Still Learning from Zambia – One Year Later
BY KAI KIM, MCC ART FACULTY, MESA, ARIZONA — A year ago, from August 8 through September 4, three faculty members and 14 students from Mesa Community College went to Zambia, Africa to make two films. That’s a pretty huge undertaking if anybody has any idea about what goes into making a film.
And this was only possible because of the generous and magnanimous vision of Cyndi Greening. The students had not only learned so much from this experience but this journey really changed their lives. All of them appear different than their previous “middle-class” students from Mesa, Arizona. The lesson learned from real life experience in a non-classroom setting about technical issues of film making to learning to problem solve in Africa is a pretty amazing teaching approach. The end results were complete success.
Most of the students are pursuing careers in film related work. They have taken their experiences to pursue their dreams. What more could a teacher expect? I envy these students, because they had the opportunity to learn and experience something that really impacted them at an age when everything has not been tainted, when everything is amazing, when everything is possible!
Crew member Jeniece Toranzo put together a short video on the impact the journey had on the FilmZambia Crew. It brings back memories of where we all were a year ago.
Today we visited the Kawata craft village. It is a village of artisans who live and work in the village. As Fine Art Faculty at Mesa Community College, we were very interested in our Zambian counterparts. We interviewed basket weavers, wood sculptors, textile artists and jewelers. They talked about how they learned their art from family members or friends. The art in this village is passed on from generation to generation and also from artist to fellow artisan. It was incredible to see a community of artists who live and work together with their families. These artists earn a modest living making their art. They are able to support their family and do what they truly love to do. This gives them a great sense of pride and sense of identity. It really was wonderful to see this village adorned with art. Behind the thatched huts, men and women were working diligently on their pieces. As you go through, it is apparent that they have built a strong sense of community. They are supportive and appreciative of one another. It really was beautiful in a unique way.
BY KAI KIM, MESA, ARZIONA — We will soon depart for Zambia on August 8th. My role as a faculty member in this project is to help with the documentation of artists and storytellers. We want to see how artists work and how their tradition has been carried on from generation to generation throughout contemporary Zambia. We want to record storytellers talking about their lives, the connection between the past and modern Zambia. 
We would like to use some of the training and documentary bits for our curriculum at Mesa Community College, also. I’m really excited about being able use them as teaching tools in my classroom. We hope that other faculty members in cross-disciplinary areas will benefit from them as well. Some of the departments that might find additional value include cultural geography, anthropology, English humanities and theater. 
