Tumaini: noun (Swahili). Hope
Steve Neufeld’s powerful script shows us all just how important it is to leave room in our lives for hope. His story explores universal themes of longing and despair. The lifelike and nuanced characters in Tumaini experience tragedy, confusion, unrequited love and above all hope. No matter how hard it may be. Without hope there is nothing. With hope, we can save each other.
Here is a brief plot summary by Steve Neufeld, Screenwriter
It is becoming impossible for Terry Bowman to reconcile his typical suburban lifestyle, with his first hand experience with extreme poverty. He is disappointed when Rene, his student, backs out of her plan to raise money to build a school in Kenya. Melody, his girlfriend, seems oblivious to his desire to make some serious sacrifices to make a difference. However, it is not until a hallucination in the form of a little Kenyan girl begins to haunt his classroom that he seriously doubts that he can teach highschool and live in the suburbs without being a hypocrite. His colleague Candace encourages him to follow his gut, but she is also vying for Terrys affections. Meanwhile, Terrys obsession is blinding him to Renes cries for help, as her incredible potential is squandered caring for her alcoholic mother. He begins to suspect that his vision, whose name is Tumaini, is there to convince him to engage in a more drastically humanitarian lifestyle, but when he starts moving in this direction, it finally dawns on him that he can have a huge impact on the world if he pours his desire for social justice, along with a lot of compassion and understanding, into his students.
