The First Grader

A screening and fundraising event for Hope Children’s Home in Kenya

THE FIRST GRADER

Special Guest LARRY HOHLER, founder of Hope Children’s Home
Wednesday, May 4th at 7 pm
$10 Members | $15 Public – Includes Discussion & Reception
Handmade crafts from Kenya will be available for purchase

The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford.

In a small, remote mountain top primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One new applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. Maruge (Oliver Litondo) is an old Mau Mau veteran in his eighties, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance of an education so long denied - even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside six-year-olds. Directed by Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) from a script by Emmy-winner Ann Peacock (The Chronicles of Narnia), The First Grader is a heartwarming and inspiring true story of one man’s fight for what he believes is his right in order to overcome the burdens of his past. It is a triumphant testimony to the transforming force of education. (KENYA/UK/USA, 2010, 103 min., PG-13, DCP | Dir. Justin Chadwick)

Despite the challenges in Kenya, street children continue to prosper at Hope Children’s Home created by Larry Hohler and Joseph Kirima Rwito. In 1975 Larry Hohler, a Long Island school teacher went to East Africa to teach at Gikumene Secondary School. One student, Joseph Kirima Rwito, asked Larry to pay for a two-year course at a teacher training college. Larry did and Joe became a school teacher, headmaster, teachers union leader, the chair for education outreach, and an advocate for homeless children. When the AIDS pandemic was raging, children became homeless after the deaths of their parents, and Joe once again turned to Larry to help purchase a building which became Hope Children’s Home that is now home and school for 79 boys and girls. Join Larry for a special screening of The First Grader and fundraising event for Hope Children’s Home.