The Boys of Baraka opens with a sobering fact: 76% of African-American boys in Baltimore City do not graduate from high school. Having spent years living in Baltimore County, I find that statistic heartbreaking but not surprising. Drugs, prison and death await more boys in Baltimore than a diploma or a decent job. But from 1996 to 2002, the Baraka School in Kenya accepted twenty at-risk 12 and 13 year old boys who spent two years (7th and 8th grade) at the Kenyan boarding school, before returning them to Baltimore for high school. Baraka means ‘blessing’ in Kiswahili and that’s exactly what the program was for many of the boys.

Filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady followed several boys through a miraculous and, for some, life-changing year in Kenya. The film starts at the beginning where a recruiter talks to a group of Baltimore middle schoolers about the Baraka School. It speaks volumes about Baltimore City and Baltimore City Schools that parents (mainly mothers and grandmothers) would ship their 11 and 12-year-old sons half way across the world just for a chance at something better.

The violence of their surroundings seems like something from an HBO series. It’s no coincidence that both The Wire and The Corner – both acclaimed HBO series’ are set in Baltimore City. The boys fathers are non-existent, either out of the picture entirely or locked up. The boys look forward to Baraka.

After arriving at the rural school, 20 miles away from the nearest town, the real work begins. There is a significant culture shock – no TV, no 24 hour electricity, just school and nature. The principal says the environment lets ‘boys be boys’ and they are. There are fights and there are discipline problems but the boys begin to flourish. Romesh especially begins to shine academically. His brother, Richard does his best but he begins the program reading and performing at a second grade level.

After a year at Baraka, the change in the boys is significant as they return to Baltimore City for the summer. Boys, who might have never left the city if not for Baraka, return with eyes open seeing their old surroundings in a new light. But for these boys, the two-year Baraka program is tragically cut short. Terrorist threats in Kenya force the program to close down denying them their second year. The prospect of staying in Baltimore is more terrifying for the boys than any terrorist’s threat.

If not for Baraka, no one would have given these boys a second thought. Their fates had largely been decided. What the Baraka School and this documentary proved is that if given the opportunity, these boys can thrive. Even with just a year under their belts, some boys manage to take the lessons learned in Baraka and apply them to their situations, others aren’t so lucky.

The Boys of Baraka is about the boys and by focusing on them, the film finds its center and its heart. However, I wish I had learned more about what actually went on at Baraka. I wanted to see more of the classrooms – what the boys learned, how they interacted with their teachers – to me that would have given the film an added dimension.

The film ends as abruptly as the experience ended for the boys in the program. You sort of feel short-changed, then you realize that they felt short-changed to. The DVD includes postscripts on some of the boys as well as a discussion with Bill Cosby on what it would take to make Baraka-style transformations on kids’ right here in their communities.

You can’t help but root for these boys and hope that the blessing that was Baraka continues to bless their lives.