WEBVTT

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[music]

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[music]

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It isn’t Rio de Janeiro.

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Isn’t a city of God

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[music]

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It isn’t Mumbai.

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It isn’t slumdog millionaire

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[music]

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It’s the biggest slum in Africa.
Tryber’s slum in Nairobi Kenya.

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[sil.]

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Slumdog millionaire, City of
God, two Galbers hit films

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about kids and slums. Here in
Tryber they even made their own,

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about kids, gangs and music.

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By 2050 born in three people could be living
in slums three billions slum dwellers

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600 hundred million of them children.
So far in early live we have seen

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how the first five years of a
child development can be crucial.

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So is Tryber seizing is seizing the opportunity
and our film we put together a typical day

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in the lives of four children under five.

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From daybreak sub-Saharan
Africa’s biggest slum is noisy,

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chaotic and unhealthy.
This violence robberies,

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carjackings, vigilantes. On some
days murder victims left on display.

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There are no proper drains and no rubbish
collection there are stinking latrines

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and open sewers malaria
and typhoid are common.

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The death rate for under fives here
is three times Nairobi is as a whole.

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So far four year old Nasuru survived.

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Nasuru and his cousin Maria go
to a preschool run by the church

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there is no Kenyan government wants.
Preschool gives Nasuru’s mom time to work,

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it feeds him and keeps him away from
urban stress and unpleasant strangers

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and new concern after the
post-election violence in 2007.

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[non-English narration]

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It’s not good for children because…
because if you look at this place

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where we live, they are drunkards who
just come and start talking dirty

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and as they talk, the
children are listening.

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But it’s not just the danger
of harm or moral corruption.

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Stress can raise levels of the hormone cortical
permanently altering the brain’s architecture.

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The result can be kids with
a dangerously short fuse.

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We have a growing science
space that tells us that

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among the many things that children learn early in their
life, is a sense of safety and a sense of threat.

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And we know that children who are in
unstable or in threatening situations

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umm…, develop adaptive
mechanisms to cope with that

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and one of the more interesting things that’s been,
illustrated by this work, is the extent to which children

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who live in violent threatening
Environments. Umm… Over interpret threat

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in circumstances that other children as
they’re growing up might see as neutral.

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And this is… this is adaptive if you live in a
violent threatening environment, it is good for you

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to kind of have a short fuse.

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Preschool is a safe space for the kids. Some
where they can develop peacefully and in theory

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become less violent adults.
But many parents can’t afford

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the ten dollars a month fees.
Nasuru’s mum can only afford five.

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So she’s constantly envious(ph).

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How are you? The sun is there.

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The sun is there. The sun is there.
The sun is there.

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But preschool isn’t just
about avoiding stress.

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It’s also about stimulating young brains,
when they’re developing most rapidly.

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I wash my face. I wash my face.

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I dress myself. I dress myself.

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Interaction with caring adults is essential
for healthy development. …drink a cup of tea.

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And drink a cup of tea. I say bye…
bye to dad. I say bye… bye to dad.

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Interaction helps build the
circuitry of the brain,

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right through the earlier.
Then I run to school, run.

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Then I run to school.

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There are some kids in Tryber. who
aren’t lucky enough to go to preschool.

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Both Natasha’s parents have
died and her uncle can’t afford

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to send her to preschool regularly.
So at four Natasha has been

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in and out of preschool.
Natasha spends most of the day

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hanging around the neighborhood. She’s locked out,
her uncle doesn’t trust her alone in the house.

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She spends a day killing time waiting
for friends to return from school.

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I think there’s millions of
Natasha’s around the world.

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The majority of children who are poor and
developing countries are like Natasha.

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The, they staying at home
and doing or working maybe

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or doing nothing constructive in terms of their
development is… is the norm I would say.

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And the danger of that is Well they won’t
develop to their full potential in… in language

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and in cognitive development
and in social skills

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and they will be overwhelm
when they get to school.

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[sil.]

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This morning in Nasuru’s class
it’s a rubber band that provides

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a quick lesson in social skills.

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It’s going to be a face off,
but Nasuru’s classmate Brian,

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decides not to get involved.

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Half a kilometer away at stories
preschool young teacher Matta Hanna,

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starts morning our class.

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Patience joined a few months ago and it’s
her first chance to play with colors.

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[sil.]

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Go and sit over there. Sit over there

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Preschool isn’t just about social skills.
It’s about creativity too.

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[sil.]

