http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Youth) en-us Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:23:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/where-the-water-meets-the-sky Written by Jordan Roberts (March of the Penguins) and narrated by Academy Award&reg;-winner Morgan Freeman, Where the Water Meets the Sky tells the inspiring story of a group of women in a remote region of Northern Zambia who achieve the unimaginable: they learn how to make a film as a way to speak out about their lives, raising an issue that no one will discuss - the plight of young women orphaned by AIDS. Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:23:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/where-the-water-meets-the-sky Zambia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Gender, Samfya, AIDS, Africa, Technology, AIDS orphan, Lake Bangweulu, HIV >> VOICEOVER: In a remote region in northern Zambia, deep in the Congo River Basin, is a lake with a perfect name. In the local language, they call this place "Bangweulu", which means, "Where the water meets the sky." Built along the shores of this lake is the town of Samfya. Home to mostly fishermen and their families, it is one of the poorest places in the country. Abibata Mahama and Dominique Chadwick are filmmakers and teachers, and this is their first time in Zambia. And they're traveling the 300 miles from the capital to find some new students. Their goal is simple - to bring together a group of women and girls and ask them to speak out about their lives. But they won't just be talking with each other. If the project succeeds, a group of women from Samfya will be heard by their entire community. And they'll be sharing their views in an altogether different way, using a tool that most here have never seen before. >> TITLE: Where the Water Meets the Sky >> ABIBATA MAHAMA [Project Co-Director]: When we got to Samfya, in northern Zambia, we decided to get a group of women and girls together from different backgrounds. >> VOICEOVER: The search for their new filmmaking students begins at a local high school. Here, the head teacher has found seven young women keen to join up. Their next stop is the Samfya market, where fresh fish and local produce are sold daily, mostly by women whose average income is less than a dollar a day. Here, they find two young women selling vegetables who agree to take part. Their final stop is a fishing camp on the edge of town, the poorest area in Samfya. The people here live in straw huts without electricity or running water. Very few have ever attended school, and most cannot read or write. At first, the women seem reluctant. But with a little encouragement from Mabel, the project coordinator, here too they have success. >> MAN: They're saying, "We've just come for the women", so we asked, "What about the men?" And they said, "No, no men, it's just for women." So we said, "Things will be difficult for us, looking after the children, washing, cooking for ourselves." But we're allowing them to go ahead and do their work. >> MABEL [Project Coordinator]: This Agnes, this is Anna, this is Lillian, then she is Beatrice, she is Anastasia, this is...I've forgotten your name. Doreen, okay, and this is Royda. So we have about seven from the fishing camp. Don't worry; we'll bring them back later today. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK [Project Co-Director]: I'm Dominique, and I work together with Abibata to run some training for women. We're going to teach you how to use a camera so you can make films that will tell your stories. Once you make a film, produce a film, you can show it to your family, then to your community, to your village, to the other communities in Zambia, and then to the outside world as well. This thing is a microphone, and it takes the sounds, what you hear. >> VOICEOVER: Only half the population of Samfya has electricity, there are no cinemas, and few people own televisions. Although most of the women in the group have never seen a camera or a microphone before, in just three weeks they will produce a film to show the people of Samfya. >> MWELWA [Project Coordinator]: This thing you see here, it records the sound. For example, what I'm saying now, this thing can capture it. >> ABIGAIL [Student]: In the beginning, I was scared of holding these things. I was even scared of getting close to them. But now I have learned they are not difficult to use. And I'm ready to work with them. My life has been like this: I was born in a rich family. But my father wasn't looking after my mother, so we decided to leave our village and went to live with my aunt. I noticed my mother started changing. Every now and again she would go into hospital. So, then in 1995, I think I was in grade two, my mother's illness got worse. So I said, "What are we going to do?" She said, "We'll just leave it alone and God will look after us." My grandfather said, "Daughter, your illness is getting worse. Please bring Abby so she can start living here." So that's how I went to live in Mabumba. One year went by. In 1997, we got a letter saying that my mother had passed away in Lubwe hospital. So I said to myself, "Now that my mother has died, what am I going to do?" And so I left the house and I went to the bush, where I stayed for two days. While I was there, I just cried. >> WOMAN: Through our suffering, we've looked after her. Whatever we had to eat, we shared with her. Whatever we had, we gave her, to make sure she grew up well. I want her to live well and be settled in life, to take care of herself and be independent. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: So you position them and make sure that the camera doesn't face the sun. So put them somewhere, maybe there. >> BRIDGET [Student]: The thing that pleased me the most was how to use the camera for filming. I never knew how to use a camera. I would see people filming and just admire from afar. They would be showing off, not letting anyone touch it. Now I'm happy because I have learned how to use a camera. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Who else wants to take the camera, and what else does the person want to do? >> ANASTASIA: I want someone to go over there and talk. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Okay, so press the red. Ask her to press the red button. Good. You see that is dark, because they are in the shade. >> VOICEOVER: After their first introduction to the cameras, the group must now turn their attention to themselves. The women are encouraged to open up about their lives here in Samfya. >> MWELWA: Let's talk about issues for our film that could make a big impact. After we make the film we'll take it to the villages. It will bring a message and help teach people. Can you see us doing this? >> MWELWA: It was difficult for some of the women in the group, because they had never shared their life stories with anyone. In our Bemba tradition, from the time one is born, it is customary for women not to speak their minds in front of men. Women are not given the opportunity to speak out about their problems, or other things that affect people's lives in the villages, so they're not used to speaking out for themselves. >> MABEL: Ladies, we've come together to talk about the hardships we're going through. The problems that we go through, ladies, are many. We have to talk about them. So now is the time to be open. We don't get opportunities like this everyday. >> LYRIEN [Student]: I really wanted to go to school but my father died early, and there were ten of us, but my mother couldn't look after all of us so we were forced to get married early. All we have found in our marriages is suffering. >> AGNES [Student]: With AIDS you could be a married woman, sitting at home being faithful, while your husband sleeps around and brings you the illness. >> FRIEDA [Student]: What can we do so that this disease goes away? Children are suffering because their parents have brought this disease. What can we do to reduce the impact of parents dying from AIDS? Had it not been for the parents bringing in the illness, they wouldn't need to turn to prostitution and we wouldn't see our communities filled with orphans. >> FRIEDA: Because women here don't talk about the problems we're faced with, we've been held back. But if we spoke out about the problems we're faced with, it would lead to progress for the women in our society. I am happy to be a member of this group of women, because this group is helping us to talk to each other and to share ideas and explain the problems we are facing. It brings me a great deal of concern, this disease of AIDS. The reason I'm talking about this is because it's gripped my heart. If I were to die of AIDS, what would happen to my children? Will they be like those children of other dead parents who have to struggle with all sorts of problems and maybe become street kids because they don't have anyone to help them? All of these are challenges. >> VOICEOVER: It's their second day. The women must now focus on their film and decide which story it will tell. >> MWELWA: Now we should talk and tell each other stories, things that have happened to you, your family, or your friends. From all of these stories, we will choose one story that will suit us best. >> LYRIEN: In grade three, I was only allowed to stay for half the year. Then I was told, "You will no longer be going to school. You always come back late from school and it doesn't leave enough time for you to work at home." >> WOMAN: I left the village and came to my sister's place here in Samfya. I've been trying to earn money by selling fish but it has not been easy. >> VOICEOVER: As the women share stories from their lives, one story emerges which strikes a chord with them all. >> JOSEPHINE [Student]: My friend was born into a very happy and rich family, whereby the parents were able to support her with everything she needs at school. Just as she reached grade five, her parents died of AIDS. >> VOICEOVER: The story of Josephine's friend Penelope brings up an issue familiar to every member of the group: the plight of young women orphaned by AIDS. But in a community where AIDS is rarely spoken about in public, no one knows if Penelope will be willing to talk about her experience, especially in front of a camera. Penelope is a student at a local high school. The group asks Mabel, the project coordinator, to try and find her. >> MABEL: So are you okay with