Rehema is a bright, gregarious and organized young woman. Her talents are in leadership such as building trusting relationships, ability to see the big picture, and creative use of resources is strong. People rely on her and choose her to be “in charge” of a project.
I got to know Rehema when she asked me to lead the music club. The teacher that was their leader left the school two years prior and they have been on their own since. She and her friends wanted to learn how to play the recorders that the school had stashed away. Her dream was to have the band (recorders and drums) play the national anthem and the school song at graduation. Well, since then they have played the national anthem and this year will play both the national anthem, school song and Simple Gifts which was at Obama’s inauguration ceremony!
Last year’s graduation performances required auditions. The band made it in, but Rehema’s true love, African Fashion Designs, did not. I was shocked when she told me that her fashion show was not approved. Rehema had 8 classmates model outfits she designed from kangas and kitenges. She sews the outfits on the model and finishes the look with headdresses and shoes to make it work. The models were very professional in their presentation and “walk”. They even had music! Good music!
Looking back, I guess it is too much for an all girls catholic boarding school to allow sophisticated African women’s’ fashion into the graduation ceremonies, but I also did not forget that this young woman was talented. I did not forget when Rehema told me her dream was to be a fashion designer. She told me she wants to show the world the sophistication and beauty of African fashion.
So, when I suggested to her that I could take pictures of her fashions and make a CD that she could use as she wished to share her designs—sort of a portfolio of her work to date she did not turn me down.
After the Form IV Mock Exams in May, she and her fellow classmates had three weeks free. I was teaching during the day, so we planned time for photo shoots after classes and before the daylight dimmed. One day I brought kangas, kitenges and Massai blankets from my closet for her to use. She lined up three models and got needle and thread from the school tailor. In the backroom of the biology lab she dressed her models while I showed a movie, Akeeleh and the Bee, from my laptop to 30-40 other Form IV students.
The models are almost as amazing as Rehema when it comes to posing for shots. Rehema directed the shoot, but the young women were talented, striking a pose, holding it and looking natural for every shot! When I downloaded them at home I was amazed I did not have one bad picture.
The next day, they met to create the designs in the biology lab while I was vigilating exams. Then a second shoot. Now we had an audience of Form II students that called themselves “helpers”, moving plants to add to the settings and clearing the little village children from the background when needed. Rehema talked about having a web page of her designs and we talked about writing her story to accompany her design photos.
My time volunteering here is short and what will have long term outcomes only God knows. But this fun adventure, helping Rehema make a digital portfolio of her early fashion designs, may be something I hadn’t imagined as part of my service.