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Teacher can have a never block

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[music]

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Experts disagree over how
critical the first five years are

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and they were whether more funding should
be diverted to early childhood development.

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But many of those who set the agenda for Global
Development now we got early childhood as a key priority.

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The child of course comes into
the world with many gifts

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but they need to be developed at the sign
ups is in the brain need to be developed.

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The feelings need to be developed
the ability to have social contact

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needs to be developed. The creative elements need
to be developed the language needs to be developed,

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and you can’t leave it till five or six years
old, and this all happens much earlier

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and all the evidence
suggests that those children

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that have the stimulation on all those
areas and, and combined with that

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health and proper nutrition, to make sure

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that they develop appropriately that those kids
over a lifetime will do better than other children.

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Over stressed under stimulated kids like
Natasha play some more uncertain future.

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Even if they do get to primary school
it’s hard to recover from a poor start.

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What can lie in wait petty crime violence

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unwanted teenage pregnancy.
Where is your uncle?

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[non-English narration]
He’s gone to the lake.

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What this is doing? He’s going to get fish.

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[non-English narration]

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When does he come back. At eight.
When. At eight in the evening.

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I can’t play

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a drum… drum… drum… I can’t play a drum

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first time you do. Preschool beats
hanging around sound’s obvious,

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problem is what kind of preschool.
Some African traditions

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can conflict with western ideals.
You find that

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in our Afghan community, children not allowed
to speak when elder people are speaking,

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they just have to remain silent
and the… which is conflict

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with their freedom of expression.
You find that children learn

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they get more confident when they express
them-self. They express the ideas,

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and when you bang them, you keep on
telling them to shut up shut up,

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the child stops thinking.

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But some experts fear Western
style pre-schooling can ignore

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African definitions of intelligence.
This game is about Feeding My Family.

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Take this. Me… me… me.

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Unlike in the West

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where children are involved in
nonsense play, African children,

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actually, when they play, they
are doing livelihood task.

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The… the… their play is
around things that sustain

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with life of families. So
umm… I refer to that as

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umm… a responsible intelligence. Some
critics say that the Western model

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pushes children towards
creative individualism

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and have personal ambition,
walking alone through the world.

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Well done. Well done.

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The African model set, encourages
children to learn from each other

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and develop social skills, not
the Patience sees it that way.

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Why do you like this tin game?

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Because I like paint on
the (inaudible) check,

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when I go home. The child to child
relationship and interaction and learn,

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uh… peer… peer mentoring
right from an early age.

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It’s very important and very helpful.
It is really there

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in the sense that children
are concerned about

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not living or thus behind. Okay,
so they are very helpful.

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So in an African setting, that
plays out in the sense that

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from early… from an early age
parents monitor and ensure that

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their children helpful and said
that, even if a child is excelling

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in… in school… in school learning, parents are
concerned if that child is not socially smart.

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[non-English narration]

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With state primary schools now free, the
Kenyan education budget is fully stretched.

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So here in Kibera, preschools are organized
by the church, community groups,

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and by parents. Classes can
be big, by Nasuru have

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54 classmates and… enrolments are up.

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After the election violence, parents think
twice before leaving kids with neighbors.

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Preschool is more valued than ever,
not just for food but for security.

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[sil.]

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Brian’s mother came to
Kibera from Western Kenya.

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She hoped for a better life

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but now can’t afford to send her other
kids to preschool. So she’s worried

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Brian’s younger brother Fidel could take
lessons not from teachers but from strangers.

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[sil.]

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Most of the children are bad mannered

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because children in Kibera hung around
areas where there are drunks or thieves,

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sometimes the children here
bad stories from these people

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who don’t go to work, and
are influenced by them.

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I sit down with my children.

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I try to tell them not to do the bad things
like, if you go to steal, you will be linked,

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if you drink alcohol, the police
will detain you for life,

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and I will never see you again.
Warning them

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like this scares them.

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When she’s working, Brian’s mother trusts her
16 year-old niece Lydia, to look after Fidel

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and his baby brother Elvis.

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[sil.]

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Back in class, five hours under a hot tin
roof ends with a sleep on a dirt floor.

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[sil.]

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But what about the rest of the day, can
early childhood development happen

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outside preschool too?

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Even while leaving there’s still a
chance to help young minds develop.

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Nasuru’s still learning the social skills.

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[sil.]

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Time to go home.

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[music]

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But does home help or hinder
early children development?

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Patience’s mother washes cloths for living.