being open and telling your story? >> PENELOPE [Student]: Let me tell my friends to look after my books. >> MABEL: You don't need to be afraid; you can be open with them. You can explain everything. Are you ready? >> PENELOPE: My name is Penelope. I was born into a rich family. My parents died a long time ago, when I was in grade five. When I joined this group, I explained everything that had happened to me. I came from a great family. My father was a miner. He became ill when I was eight years old, and then he died. One year passed, and then my mother died. Before she died, she explained that she too was going to die. She said, "Your father's death certificate says he died of AIDS, so I'm also going to die of AIDS." She died when I was ten. After my mom died, we didn't have a source of food, so my older sister started taking what was left in the house and exchanged it for food. After everything in the house was sold, she started sleeping with men who would provide us with food. After that, my sister also became sick and died. When my sister died, my aunty came to get us to go and live with her in a fishing camp. >> PENELOPE: My uncle would go fishing, and when he came back, we had to take the fish to the market. >> VOICEOVER: With Penelope now a member of the group, filming can soon begin. Their film will raise issues that affect them all. >> FRIEDA: Penelope's story is similar to mine because when she lost her father they grabbed all the property and left them with nothing. That's the same thing that happened to me. >> BRIDGET: I was seven years old when my father died. My father's family came and took everything. Everything. So when I heard what had happened to Penelope, I felt really bad, and I thought, "I'm not the only one this has happened to." >> ABIGAIL: I know that many of us here in this group have lost both parents to AIDS. Both my parents are gone. Victoria lost her parents; Josephine's lost her parents. Bridget lost her father and Exildah lost her parents too. >> MWELWA: The way I see it, it's not easy for Penelope to reveal how her parents died of AIDS. But our friend is courageous enough to stand in front of our group and is prepared to share her story. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: We asked you to think about somebody who is between twelve and thirteen years who looks like Penelope. Can you see their faces? Do they look alike? This is Cindy, and in their drama Cindy is going to act Penelope when Penelope was between twelve and thirteen. >> PENELOPE: So you will act the part when my parents died from AIDS. You take your bags and go live in the fishing camp. There you will catch fish with your aunt. So you will act these parts and I will follow up when I'm older. >> CINDY [Actress]: Now is this a true story? >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: Yes, it's her story. I think you look enough alike. Thank you, that'll be great. >> VOICEOVER: The filming of Penelope's story begins, and they're heading to the fishing camp, home to some of the women from the group. Their camp is a perfect setting for a scene from Penelope's life. After her parents died she went to live with her aunt in a camp much like this one. >> MABEL: Hello, nice to see you again. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: How did you collect this, with your hands? >> PENELOPE: With my hands. You will start throwing them there. After finishing sweeping, she could be throwing them there. >> LYRIEN: Action! >> MABEL: Make sure you don't cut off her head. Point up, point up. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Because the person whose story is being told is around, we make sure that she checks because it is her story. She owns the story, so she checks to make sure that everything that is being said is authentic. >> PENELOPE: I've even explained to my brother that, well, he should look so sad to show that life has changed. You have moved into a community - to a fishing camp - so life has changed. So you have to show sadness. They have done very well, they have done very well. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: So you must tell them. You must say thanks. >> PENELOPE: Thank you, you've done great work. >> TITLE: Agnes >> AGNES: Today was really great because I took my first photograph. I was really happy that I could learn to zoom in and out, what to press, how to open the lens in front, and how to switch it on. That made me really happy. I asked them to show my husband what I had filmed, and they showed him, and he said, "Wow, did she do that?" And they told him, "Yes". He said, "She has learned," and I felt really good. Penelope's story is similar to mine. The death of her parents reminded me of when my dad died. I really wanted to go to school, but my mother was alone and couldn't send me. For Penelope as well, she didn't have support to go to school, so her story touched me. There are lots of problems here, like buying clothes and blankets for my children, and now one should be in school, but she can't and this hurts me. We had her registered and she wants to start school, but we can't afford a uniform. At school they don't take children unless they have a uniform. I wish all the children here could go to school. It would be good if they could work in offices. We won't have the chance, but they should. They should progress in life. