Week 8: Youth Booth

So far in my service I have been apart of seven Peace Corps affiliated youth camps and while I have seen the youth grow and learn from their time spent at camp, I cannot say with confidence that I have had to opportunity to see them truly profit from their newfound skills.

That was until I met Kanyike Edgar.

We will get to that story in a bit.

Edgar is 13 years old but will turn 14 on November 25^th. 

He is in Secondary 2, or about the level of freshman in high school, which is incredible at his age.  When I enquired more about this he said his mother started him in nursery at 3 years and when he was in baby class ready to more on up to middle class the teachers told his mom, “Edgar is too bright.”  He skipped and went straight to top class at 4 years of age, spent 7 years in primary, and entered into secondary at 13. 

Impressive!

Edgar hails from Kampala and is the eldest of four, two brothers and one sister.  He stays with his mom and dad.  Again incredible!  In most of my experiences, a handful of families are divorced or not supportive of one another. 

His favorite weekend activities are dance improvisation and watching new movies, including his new favorite, Now You See Me.

His favorite color is green because it is everywhere.

His favorite thing about dance is that you feel the music through your body and give up control to let your body feel the rhythm.

Edgar wishes to be a doctor when he finishes his studies and in his downtime share his dances with the world. 

After he completed the 3-year program at In Movement, he still wanted to dance and share his skills so with one of our facilitators, Davis, a small group of alumni was formed.  Some years ago Edgar traveled to Poland with some of the group members to participate in the Brave Kids Dance Festival.  The purpose was to interchange cultures using children and dance.  At the completion of the festival, Inspirationz was founded, a group of five students sharing their passion of dance and personal expression.

Let’s talk about camp.

In May 2014, Edgar attended one in Fort Portal where he gained immeasurable skills, the greatest being how to make scarves.  Through his exposure to this income generating activity, he founded his own business in Kampala.  His initial profits were 45,000 Ugandan Shillings, 18USD, and he decided to continue to invest in his project and used about half of his profits for more materials.  I will bring home some so you can see his awesome work!

Edgar selling his necklaces at La Ba!  

Photo from one my fav PCVs, Kat Carlton

One of the things he enjoys about living in Uganda is the clean air.  I kindly questioned his answer being that cars drive by everyday with black smog oozing out of their exhaust pipes.  While I am confident that my likelihood of lung cancer has increased threefold, he still stands by his answer.

If Mister Kanyike Edgar became President, he would ensure that the leaders are voted into power in a democratic and systemized way to avoid bribes and corruption.

His words to the youth: “Keep chasing what you want and never give up because I think that every youth has a talent and everyone should chase it and not give up on finding it.  If somebody loves what he or she does, then it will be a peaceful world.”

Great guy.

Like Frank and Hamuza, Edgar was one of the dancers in Here I Stand, showcased at the End of Year Performance.  He is the one with the solo at 2:49.  It is definitely worth the watch!