A group of acrobats from Kibera,Mathare kawangware and Kasarani have come togetther to showcase their unique talent to motorists stuck in the traffic jam.
According to Julius Ochieng ,lead intrustractor in Busaka team, the idea of staging a roadside performance was incepted when the Covid-19 hit the country in month of March 2020 that saw all soci social hall clossed down.
“Tulidecided kuifanya in open air ,where people don’t crowd,as you can see people are on their cars,instead of kukaa home because of Covid-19 hatungeweza kukaa k2a halls juu ya lock down,tukiwa home watu hawjui kama tuna exist.” Ochieng said.
EARN LIVING
The Busaka acrobatic group compromises of Julius Tsuma, Vincent Amunga, Justine Mwangome, James Julias and Alex Kadenge.
The group head is Julius Ochieng
Julius says that the group undergoes numerous tough exercises every day in order to achieve perfection.
“Discipline is the key word; our motto is “no lateness for rehearsals”. We have seen many of our friends and age mates go down that way,” says Amunga.
“Bodywork is what we believe in and do. We earn our living from our bodies.”
Busaka is largely marginalized and the youth keep themselves busy with performing arts, Julius says, adding that they use their acrobatic skills not only to earn a living but to show others that this can be a constructive way of avoiding being drawn into social vices.
If only the youth could be shown other ways of earning a living, they would be a productive segment of the society in the area, says Julius
“These guys from Kibera and other informal settlements just need to be empowered. Our group is hoping, with time and more opportunities, to incorporate more members,” says Ochido, the group’s coordinator.
However he told Ghetto Radio that all is not rosy ,performing acrobatics in the middle of road comes with its fair share of challenges since some motorists ,passengers and pedestrians snub them and do not give the ‘tip’ even after showcasing their rare talents.
“Watu wengine hawaoni pia sisi tuna saka doo,wanaona sisi ni kam chizi,hata baada ya kuperform tukiomba tip wanatu ignore.” He further said.
He also said adverse weather conditions limits their performance as they can not do some tactics in when the tarmac is hot in the afternoon or when it is rainy.
“Weather pattern affects our income since some days we can do performance, like right now it is hot so the tarmac is extremely hot and we spend little time in performance,we require average we get good money.”He said.
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By Rodgers Oduor
