The Movie ..."The First Grader"

Earlier this week, Kathy and I saw the movie, "The First Grader". It's about an 84 year old Kenyan man, who shows up at the gate of a small private school in rural Kenya, and tries to enter grade one, when the Kenya government declared education available and free for all citizens. He, and the teacher who accepts him, run into many severe obstacles, political, cultural, personal .... and the 84-year old Maruge remembers, in flashbacks throughout the movie, the massacres, tortures, tremendous suffering through which he, and so many lived, beginning with the 1953 uprisings against the British. It's an awful and lovely story ... about beauty, love, caring, redemption ... and in it's midst, the capacity of human beings to be utterly self serving and cruel. It's based on a true story. Maruge eventually did study ... and the press became part of this story, and a few years after it began, he spoke to the United Nations about the need for and value of education ... I have been to Kenya only two times... and know little about it, except that it is a fascinating country with 43 different people groups (tribal groups) who are coming to terms with the difficult and often very violent history of their recent past. This really is a compelling movie ...