How film on Kenyan grandma, Gogo, is rocking Paris

 Pricilla Sitienei (Gogo) in Paris. (Courtesy)

Remember Kimani Maruge, the 84-year-old Kenyan who stunned the world by enrolling in the first grade in January 2004? Maruge inspired the movie the First Grader and entered the Guinness World Record as the oldest person to enroll in primary school.

However, Maruge’s record has been broken by yet another Kenyan! The story of 97-year-old Pricilla Sitienei, (better known as Gogo, or grandmother) who at 90, decided to join her great grandchildren at Leaders Vision Preparatory School in the Rift Valley has once again catapulted the country to global fame.

Sammy Chepsiror, the School director remembers the day in 2012 when Gogo came to school and demanded to be enrolled as a first grader. Part of the reasons for her enrollment were for her self-development.

 Gogo at the movie premier with some guests. (Courtesy)

“She had served as a midwife to the women of Ndalat for 65 years. However, she told me that some women had problems following her oral prescriptions and wanted to get some formal education so that she could write them down. She also wanted to read and understand the Bible as a staunch Catholic,” says Chepsiror.

But the most important reason, according to the school director, Gogo wanted to send a message to all girls that had missed school due to outdated cultural practices that it was possible, at whatever age, for them to fulfil their dreams,” he says. She is now in Class Seven.

Like Maruge’s case before her, the story of Sitienei spread around the world like a bushfire, attracting film makers in France.

Her resilient story has now been collated into the 85-minute movie, Gogo, that premiered in Paris on Tuesday, August 31. The movie is in Swahili and Kalenjin with French subtitles. The movie has been receiving tonnes of coverage in the French media.

At the premier, Sitienei was elated to meet the country’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron together with other top dignitaries, a personal feat for a woman who had never left her home area.

 A billboard at the movie premier in Paris. (Courtesy)

“Gogo is incredible and punchy at almost 98,” says Sarah Hamdad from the production house Ladybirds cinema and the assistant to the film’s producer, Marie Tauzia. “At the premier, she was just dancing in front of more than 400 people. She said she is happy to be in France and to meet all her fans.”

In an exclusive interview with The Standard, the movie director Pascal Plisson says the filming began in March 2018 to January 2019 both in Sitienei’s home area of Ndalat and Masaï Mara.

It all started with a friend narrating to him a story that ran in the media about an old lady in Kenya who had just enrolled into elementary school. Plisson is a director who smells a good movie idea from afar, and his senses gave him the right instincts.

 Gogo with Mrs Macron and guests at the movie premier. (Courtesy)

“It was just a casual telephone conversation with a friend on the phone. He told me about a story he had read in the newspaper about the oldest ‘schoolgirl’ in the world living in Ndalat near Eldoret,” says Plisson.

Pascal took a flight to Nairobi to meet Gogo and the school director to discuss the possibility of shooting a movie about Gogo. Kenya was not new to Plisson as he had previously filmed in the country since 1995 for UK’s national broadcaster, BBC and the Discovery channel.

In Ndalat, Plisson was struck with Gogo’s determination, the inner strength to go through what had eluded her 80 years earlier.  Plisson’s team saw the school director who was very pleased to have the team film in the school.

“I could see the brightness in her eyes, an open minded woman though she had never gone to school. She was there to send a message for all the girls that they must go to school and learn. The world needed to know about her determination,” says Plisson.

But then there was the small matter of the language barrier. The main character could only speak Kalenjin while the film makers spoke English and French.

Fortunately, her grandchild and classmate, Chepkoech, who spoke English came in handy. “She liked the camera and always checked on how we were doing,” Plisson recalls.

 Gogo relaxing in a water park in Paris. (Courtesy)

Professor Judy Wakhungu, Kenya’s ambassador to France says Gogo shines like a beacon of hope to schoolgirls all over the world who yearn for an opportunity to get educated but face daunting obstacles including early marriages.

“Coming from a patriarchal community that in the past put little value in a girl's education, she is shining a light on retrogressive cultural practices. The movie will impel a global response that will help push more girls into school. In the movie, she is telling the girls, ‘You can stand up, you have not lost the opportunity,’” says Wakhungu.

The Kenyan Embassy in France was instrumental in creating the links between Sitienei and the film makers and arranging for prerequisite protocols. Today, Gogo (grandmother) will be a guest at the embassy where she will meet Prof. Wakhungu and her staff.

“We want to congratulate her for speaking up for girls. Some of those inspired by her story will be the future professors,” said Wakhungu.

Plisson says arrangements are being made for the movie to premier both in Nairobi and Eldoret.