Dreadlocked couple with a passion for film

Delphine Wairimu Karumba-Josiah is fresh off the boat from London with a Master in Cinematography. She says she is the first black woman in Africa to hold that accolade.

Two years ago, she packed her stuff and moved to the UK to join Met Film School, one of the top cinematography schools in the UK, leaving her two children behind with her mother.

Before that she had been taking pictures for 10 years, after dropping out of her International Business Administration course at USIU which wasn’t aligned to her passion. She also deejayed a bit in Malindi.

A petite ball of fire, Delphine and her husband, Albert Josiah (who studied at London Film School) have always challenged conventions, gone against the grain and questioned norms.

We met for tea at Tune Hotel’s Utamu Restaurant (great service from the boys at the Grab and Go outlet) the morning of her birthday, flanked by her also dreadlocked, towering and charismatic husband, Albert.

They talked passionately (and, indeed, with frustration) about the local film industry and how they intend to overhaul the game.

Happy birthday! How old are you today?

Thank you! My age is off the record, Biko. (Laughs).

Leaving your kids behind and going to the UK for two years must have been dreadful!

You think! (Laughs). I have two girls aged six and five. They are awesome kids! When we left they were four and three, I’d miss them so much my womb would ache. I would see kids and want to grab them and go. (Laughs).

But, it had to be done. Initially, we thought we’ll go there, figure stuff out then get the kids to come over, but we soon quickly discovered that there was no time.

Doing a practical filmmaking course meant you are working and schooling and at times shooting three to four days. Plus it’s really expensive to get a babysitter to just come and look after the kids. It was hell without them, but it was the only way it could be done

That must have come with hell of guilt?

Yes. I won’t lie, there’s a big part of me that feels, what did I do? But my mum did such a great job I really can’t complain. But London was really hell, the culture shock and especially the racism, me being the only female black African in that school.

Racism is real! My tutor was really racist. The Brits are not outright racists. Their racism is one that slowly crawls under your skin. They wondered; why is an African coming here to learn cinematography, doesn’t Africa have more important problems? It drove me mad! I was not expected to excel better than a Brit. I was expected to be at the bottom of the social rung. I was not assigned certain “complicated” tasks because I was a woman, and a black one at that.

One day I put my foot down and said, “Excuse me, I have paid a lot of money to be here and you are here because of me. I didn’t leave my children for this crap!”

There was a time I was doing some documentary with an Australian doctor and as we drove from Wales to Scotland she said, “This must be so amazing for you to see all this green.” I thought, Excuse me, I’m from Murang’a! (Albert chuckles heartily). Africa is grossly misunderstood out there.

What kind of pictures do you want to make?

Not of emaciated looking African kids with begging bowls. If we are claiming that our stories need to be written by us, how do we turn around and say it’s not good enough for you?

The government does not even support our art. We had our own stories, but they were interrupted.

For my kids to watch something that makes sense, all these arts need to get out there and compete with the rest of the world. We need stories of a different Africa one that’s got laughter and joy, where family means everything and communities raise each other.

Not of war, guys shooting each other, child soldiers raping grown women because that’s the Africa we know from film. That’s unsatisfactory for me.

So what’s your big agenda then?

I must teach. I must share what I have. We need to transfer this knowledge and transform as many filmmakers as possible. That way we can all change the game.

What’s the very first thing you did when you reunited your children after two years?

I had to be strong, I’m mommy so I went to the bathroom and cried. (Laughs) I held them so close and kept looking at them like dolls. (Pause). At some point it felt like I’d never see them again.

You know they didn’t recognise me when I walked through the door because we didn’t tell them we were coming. My youngest one came and sat next to me and she recognised me. I was so happy.

What’s been the best advice you’ve received so far?

That’s a good question. (Thinks). Recently, Dorothy Ghettuba (CEO, Spielworks Media) told me: “Brand yourself. You have all these great things that you want to do, but package yourself well. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself.” I’m modest in that sense, my background, my family, we are simple folk and here was Dorothy telling me ‘‘shout about your achievement, not to be shy...’’

You know, that’s a common thread. My editor and I were discussing the women we profile on this page and she noted how women don’t know how to shout about their successes like men. How they seem to apologise for being successful...

That’s very true, because my husband says the same thing. We are raised to be modest, we are women.

Albert, what do you like about her? And please Delphine, don’t look at him..

(Delphine laughs) Albert: She is the most driven woman I have ever met. She is my engine. She’s my get up and go. I used to tell her I would be here making sure the kids are okay when she’s a star, you know, feed them and put them bed (Laughs).

I feel she has so much passion, and energy, she’s a go-getter.

Albert, what do you guys intend to do with these film degrees you have come back home with?

Albert: Like Delphine mentioned, training is in the top of our agenda. Bring more people into what we do. It’s very expensive to train filmmakers, as expensive as training jet fighter pilots, that’s why understandably, it’s not a priority in this country.

But if you look at other countries, their films are not just entertainment, a lot of who they are is embodied in their films as well. It reinforces their national identities, values and all that.

Africans used to have that when we had oral traditions, but we don’t have it anymore. I just wish the government would stop fighting us.

Licensing is too exorbitant, for one. There is a reason why people are going to South Africa to shoot films about Kenya, because we don’t make it easy to shoot films here.

Where do you tap your strength from, Delphine, this fire and confidence?

It must be from God. (Laughs) I don’t know, I have always been tough. Growing up with my twin sister who has albinism, she’d get bullied, teased and I used to beat the little boys in my class for teasing and bullying her. You can’t go round teasing and bullying people and being mean simply because you don’t understand.

I despise ignorance and I abhor mediocrity, at least try and better yourself. Try and improve who you are. Internet is not just for Facebook. I get disgusted when I see girls show their ignorance on social media...

Hang on, you have a twin sister who is living with albinism, you said?

Yes, she’s called Catherine Nyambura. There are only 10 of our kind documented in the whole world, where one twin has albinism and the other doesn’t. My sister founded the Albinism Society of Kenya. She’s amazing. She’s had a really tough time.

What do both your dreadlocks say about you?

It’s a combined faith we have, a belief that we own. In our identity, who we are, where we belong in the world. This is the way dreadlocks go.

My grandma had long hair and was arrested during the Mau Mau uprising and they shaved her hair and until her death in December 2012 at 90, she’d have a lot of pain when you asked her about it. When I grow my hair like, this it’s a choice I make.

Albert: We are artists, and because of our art, we are activists and these two things are actually inseparable. We present an image that is now Africa and you can’t separate the African image from activism because the image that’s out there of who Africans are, and what we actually are is totally different.

So we must push the agenda of who the new Africa is because this is what will define the future. Our dreadlocks are an expression of hope where my kids can have dreads and go to schools where the teachers will not think of them as wayward and vagabonds.
All our children have dreadlocks and they shall continue having dreadlocks until they are old enough to decide they don’t want dreadlocks.

Delphine, are you having fun in your marriage ?

I think so! (Laughs) We are really good friends and the one thing we do have, is fun. Without his support as a husband, I don’t think I would be here.