Documentaries: The Boys of Baraka

Warning: May Contain Spoilers

I first watched this film in my first college class at the university that I transferred to. I really enjoyed this documentary and was wondering the whole time what was going to happen to the boys in the film. This is when I first became interested in watching documentaries.

The Boys of Baraka:
"Devon, Montrey, Richard, and Romesh are just at that age — 12 and 13 years old — when boys start to become men. But in their hometown of Baltimore, one of the country’s most poverty-stricken cities for inner-city residents, African-American boys have a very high chance of being incarcerated or killed before they reach adulthood. The boys are offered an amazing opportunity in the form of the Baraka school, a project founded to break the cycle of violence through an innovative education program that literally removed young boys from low-performing public schools and unstable home environments. They travel with their classmates to rural Kenya in East Africa, where a teacher-student ratio of one to five, a strict disciplinary program and a comprehensive curriculum form the core of their new educational program. The Boys of Baraka follows along with their journey, and examines each boy’s transformation during this remarkable time." cited from http://www.pbs.org/pov/boysofbaraka/

One really cool thing from this class was that we got to meet one of the boys that was in the movie. When the professor told us this I was super excited and to be honest I was hoping to meet one of the other boys in the film more. Although, I have to admit that it was really great to meet Devon Brown and to see how far he had come from since he was a kid from in the film.

It was nice to seem how well he was doing and to know that he was still very ambitious. He discussed a little about the other boys from in the film. I believe he said that they weren't doing as well and I think one of them was even in jail. That was sad to hear because at the end of the film it seemed like they were doing pretty well too.

You can watch this documentary on Youtube. Just type in the name and you will find it.