NAME: Ekai Moses Erupe

AGE: 31

NATIONALITY: Kenya (Turkana)

INTEREST: Photographer, Cinematographer

"My dream and passion are to become a filmmaker. Everyone, including myself, has stories to share, and filmmaking provides a platform for these stories to be told clearly."

Throughout my life, I have loved having my photos taken, especially on special occasions like Christmas. I would hire a photographer to capture pictures for my family and me to keep as memories. Being a photographer and capturing special moments was a great job to have. My interest in photography and film was also sparked when FilmAid visited my school to show films related to our studies. For instance, I remember watching a movie about Nelson Mandela, and when I came across questions about him in my exams, remembering the film helped me answer them. It made me realise that visually teaching something through a film or photo is a great way to complement traditional learning methods like reading.  FilmAid Kenya would also show us films in which the directors and actors were from our community, which made me realise that if they could do it, so could I! I wanted to be behind the camera and work as a filmmaker. 

After finishing high school, when I was around 18 years old, I faced challenges when my father passed away, leaving us without direction and my mother struggling to feed our family. I pushed myself to find work, like taking up construction jobs, to earn money for my family. But we all have dreams, and I held onto my dream of becoming a filmmaker. Whenever I came across someone with cameras taking photos or recording scenes for a film, I would ask them as many questions as possible to learn as much as possible. I started practising using my phone taking photos of my family and everything around me. I also asked people how to edit, and they recommended apps and tutorials to learn how to adjust saturation, brightness, and other settings, which I practised on my phone. Sometimes, the results could have been better, but I kept practising and learning and loved it!

Then, I met Solomon Senkoro and Benson Ole Maina from my church in Tanzania, who would record and take photos of our church services. I asked him to teach me the basics. When he went to shoot wedding events, he brought me along to help carry equipment and allowed me to watch his process. After three months, I started helping him record church services, learning to zoom, and improving my skills. But he eventually left and returned to Tanzania. But I continued to pursue photography, and after a friend gave me a small camera, I volunteered for free at a studio as a photographer, taking passport photos, editing, and producing hard copies.

But in my heart, my dream was still to become a filmmaker, and I viewed the skills I had gained in photography as a stepping stone towards filmmaking. However, I needed more opportunities to learn about the filmmaking process. When I learned about the FilmAid media class, where I could gain more skills in photography and videography, editing, and more, I was eager to join. 

In the future, with the skills I have gained, my dream is to use films as a tool to fight against climate change by informing my community and the world about its effects. Most importantly, I want to make a meaningful impact in my community by becoming a mentor, sharing the skills I am learning, and transforming lives, even if it is just for one person at a time.