The joint event, co-organized by the Embassies of Ukraine and Czechia, hosted journalists, bloggers and diplomats from many countries, and the most prominent writers and broadcasting journalists from Nairobi. Mercy Simiyu, journalist from the Nation Group (Nairobi), still wears the bracelet “the unbreakable” from one of the rehabilitation centres for wounded she visited during her press tour to Ukraine this Summer. “We have to rethink African policy of neutrality” – Ms. Simiyu said after the screening. “This war affects Africa, and we have to tell these stories, that only seems distant, but in fact profoundly influence our lives”.
On Monday October 13th the Embassies of Ukraine and Czechia in Nairobi co-organized a screening of documentary “War Correspondent”, featuring prominent Czech journalist Martin Dorazin.
“War Correspondent” is a picture of war-torn Ukraine seen through the eyes of an award-winning war correspondent from the Czech Republic. Martin Dorazin reports from the front lines, often without internet or electricity. Through Dorazin’s composed perspective, we witness both the struggles of the people and his own balancing act in the field, where he works alongside a Ukrainian priest, who became a baker, to bring bread to those, who remain under the enemy fire.
“Without a trace of dramatization – just an honest, thoughtful account of war through the eyes of someone who sees its consequences every day. It’s a film about pain, fatigue, fear, and at the same time about people who remain humane even under fire. It was interesting to talk to Mr. Martin Dorazin about his experience working in Ukraine and it is important that these stories are heard today, here in the heart of East Africa.” – H.E. Yurii Tokar, Ambassador of Ukraine in Kenya, has said.
“War Correspondent” does not focus on military glory but instead captures the enduring resilience of civilians who remain rooted in their homes amid constant explosions. The film also reaches beyond the war, emphasising that a society’s strength lies in its most vulnerable members.
In the harshest conditions of Avdiivka, Yampil and other towns on the frontline with the last colonial empire in Europe, Martin and Oleg, his Ukrainian friend, are trying to help those, who refuse to leave despite all odds and horrors of the war, supporting vulnerable and traumatised individuals, and strive to maintain their own mental and physical stability in the times of the fiercest war of the modern history.
The joint event, co-organized by the Embassies of Ukraine and Czechia, hosted journalists, bloggers and diplomats from many countries, and the most prominent writers and broadcasting journalists from Nairobi.
One of them, Mercy Simiyu, journalist from the Nation Group (Nairobi), still wears the bracelet “the unbreakable” from one of the rehabilitation centres for wounded she visited during her press tour to Ukraine this Summer.
“We have to rethink African policy of neutrality” – Ms. Simiyu said after the screening. “This war affects Africa, and we have to tell these stories, that only seems distant, but in fact profoundly influence our lives”.