Voices From Sindo: a book of poetry & photography developed from Alex Pounds' PhD research in Sindo, Lake Victoria, Kenya. The book contains the stories of twelve elders and youths from Sindo, translated into English by Carol Adhiambo and Sally Otieno and edited by Alex Pounds, Selline Oketch, and Barbara Schuler.
“This book of poetry is an attempt to amplify the voices of elders and youths from Sindo.”
Click on the above image to download the book (PDF)
Sindo is a fishing village on the Kenyan shores of Lake Victoria, known as a landing site for large volumes of omena (a small silver freshwater fish), which women typically dry on the fields around Sindo. Along with omena, fishers also bring in ngege (tilapia) and mbuta (nile perch).
The words have been gathered via Oral History and Photo Voice methods. The purpose of an Oral History is to capture in-depth personal stories and feelings; in this project, I asked elders to tell me their stories and feelings about food and food systems in Sindo. The elder and I discussed what they wanted the oral history to portray (i.e., what the participant felt was important to record). Once we (the editors) identified the main stories and topics that the elder wanted to be recorded in the oral history, we video-recorded the story. Then, we took a photo of the participant in a location of their choosing (pending their mobility or what area they feel is pertinent to the story).
The purpose of the Photo Voice methods was to learn from youths about what problems and opportunities youths experience around food and food systems, and what solutions could support better experiences with food. The youths co-created the specific aims of the photovoice project together. These included “practice and exposure to research methods” and “a chance to learn from each other”. Then, the youths were trained to think of an important story or message, then how to take a photo using a disposable camera that represented that story or message. The framing questions were (a) “What are your dreams for the future?” (b) “Where does your food come from?” (c) “What could you and your friends do to make food better?” and (d) “What are some of the ways that local organizations and adults can help you make this happen?” After the photos were developed, we met again for the youths to tell their stories.
All discussions recorded, transcribed, then converted to poetry using in vivo and dramaturgical coding methods. The result is this book (click link to download PDF file).