Confession I: Mia Kirshner

This past Saturday The Confessionals attended the “I Live Here/ Malawi Prison Literacy Project Fundraiser event in Santa Monica, California, hosted by Mia Kirshner, Operation USA, Causecast, CODEPINK. Mia explained this evening that she serendipitously wasable to visit the Kachere juvenile prison after a failed attempt of trying to visit the adult prison.

Upon her visit she was taken a back in what she saw as typical living conditions the children were experiencing; from the smell of feces due to lack of toilets, plastic bags being used as plates, rooms crammed with overflowing people for sleeping quarters, no soap for more than a month resulting in rashes, children eating only one meal a day, to the invisible figures of teachers and utensils that could educate these children who all seemed eager to express themselves in a positive light despite their dismal life experience. Most of the children have lost their parents due to the prevalence of AIDS in Malawi, or are sick themselves with high rates of tuberculosis and AIDS amongst other near death illnesses. The majority of them have been incarcerated because of petty crimes such as stealing food due to the high rate of poverty.

We were able to have a quick conversation with Mia, and she was as graceful, honest, open, and passionate you could imagine one who would set such a project out to the world would be. We spoke of unheard voices in several cultures, many in which politics does not allow the world to see, and exchanged laughter about the humor of life bringing you into new great heights. We continued our evening through exploring an interactive multimedia experience in which she and volunteers for this benefit set up. Through several dark red-lit hallways there were visual elements of “I Live Here” pasted onto the walls in which people navigated with flashlights that were given to us. There was even a tent displayed in which a phonograph inside played an audio recording of Mia interviewing one of the prisoners in Malawi. We crouched down into it to listen and saw a box that had red booklets carefully constructed and tied with thread that explained the purpose and future of these anthologies. Mia mentioned earlier this evening that the most incredible statement was from a young boy she met in the juvenile prison in Malawi. She repeated it to us since it resonated so strongly within her. He said “ My goodness is my wisdom which is my strength and my future”. This evening truly shed light on the fact that through Mia’s vision along with the support of many advocates present to make this possible there will be a future for the children in Kachere prison. She has expressed before “that if you have a belief that something isn’t right, and you see it through in terms of the change that you want to see, you will see that change.” And indeed we will see change in Malawi along with the various other anthologies Mia intends to create with future travel.

There was an incredible turnout of generous people who bid on items during the auction, which in turn met the goal of making the Literacy Project an actual reality, as well as being able to donate items that these children needed to live in proper health conditions.

Other figures such as KCRW DJs Tom Schnabel and Nic Harcourt spun tunes through the night and even the likes of “L Word” co-star Rose Collins made an appearance on-stage to encourage higher bids during the auction that took place.

For more information please visit: www.i-live-here.com , or add I Live Here Facebook Cause, and MiaK_iLIVEhere on Twitter.