Apr
19
Bongo Project in The Province
Great article and interview with Danya Fast, Urban Project Exec. Director. Check it out.
Posted in all posts | Apr 19, 2009 at 1:11 pm | 1 Comment »
Nov
20
Thicker than Water
As usual, our over-sensitive Canadian way of dealing with problems had led us to believe that the msela had reached their breaking point, that their friendships had been irreversibly shattered, and that certain individuals (Ninja) may have to be forced to leave the project for good. What we forgot was that we weren’t in North American anymore, that people argue sometimes, and that a little scraping in the life of a group of young street hustlers is anything but strange. Sure, we’d spent the night lying awake with Ninja’s threats of suicide and causing harm sending our imaginations reeling, but in the morning, after hearing that the theatrics continued over at the maskani, we realized that they were just that, theatrics. None of these guys would choose this life if they were given the choice, but if there is one thing a street youth is proud of, it’s being a street youth.
Posted in all posts | Nov 20, 2008 at 2:28 pm | No Comments »
Nov
18
More Drama for your Mama (Lishe)
As if we thought for a moment that the rest of the project would go seamlessly from here on out, more drama surfaced this week when we introduced housing for the msela. We (Urban Project) had always intended of setting the guys up with housing and getting them off the street at night but didn’t want to overwhelm them with a hip hop album and housing and school fees all at the same time, so we decided to stagger them. You can imagine if someone from a foreign country showed up and offered you a new apartment in downtown Vancouver, a studio space fully equipped with video and computer equipment, and the cash required to produced a feature film. Well, I can. It would be awesome. And I probably couldn’t handle it. I’d be completely thrown by it and would probably act irrationally as a result. That’s basically what (we think) this week has been like for the msela.
Posted in all posts | Nov 18, 2008 at 8:29 am | No Comments »
