‘Find Me Unafraid’ book to be a movie in Kenya

Celebrated Hollywood film actor, director and producer Tony Godwyn at the Kenya Film Classification Board offices on July 2, 2018. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The book was written in 2015 and tells a story of two young people from completely different worlds.
  • Odede scavenged for food, lived on the streets, and taught himself how to read with old newspapers.
  • When an American volunteer gave him the works of Mandela, Garvey, and King, he decided he was going to change his life and his community.
  • He bought a soccer ball and started a youth empowerment group he called Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO).

A book that tells the love story of Kennedy Odede, who grew up in poverty in Kenya, and Jessica Posner, who grew up in suburban Denver, Colorado, United States will be made in to a movie here in Kenya by a Hollywood crew. “Find Me Unafraid” tells the uncommon love story between two uncommon people, whose collaboration sparked a successful movement to transform the lives of vulnerable girls and the urban poor in Africa’s largest slum Kibera.

Celebrated Hollywood actor, director and producer, Tony Goldwyn (who plays Fitzgerald Grant III, President of the United States in the hit television show “Scandal”) was in town this week to lay the groundwork for the shoot of the love story brewed in Kibera.

The actor was happy to be involved in turning the acclaimed New York best-selling book into a film that will be shot in Kenya. During a courtesy call to the Kenya Classification Board’s CEO Ezekiel Mutua, Mr Goldwyn said, “It’s my wish that this inspiring story is told in Kenya.”

The book was written in 2015 and tells a story of two young people from completely different worlds. Odede scavenged for food, lived on the streets, and taught himself how to read with old newspapers.

When an American volunteer gave him the works of Mandela, Garvey, and King, he decided he was going to change his life and his community. He bought a soccer ball and started a youth empowerment group he called Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO). Then in 2007, Posner, then an undergraduate student, spent a semester in Kenya working with SHOFCO. Breaking all convention, she decided to live in Kibera with him, and they fell in love.

Their connection persisted, and Posner helped Odede escape political violence and fulfil his lifelong dream of an education, at Wesleyan University.

The alchemy of their remarkable union has drawn the support of community members and celebrities alike, from talk show host Oprah Winfrey - who featured the book in her famous book club - to the Clintons, actress Mia Farrow, and Nicholas Kristof.

Their work has changed the lives of many of Kibera’s most vulnerable population; the two founded Kibera’s first tuition-free school for girls.

On his part, while welcoming the American star, Dr Mutua reiterated that Kenya has some of the best filming locations in the world, and is recognised as the cradle of humanity.

He told the Hollywood star, “We are committed to support the youth to express their creative talents through artistic expressions and, consequently, establish sustainable careers in the lucrative creative sector.”

He added that his commission was ready to support their decision to make the film on Kennedy and Jessica’s love story in Kenya.

The writers have in the past years expanded their model to connect essential services like health care, clean water, and economic empowerment programs. They’ve opened an identical project in Mathare, Kenya’s second largest slum, and intend to expand their remarkably successful program for change.

Ultimately this is a love story about a fight against poverty and hopelessness, the transformation made possible by a true love, and the power of young people to have a deep impact on the world.