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: So what do you do when the camera is not straight? You just undo that and you hold the camera. >> MAKUKA: Oh baby! She doesn't want her mommy off having fun. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: Is that your baby? >> MAKUKA: Yeah, yeah. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: You go and feed him, feed her. Who wants to do camera? >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: People settle on different things. Some people will automatically say that, "I want to be on the camera." Somebody will say, "I want to be the sound person"; "I want to be the director." So they don't all go for one thing. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: When you think it's ready, you say, "Action," quite loud. >> MAKUKA: Action! >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Take control. >> ELIZABETH [Student]: No! >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Director, take control. Find out whether your sound is okay, your camera's okay. >> MAKUKA: Are we recording? >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Please go back. Then you ask your cameraperson to roll before you say "Action". >> MAKUKA: Oh, I thought it was just a try. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: No, no. We are going for a take now. >> MAKUKA: We are recording. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Okay, okay. So ask everybody to stand by. >> MAKUKA: Be on standby, please! Action! >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: I can see that they are progressing, and they are happy, and they are eager. They are using technology to tell their own story, and they're really happy about it. I'm very optimistic that at the end of the day they will have a very good story that they will be proud of. And we will also be proud of them. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: Shout, "Cut!" >> MAKUKA: Cut! >> ELIZABETH: That's what we want! >> VOICEOVER: The next location is the Samfya market, a challenging place for filmmakers, especially for those with only a few days' experience. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: Directors, once the camera is recording, you people shouldn't be talking. When you go back and you play, you see that all your noise will be there. And when you are actually filming, you don't need that. So once she says, "Sound ready. Camera ready. The actor is ready" and you say, "Record. Action", all the crewmembers should stop talking. And the one controlling the crowd, if there's somebody making unnecessary noise, you go and drive those people away. >> VOICEOVER: After moving in with her aunt, Penelope had no choice but to leave school and sell fish in the market. But she would earn very little money. By this time, her situation had become desperate. >> PENELOPE: At the market, I would bump into my friends who were also orphans. They said, "You are wasting your time here at the market." I saw how well they looked and I thought I could join them. I thought maybe if I go into the same work as my friends it might help me. But my friends hadn't told me what work they were doing. That's when they showed me the house and said, "This is where you should come." I became a prostitute when I was 14 years old. What made me become a prostitute was hunger at home. I didn't want to be a prostitute, but the hardship had become extreme so I did what my friends were doing. The men didn't treat me very well. When I said, "Let's use a condom," they would be very difficult. They would say, "What makes you think you're so special?" When I saw that I wasn't earning enough money with the condoms I could have started doing it without using them, like my friends. Maybe now I would be sick, like my friends. Prostitution is a big problem here in Samfya because there are so many orphans. There's so much AIDS here, it's as if it was born here. When AIDS takes the parents then their children suffer, then they become prostitutes, and if they have children, it will just continue. When people see this film they will see the truth. This gives me the strength to continue with this work. Sometimes I want to stop because what I am acting is difficult, but then I think, "I'm not the only one that this has happened to." There are others who are going through the same situation. Let this film teach them. >> VOICEOVER: With help from Benjamin Chama, the headmaster of a local school, Penelope's ordeal came to an end. >> BENJAMIN CHAMA: I've seen so many girls fall into this trap of trying to get money. They go into bars, they will stay in the bars with their friends, they will be abused so much, and they will end up maybe getting HIV/AIDS and it will result in death, most of the time. When I first met Penelope, she was in a group of friends. I think those friends did not really want to have anything to do with me because they knew I was headmaster of a school. But Penelope stopped, I could see that she was quite a polite child and maybe she had just gone wayward because of the influence of the friends. So