In a world surrounded by tragic news day in day out, a group of children from Nairobi have attained national fame by making comical re-enactments of news items, TV dramas and films.
In their latest endeavor, the group known as Huruma Town Kids re-enacted a recent report compiled by CNN Correspondent Larry Madowo regarding the worst hit Kenyan tourism sector.
In the 3-minute clip, the journalist interviewed Kenyan Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala who revealed that the country had lost 80% revenue which could take until 2024 to recover.
The shooting of the report involved a chopper ride where the interview took place and the cameras captured wild animals in various states of existence in their habitats.
In the re-enactment, the children had to develop ingenuous ways to mimic the wildlife movement and appear more realistic.
In the opening scene, one of the children mimicked a hippopotamus while dressed in all black clothes. While employing cheap artistic manuevers, they created a giraffe as well as flamingoes.
For the plane, they flew a toy version across a surface with silver manilla paper background and had two boys play the role of Madowo and Balala.
The clip, which has amassed 12,000 views on Instagram alone, blew the mind of the celebrated international journalist away.
"These Huruma Town kids have done it again! This is the coolest thing to ever happen to any story I’ve ever done," declared Madowo who has had stints as BBC’s North America Correspondent in Washington, D.C., NTV and CNBC Africa.
H-Town Kids first attracted the attention of Kenyans in 2019 through the recreation of celebrity photos and videos. The group, which began by one member, has expanded to include over 23 children.
In a previous interview, Rose Mwaura, who manages the group, noted that it was constituted in 2019 during the August school holidays and has hit new levels of fame ever since.
“We started with one kid, but so far, we have 23 members… Mostly, we bring on board kids aged between five and 15 years. They must have the passion to either act, dance or do acrobatics,” stated Mwaura.
So iconic is their recreation that in 2020, Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) boss Ezekiel Mutua, gifted them film equipment including a laptop.
"(I) would like to buy them the equipment they are looking for in support of their talents. It's so gratifying to see young kids having so much fun in art," stated Mutua.
Among clips recreated by the team are TV News bulletins, Maria show opening theme, a section of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Madaraka Day Speech among others.
Below is the video of Larry Madowo's re-enacted CNN report:
{"preview_thumbnail":"/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/zdIxrwrKhxM.jpg?itok=PSAV5wmo","video_url":"
