Money: 25th February 2020

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Today in class, we wrote about money.

A friend visiting from overseas recently left behind a pile of old and worthless Kenya shilling notes. It is hard to throw away currency and so I thought these old notes might be an interesting creative writing prompt for class.

The class, as usual, approached the topic in different ways. There were a number of spoken word pieces which explored what money means to them. There were some short stories which cleverly wove money, or lack of, into the fiction. DB wrote a poem (below) which looks directly at the lifespan of the grubby notes I brought into the classroom.

In discussion time after the writing exercise, the students talked about their feelings about money. Some concluded it was ‘the best thing to have in the world’ while others disagreed and said that ‘love and happiness’ were the only things to value.

Many in the class said that issues around money have influenced them greatly in their lives, and for some, a significant factor in the journey to jail.


Money
By D.B.

I have been all over the world
through many hands I have travelled
I’ve been abused by many
I have the marks to prove it

In shops, I’ve been many times
People had me in their pockets
They bragged about me always
I was their pride and dignity

Children fought for me
I’d put a smile on someone’s face
There was joy when I was near
I was the boss all over

I could’ve bought many stuffs
but today they say I’m worthless
They only keep me as a memory
All over the place a relic of before





Creative writing class from Langata Women's Prison, Kenya



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