Koran Jenkins, 13, has undergone eight surgeries since September. A fund-raiser is being held to help his mother, Ayodele Nzinga, with growing expenses. Chronicle photo by Katy Raddatz
East Bay artists rally to help burn victim
Patrick Hoge, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 2, 2004
Source
Ayodele Nzinga had heard somewhere that gasoline was effective for killing head lice, and she was applying the fuel to her son's hair in her Berkeley kitchen on Sept. 18 when a spark from the pilot light on her stove flared, and the boy caught fire.
Koran Akindele Jenkins, 13, was severely burned over 22 percent of his body, particularly his head and hands, from which he lost most of his fingers.
A self-described "hip-hop lyricist'' who has performed in a duo with his brother Stanley, 12, called M.A.C., Koran looks forward to again pursuing music and theater with The Lower Bottom Playaz, a troupe that his mother directs at the Sister Thea Bowman Theater at the Prescott-Joseph Center For Community Enhancement in West Oakland.
Nzinga, a single mother of seven, said that at first she was racked with guilt, but now she is determined to focus on her son's recovery.
Nzinga directs three nonprofit theater groups around the Bay Area, and is also a poet and spoken-word performer whose stage name is WordSlanger. She is an artist-in-residence at the Prescott-Joseph Center.
Such artistic pursuits do not make much money, Nzinga said, and she has suffered financially, even though Koran has received much of his medical care free from the Northern California Shriners Hospital in Sacramento.
Nzinga said the costs of driving back and forth to Sacramento, staying in motels, using cell phones and buying medications have combined to bring her family to the brink of financial ruin.
"We are not rich people. This has played total havoc with a really, really delicate budget,'' Nzinga said, adding that she is two months behind on rent and facing large utility bills. "We are on the verge of economic collapse. ''
To help Jenkins' family, numerous performers in various disciplines will gather for a benefit Sunday at Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center in Berkeley. The evening features Wavy Gravy and the Original Action Pack improvisational comedy troupe, as well as Rashidi Omari, Silver, Rudi Mwongozi and Nzinga.
Wavy Gravy got involved because for six years Koran has been a scholarship student at Camp Winnarainbow, the circus and performing arts camp in Mendocino County that Gravy runs with his wife, Jahanara Romney. Nzinga's children have attended the camp for more than 15 years.
"It's a horrible thing that's happened to this child, and I'm honored to be able to do something to help him in his recovery,'' Gravy said.
Also helping to organize the fund-raiser is Zippo Dickinson, one of the primary staffers at Winnarainbow, who visited Koran regularly while he was hospitalized.
Dickinson said he had worried that Koran, a gifted athlete, would be vulnerable to depression because he held himself to such high standards on the basketball court.
To Dickinson's surprise, however, Koran has shown tremendous patience.
"He's just maintaining himself very well. It's mind-blowing,'' Dickinson said. "It has been amazing how well he's maintained a positive attitude and how he's tried to help those who are helping him.''
"I get depressed sometimes, feeling sorry for myself," said Koran, who has undergone eight surgeries. "I wonder why this happened to me. But it was just an accident. There's nothing I can do to make it different.''
Benefit for Koran Jenkins
The benefit for Koran Akindele Jenkins is at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center, 1317 San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley. $10-$20 donation. (510) 525-5054; www.ashkenaz.com. Donations can also be sent to WordSlanger, c/o the Prescott-Joseph Center for Community Enhancement, 920 Peralta St., Suite D, Oakland, CA, 94607.
E-mail Patrick Hoge at phoge@sfchronicle.com