16mm film (400 ft) footage of birth in Barack Obama’s Kenya!

This old 16mm (color and sound) film was shot in and around Limuru, Kenya at a child care clinic and a model village named Kirathimo (Kirathimo Model Village).  The film’s narrator indicated the Kirathimo means a blessing in the Kikuyu language.  Languages spoken in the film include British English, Kiyuyu and Swahili.

Most of the area which comprises Limuru was once known as the white highlands.  A rich agricultural land just south of the equator.  The term white highlands derived from the British and other Europeans who realized the productive potential of this area and settled in large numbers with the support of the colonial government, establishing coffee and tea plantations, cereal farms and ranches. The temperature, year round, is approximately 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  For a panoramic or bird’s eye view of this area of land please see the first 15 or so seconds of the film.

The film is approximately 13 minutes and 15 seconds in length and depicts the integration of family planning eduction with normal health services.

I recently bought the aged real of Kenyan 16mm film and subsequently paid a third party to transfer the footage (audio included) to digital format (i.e., wmv, mp4 and avi):

Kirathimo Model Village was built, operated and run by the Kenya Red Cross Society (with assistance from the International Planned Parenthood Federation) and their motto was “Teach a mother, Save a Child.

A two (2) week residence program, at Kirathimo Model Village, was available for Kenyan mothers and their children.  The program was free, without charge, for the mothers and their children.

At approximately the 2:33 minute measure in the film a good-looking female Kenya Red Cross worker appears. She’s fairly cute and attired in a semi-well-fitted uniform adorned abundantly with badges, patches and pins.  She is also wearing an exceedingly cool hat!

Onwards of the 2:33 minute measure she intermittently appears throughout the rest of the film.  For purposes of this blog report I’ll call her the ‘cute & cool Kenya Red Cross girl’ when referenced below.  (She also appears ? to be wearing a wedding ring.)

Her duties, which appear to diverse and many, at the Kirathimo Model Village in Limuru, Kenya include that of a teacher.  Some of what she taught included, though was not limited to, the following:

1.  Basic nutrition.

2.  First aid.  Includes her demonstrating cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a CPR manikin. (I like the fact that the manikin appears to be black!)

3.  Family planning.  Includes birth control pills.  Birth control pills can be seen at approximately 4:40 and 9:30 minute measures in this film.

In and round the 4:15 minute measure of the film the cute & cool Kenya Red Cross girl presents a book regarding family planning which depicts (drawing) what might be described (by me) as two antipodal families:

1.  An agrarian family.  Father is seen wearing a large-brimmed hat to shade him from the sun a his pant legs are rolled up or cut off.  The pregnant mother is holding a small infant and is sounded by other children.

2.  An urban, educated or perhaps just adapted for time and location in society, family. Father is seen wearing a clean sharp suit.  Mother is wearing a chic outfit.  Two (2) healthy-sized happy children appear to be their only offspring.

At approximately the 4:50 minute measure a woman can be seen wearing a head-covering which says AFRICA and the cameraman (or camerawoman) seems to take note of it.  If this were a fraudulent video this might be considered as a telltale sign of fakery. However, this is NOT a fraudulent video.

Other instructors of the Kenya Red Cross in Limuru at the Kirathimo Model Village and child care clinic offered education which included, though was not limited to, the following:

1.  Protein deficiency (Kenyan infants and children primarily ate mashed potatoes and bananas which are not a good sources of protein.)

2.  How to prepare nourishing meals.

3.  Cooking safety. (Children are often inadvertently burned as the mothers cook.)

4.  How to increase egg (chicken egg) production.

5.  How to raise and care for chickens and rabbits (for meat and eggs).

6.  How to use water twice (irrigating with water after its been used for cooking and cleaning.)

7.  How to design and maintain a compost heap.

In an around the 11:05 thru 11:25 minutes measures a black (Kenyan? African?) doctor appears to be giving instructions, at the child care clinic, on how and when to use birth control pills.  This doctor, who speaks in English (not American English), first appears at approximately the 10:20 minute measure.  At the doctor’s side, as a language translator (Kikuyu?), is our cute & cool Kenya Red Cross girl.

In and around the 6:15 minute measure we get a glimpse of a female Kenya Red Cross staff member who’s uniform sleeve says “Ranch Staff”…”Limuru”.

In and around the 11:40 minute measure a female Kenyan health worker is shown getting out of a very old-looking car.  License plate: KKN 564.

On the first Sunday during the two week program at the Kirathimo Model Village the husbands and fathers come for a visit to see what the women are being taught.

One of the fathers said, on film, that he wants to sell all of his chicken eggs for beer.  Our cute & cool Kenya Red Cross girl then told him to sell half of his chicken eggs for beer and to keep the other half to feed his children.

Another father said, on film, that he wants many children so that he can sell his daughters for cows (i.e., trade human girls for cows) and so that his sons can support him when he himself becomes an old man.  Our cute & cool Kenya Red Cross girl then told him that he must first consider how much it would cost to feed and educate the many children that he wants and that it will cost him less if he plans his family (e.g., has less children).

EDUCTION STIPULATION:  The film indicates that relief supplies (e.g., food, water and equipment) are only used/supplied along with education.  Without education the women and children would only return, over and over, for more free supplies.

At approximately the 11:32 minute measure a Kenyan woman named Wambui Hinga is issued and presented with a certificate from the Kenya Red Cross Society.  The certificate is dated 10.4.70 which could mean October 4, 1970 or April 10, 1970 depending on which date format was being used.  Her name, Wambui Hinga, is written in cursive.

The certificate indicates, in writing, that, “This is to certify that Wambui Hinga has attended a two-week course at the Kirathimo Model Village, Limuru.”

The certificate was presented by a white woman (European?) and is also signed by someone although I can’t discern the signature nor their title.  Our cute & cool Kenya Red Cross girl is standing adjacent the white woman as she is presenting certificates to program participants.

I’m elated and happy to see that within this film we don’t see many whites or Europeans.  I never liked the idea of whites and Europeans in Africa ‘teaching’ blacks and Africans how to live.  However, along with a preponderance of black Africans we see in this film (instructors and participants) there are a few white women who appear in this film.  They are listed below:

In or around the 11:30 thru 11:40 minute measure: White female Red Cross staff member can be seen presenting certificates (ibid) to program participants.  She is the first white (probably European) seen in the this film.  The narrator gives her name but I cant discern or understand what is said.

In or around the 12:10 thru 12:20 minute measure: White female with glasses is shown weighing an African baby.  She is the second white (probably European) seen in this film.  There are also three (3) other white women who can be seen in the background.

In or around the 12:25 thru 12:35 minute measure:  White female (presumably European) is shown talking and playing with small African children.  A few children are riding small bicycles, a couple children are playing on an old something which resembles a Merry-Go-Round and several other children are sitting on the floor.

Film was produced/filmed by Vision Associates Production.

Film was presented by International Planned Parenthood Federation with the help of the Family Planning Association of Kenya and the Kenya Red Cross and the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kenya.

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