Kenyans perform in Denmark

Two young Kenyans joined a Danish theatre group yesterday and did a street performance in Denmark to celebrate the Global Democracy Day

Among the people discussing democracy on 'Nytorv' square in Copenhagen yesterday was Selina Akini from Pumwani slums, Nairobi.

Yesterday, in the cold yet sunny autumn weather of Denmark, two young Kenyans performed theatre skits on one of the main squares of the capital city Copenhagen.

The two performers, Joseph Ochieng and Selina Makini, both of whom live in the Pumwani slums in Nairobi, were invited by Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (MS) to celebrate the Global Democracy Day. The idea of the Global Democracy Day is initiated by an alliance of popular groups and organizations from countries all over the world. The alliance is organizing a global campaign aimed at making October 18th a universal day for action and debate on democracy. The ultimate aim is to make national governments and the United Nations recognize October, 18 as a Global Democracy Day.

This year, for the first time, the day was celebrated in Denmark through public events organized by Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke (MS). The two young people from Kenya assisted in raising public awareness on democracy from a global perspective.

People stopped by throughout the day to watch the events despite the cold autumn weather.

They did two skits together with a local group named “Doktor Margrethe”.

One of the skits was about mutual prejudices between Africans and Danes. Joseph Ochieng was on stage sitting by a table with a Dane speaking about what they knew about each others’ backgrounds. The Dane spoke about the wild animals he knew from Africa and the people who – ‘by the way’ - live there and who he believed to be ‘quite nice’.

Joseph Ochieng on his side talked about how he had been received by the Danes while in Copenhagen, tells policy worker of MS Denmark, Lars Anderskouv, who has been in charge of organizing the Day.

“All in all we are very satisfied with how things went yesterday. Joseph did very well when talking to people about democracy and Kenya, not only during the performance, but afterwards too. Quite a few people approached him because of his African background which many wanted to hear more about,” Anderskouv adds.

The only thing he could have wished for was a larger crowd. But considering the cold weather and the fact that the event took place on a week day, it was all in all OK, he states.

Whereas the live audience was slightly smaller than anticipated, a large TV audience got to know about the events as did readers of several newspapers. One of the national TV stations in Denmark broadcasted a news coverage from the theatre performance, and several of the major newspaper featured interviews and reports on the Global Democracy Day.