LITTLE BIG STEVE

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Film Directed by: Tiziana caminada (Genre: Documentary)

"A portrait of a guy with surprising resilience and his return to the shanty town, where he began his life! Twenty years later, the same guy like David’s leads a fight against Goliath to defend children’s rights. Here we have an experience which is strikingly 100% African. Mathare, Nairobi ; a shanty town where one million and two hundred thousand people survive in unhealthy living conditions among disorderly and foul smelling shacks. A strong-willed and discerning six-year-old decides to go to school against his parents’ will, who would probably prefer using him for his shrewdness in other profitable ventures for themselves, or to support them by working. Steve’s decision led him to be forced to live on the streets for eight years, because his family rejected him. He was helped by other inhabitants, who were as poor as his parents. His school teachers and a priest helped him pay his school fees. Meanwhile he witnessed his parents become alcoholics and his siblings were led into thieving, drug-taking/drug- dealing and prostitution! Twenty years later, Steve returns to the shanty town of Mathare where he was born. He now has a diploma in psychology has studied and worked abroad. He feels that he is meant to be back, to look after the abandoned children, who are regularly abused - physically and sexually – like he was as a child. Statistics confirm that half of the children who live in shantytowns are abused. Steve’s involvement to defend children’s rights began early when he was in high school and he created a Kids’ Club where children were provided with services to listen and speak, and dialogue spaces. He knows that it is best to act early, when children are very young, as his studies and the analysis of his own experience have confirmed. When children are aware of the dangers they face, it is easier for them to deal with their situation. If they know that there are basic rights to education access to food and that beating or sexual abuse are unlawful, those youngsters will find it maybe easier to stand up for their rights and to get out of/get away from a life of abuse and exploitation. With a small sum he had put aside while working with a NGO in the countryside in Kenya, Steve built a small building inside Mathare where a nursery school opened before the end of 2017. Today, this school welcomes 220 children. Gang leaders and all those who exploit children from the shanty town in Mathare dislike Steve’s activities. Steve knows the shantytown’s rules well and he is not afraid of walking on their toes. Despite poverty and ignorance, Steve knows that people in Mathare support his actions. By working with women, and many raise their children alone, he knows that he will reach a few hearts and save some lives."