Revisiting: The Vow – Riqie’s Story
Hine Fellow Cameron Zohoori joined the staff of the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) in Lowell, Massachusetts in 2012. UTEC is a teen center formed in hopes of engaging former gang members to trade violence and poverty for social and economic success. At UTEC, Zohoori met and became friends with Riqie Wainaina, a charismatic young immigrant from Kenya. Zohoori’s decision to complete and screen Riqie’s story at UTEC – despite Riqie’s setbacks – gives evidence of the value of a documentary, even if that documentary doesn’t tell the story the filmmaker or the subject of the film hoped it might tell.