I offered that she should come back into school, and I could see the radiance in her face. This is a child that was very, very happy! I have in the school, a school of about 1,700 pupils, about 500 orphaned children here. And most of these, you know, it's as a result of HIV and AIDS. As the school head, I have now become a counselor to these children, because I think they need to be given encouragement that they can continue, despite losing their parents. My greatest hope is that every child in this school will finish their education. That will be, I think, I will die a happy man. >> STUDENTS: [Singing] Stand and sing of Zambia, proud and free, land of work and joy in unity. Victors in the struggle for their rights. We've won freedom's fight. All one, strong and free. >> VOICEOVER: With only a few days left before they show their film to the people of Samfya, the women double their efforts to finish on time. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: It's really amazing - you see that in the first place, they are coming from different backgrounds. They don't know the people they are coming to work with. But once you bring them together, then there's a kind of unity, a kind of force among them. The women we bring together, they have to believe and trust that we can guide them to come out with a film at the end of the day. >> JOSEPHINE: Action! >> PENELOPE: How are you? >> MAN: What are you doing? Don't you know that prostitution can lead to HIV? >> CHRISTINE: Is this one your brother? >> PENELOPE: He's my brother. >> CHRISTINE: I want to tell you that there's nothing like that. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: Okay, what was the sound like? >> FRIEDA: Nice. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: Nice? Okay. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: And we have to believe that no matter where they are coming from, the skills that they are going to be given, they can use it to get their voices heard. >> BRIDGET: I've seen a big change in myself because before this group I didn't know how to find a story, or how to find out about other people's lives, how to ask questions. I've never had this kind of strength, but now that I've been in this group I can stand up and talk in front of people in English or in Bemba. I can talk and they can hear me. Now I can do it and I won't even be shaking. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: The VCT scene is a very, very important scene in the film because it will inform people of the urgency to be tested. >> VOICEOVER: Samfya has one the highest rates of HIV infection in all of Zambia, a country where one in six adults lives with the disease. Life expectancy here is under 40. The group has come to a local clinic to film the last major scene of Penelope?s story. She came here as a 16-year-old to be tested for HIV. >> PENELOPE: I was 16 years old when I realized that it is important for me to go for the test at the VCT Center. Because I know that through my background, I was a prostitute, and I realized that the men I was sleeping with, I couldn't tell just by looking at them. So, in order for me to be free in mind, I should go and have a test. >> DOMINIQUE CHADWICK: Okay. Action! >> NURSE: How are you? >> PENELOPE: I'm okay, how are you? >> NURSE: I'm fine, thank you. So, you've come for the test. There's one thing I want to find out from you. Have you ever been exposed to any risk factors? >> PENELOPE: Yes. >> NURSE: Was there protection or there was no protection? What I mean is, were you using a condom, or were you not using a condom, each time you used to have sexual intercourse? >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: People have gotten to know other people and they are becoming friends, becoming a family, so it's not that she's just acting, but we have feelings attached to it. And people are sharing her pains; people are sharing everything that she went through. Because she is reliving all that she went through, and that is not easy for her to have gone through that and now reliving it for the film to be made. >> NURSE: Okay. Your results are out. Are you ready for your results? >> PENELOPE: Yes. >> NURSE: Okay, here you are. I see that it says "one", that means it is HIV negative. >> PENELOPE: Yes. >> NURSE: So what do you understand about HIV -- >> MAN: There is an event this evening, at 7:00pm tonight, a film made by women from Samfya. For those of you who like joy and learning, at 7:00pm tonight, a film will be shown, made by women here in Samfya. The film is called, "I've Found My Way." >> VOICEOVER: On the day of the film's first showing, the women decide to get the word out on their own. >> PENELOPE: At 7:00pm there will be a film shown tonight. It tells the story of how orphans are mistreated and what our community can do about the problem. >> ABIGAIL: This film is made by the Samfya Women Filmmakers. We are teaching one another, and we're teaching our friends. >> MWELWA: We don't know how people will react after seeing our film, or how they will look at us as a group, and especially how they will respond to our friend whose story we are telling. >> WOMAN: If you have time, we hope you can come and watch it at the high