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She’s taking the afternoon off,
to help with homework. L L

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M, n M, n, m O, p O, p

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Q, r Patience’s mother has a practical take

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on the difference preschool has made.

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Patience’s has really changed
with preschool. Now if I call her

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when she’s far away, she will come running.

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I can also send her the shops.
And she goes running.

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When I’m sick in bed, I can send
her to go, buy me some medicine

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and she’ll run and fetch it.

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But no such stimulation for Natasha,
or the baby she is looking after.

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[sil.]

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Nasuru’s back home all ready. It’s
about to get busy for his mother,

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potatoes need to be fried and sold.

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And since going to preschool
Nasuru has been helping out more.

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[sil.]

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I do help carrying, I carry.

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What do you carry?

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If I’m asked, I carry chapati.

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[non-English narration]

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Before I took him to school, he was stubborn.
But now he is going to school, he’s changing.

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[non-English narration]

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I used to ask Nasuru to
stop doing something.

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But he used to tell me to stop stressing
him out because he’s still a child.

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Patience also enjoys
helping her mother out.

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Mom, we need to go(ph) for the
veg and one for the (inaudible).

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If she finds onions on the table,

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she wants to slice. If I’m not near,
I worry she might cut herself.

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So I give her a blunt knife

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so that she can learn how to cut and be
contented that she has helped her mother.

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[non-English narration]

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Are you cooking? I’m preparing
the veg but not cooking.

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Who will then? My mother will.

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It’s an everyday task but some experts say

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it is still cognitive stimulation,
stimulating kids to think and they say,

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learning at home, the African way, should not
be overlooked in the rush for preschool.

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Most African parents that
would not answer directly,

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\"Mother, father, how did you do that?\"
And the… the typical response would be,

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\"Don’t you have eyes!\" And
it is translated into…

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you are expected to watch,

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to observe, \"See, what I do
and not… and not ask me.

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It is not for me to teach
you,\" so I think that is

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far more cognitive uh… stimulation
where the child is figuring out things

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and not being prodded, it’s not
being pushed or to do instructed.

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Back in Brian school,

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the older kids are still at
it, now creative drawing.

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Volunteer teacher, Sarah, is
concerned about traditional ways.

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So in the West we’re very much
thought to think for ourselves,

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umm… even question authority, you know,
just all of that individual thinking

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and here you do everything as a group.
Umm… Even in the classroom

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and so it is very hard for people to do or for
the children to do something on their own.

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Oftentimes, umm… even some of the students
if they’re sitting near each other,

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they’ll all draw the same thing.

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Happy birthday to you. It’s
Patience’s 4th birthday.

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Happy birthday to you. The push
for early childhood development

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came from the West. So is the
West imposing its own model of

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how kids should grow up? Well,
this is a common criticism

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uh… that we… uh… the West are imposing,

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umm… practices on Africa that aren’t appropriate.
And to some extent that may be true.

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But if you speak to the… to the parents and
ask them what they want for their child.

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You will be amazed that they want their
children to be doctors, teachers, nurses,

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they’re very ambitious for their children.
And… and if as soon as they understand

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that the children are not going to have
a better life than they’re having,

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which is what most parents want, unless they do
something about that early child development.

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Umm… Things aren’t going to improve.

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The next year will be Patience’s first year
at primary school. She could grow up to be,

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well, anything really. If you
give the kids better stimulation

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in those early years, they will do better in
their primary, secondary, and tertiary years.

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They will stay in the school. The evidence
is overwhelming that if you give them

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
better stimulation in the early years, and
health, and education, and… and nutrition

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
that if you can get to the kids in those years, then your
task in primary, secondary, and tertiary is much better.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
And so it is not a waste of
money, it is… it’s an investment.

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
Early childhood development
may seem unaffordable

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
to poor countries and to poor parents.

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
But risks can be worth taking.

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
When I look at my own life, I… I see
that because I’m the son of illiterate,

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
starkly illiterate… literate parents
but who push me go… go into the world.

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
And they gave that opportunity and they knew,
they feared… they didn’t fear anything.

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
I mean, I think that is the essential
thing is to dare and to dare responsibly.

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
Natasha’s uncle hope she can
go to preschool too soon.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
He’s already bought her a uniform.
It’s been estimated,

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
there are 200 million children,
like Natasha, in the world.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
Many may not recover from a poor
start but from the Natasha,

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
at least there is still hope.

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:23.000
[music]