Local heroes: Dance for Hope

James created Foundation of Hope, a place where vulnerable youths find their place in society through dance.

Transcript

00:00I like these dances because it tells the story of where I live.

00:18What I like most in this dance is because it makes me active in the society.

00:26When it comes to mental health, if you dance, maybe you can forget many of your problems.

00:50My name is James Shisia Amwaye.

00:52I'm 29 years old.

00:55I'm a dancer by profession.

00:58I teach dance in the Foundation of Hope.

01:02We saw many youths, they are having many talents here in Kibera.

01:08So we overthink, like you can do maybe an outreach so that you can capture many youths.

01:15We are helping a number of children and youth.

01:20I can start with the children from the age of 6 to 17, then 18 to 35.

01:32I do all kinds of dances, like ballet, contemporary, Afrofusion, African dance, Latino.

01:40I like traditional dance because African dance is my culture and it's good to explore what

01:46you feel.

02:03We have many challenges.

02:04We have some of the children there in the organization.

02:07Some of them, they are HIV positive.

02:10Some of them, their parents cannot feed them.

02:13They cannot give them shelter.

02:16So we take them to the organization to take good care of them.

02:25My happy moment, it will come when I see some of them, my students, they are in a good position

02:32in life.