An African Answer (Friday 12th of November) and a chance meeting. October 30, 2010
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Dear Wanjiku
Thank you for sending this information. I am so pleased to know about the event and the film.
I have an anecdote relating to this - which I think must be about the same men.
In November 2004 - the first time I flew into Nigerian via Abuja instead of via Lagos - I sat next to a man who was a pastor ( and later I discovered that his companion, sitting next to him, was an imam). The pastor and I exchanged pleasantries and chatted now and again during the flight.
Conversation touched on the purposes of our journeys.
On my side it included the fact that I had never been to the Hausa speaking part of Nigeria before, and I had picked up two scraps of Hausa via my host's emails ...'Na gode" (thank you) and "wahala" (hassle/problems/bother or some-such). My companion was "gently aghast" that I knew "wahala" so soon and quickly taught me the opposite "ba wahala".
What he said about his trip put me in mind of something I had heard mentioned on the Today programme about a pastor and an imam who had been in Sweden telling their story of reconciliation (which seems to be the story alluded to in the film). I was beginning to wonder if the pastor sitting next to me was connected with that story in any way - but the pastor on the radio has lost his hand because of a machete attack and my companion seemed ok.... until we came to eat.. and then I realised he did it one-handed and his other hand was not a real hand.
Before the flight was over we had a conversation about the work he and his companion were doing, and the interviews they had given, and the one I had heard. Obviously there was much to interest me relating to his work, but he was also interested to discover how much I already knew thanks to the the broadcast - and that it had gone out on a very prestigious and popular UK programme.
Pamela
Subject: Invitation to the Screening of an African Answer on Friday 12th of November at Friends House in Euston from 6.30 pm
I hope that this email finds you well.
Please find attached details of an upcoming screening of a Kenyan documentary film An African Answer. Date: Friday 12th of November at Friends House in Euston from 6.30 pm. The Kenyan High Commission has been invited to the event. Please see additional info on the attached the flyer plus some supporting info below ...
An African Answer is filmed in Kenya and is about grassroots peace initiatives work that followed on from the political agreement in the post elections violence. It captures the peace work of two internationally renowned religious leaders from Nigeria, Pastor James Wuye and Imam Mohammed Ashafa, and depicts a dramatic bid by them to bring healing and reconciliation in Uasin Gishu district following the post-election violence.
An African Answer is produced by For the Love of Tomorrow Films (FLTfilms), the film-making division of UK charity Initiatives of Change. It follows an earlier, award-winning film about the two men, The Imam and the Pastor, shot in Nigeria and narrated by Rageh Omaar. This depicted the astonishing reconciliation between the former enemies, showing that it is possible for perpetrators of inter-religious violence to become instigators of peace.
A photo gallery of an African Answer is available at the Initiatives of Change website: http://www.uk.iofc.org/an-african-answer
DVD: an African Answer is available on DVD from FLTfilms at £15.99 (free p&p)
Tel – 020 7798 6020 http://www.fltfilms.org.uk
An African Answer (38m)
Narrator -- Kathleen Openda-Mvati
Camera – Robinson Malemo & Tony Biwott
Producer – Imad Karam
Director – Alan Channer
I hope you can make it and look forward to seeing you again. Feel free to invite others, there is a 500 sitting capacity at Friends House.
Consultant
FLTfilms - for the love of tomorrow,
24 Greencoat Place,
London SW1P 1RD
m: 07905 293562