boat driver plays a mix of Swahili music, and John Denver Leavin’ on a Jet Plane. “Where the hell are we?” I think. Forty-five minutes later we arrive “home” and I lay my head on my pillow beneath mosquito netting, and drift off.

Tomorrow, all of participants arrive!