school. >> VOICEOVER: With only a few hours before the screening of their film, Penelope returnS to the village where she lived with her parents, to the place where her family home once stood. >> PENELOPE: When my parents were alive my life was good. I'll never forget how close we were with my father's relatives, but when death came to my parents, my father's family changed. They came and took our beds so we had to sleep on the floor. We used to have a TV and a stereo, and although the house didn't have any electricity, those things made the house look good. The fact that they grabbed everything wasn't easy, but what could we do apart from accept what's been done? I would like my father's family who grabbed our property to see my story. This is my cousin. This is my auntie, the sister to my father. We are going to show a film about what happened to me at the high school at 7:00pm tonight. Will you be able to come and see it? >> WOMAN [Penelope's Aunt]: I can't come because I am too busy. The farmland your father left is a long way off and I don't have time. >> PENELOPE: I just pretend to be happy when I'm near them. If you could get inside my head when I sat with them, then you could have seen what I was thinking. The thought of them grabbing our property still haunts me. When I'm talking to them I can still picture them taking things from our house. That's what's stayed in my mind; I don't know how to get rid of it. >> VOICEOVER: At Penelope's request, their film's premiere will take place at a local school. It will be the first film ever produced in Samfya. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: It's really brave of her. Not everybody in this school knows Penelope's story. But today, after the screening, everybody will leave knowing that, "Oh, this is what she's gone through." >> ABIGAIL: When I think about how Penelope has shown us all her suffering, I want to urge people to give her the respect she wants and deserves. It has been difficult for her to tell her story. It is not easy to tell people what you've been through, but I'm hopeful that people will respect her for it. >> PENELOPE: I'm Penelope and I'm from Samfya in northern Zambia. My parents were very supportive and loving. But one day, my father died of AIDS and that's when my mother disclosed to us, me and my brother, that she is also going to die. It is so difficult to believe that your beloved one has died. Then, our auntie came and she offered to take me in her fishing community, but my aunt didn't have enough income to support me to school, so I had to start selling fish at the market. My friends, who are also orphans, they've engaged themselves in prostitution. When those friends came, they passed through the market and they started saying that, "We are making a lot of money". So I was eventually convinced to join them in prostitution. I was in prostitution for three months, but I wasn't a happy prostitute. My auntie wanted me to stop prostitution so she went to see the head teacher. So one day, I met him in town. He said that if I'm ready to stop prostitution, he could help me in school. >> BENJAMIN CHAMA: I met your aunt yesterday. She came to see me at the office. She's very, you know, worried about you. Are you willing to come back to school, Penelope? >> PENELOPE: "I'm very much willing, sir. If that could happen, I could be the happiest person in the world!" Because I engaged myself in prostitution, I was worried that I might be infected with AIDS. So I decided to go to the VCT Center to be tested. >> NURSE: So what do you understand about HIV negative result? >> PENELOPE: In my body, you have not found the germ [virus] that causes AIDS. >> PENELOPE: So now I'm back at school. I'm now a changed person. It was because of poverty that I left school and engaged in prostitution. I'm now very happy because I have a future. My story needs to be told to show people how vulnerable orphans are, and nobody should take advantage of them. >> VOICEOVER: As the film draws to an end, the women sense an opportunity. Without prompting, they take to the stage one by one. >> FRIEDA: All the people who made the film are here, and you can start asking questions. >> WOMAN 1: From what I've heard, when you have HIV/AIDS your life is very short. Is it true? >> PENELOPE: Yes, this is true, but the problem is us young people are scared of the VCT Center. We think it's just for adults. But as the film showed, young people like us can go there too. >> WOMAN 2: This shows us that leaving the house and going into prostitution is a very bad thing. Prostitution involves some real dangers. You can get all kinds of sickness and it can end in death. >> ABIBATA MAHAMA: I don't think most of them will ever forget today. Most of them spoke so confidently, and it's all part of what the whole filmmaking and advocacy is all about. Build their confidence up so that their confidently talk about contributing to change attitudes. And I think it's really working. >> FRIEDA: We appreciate your comments; we'd like to hear more. >> BENJAMIN CHAMA: That was very nice, you know, that film that we watched. I want to thank you for being very brave. Thank you for a job well done. Thank you. >> VOICEOVER: With the success of their premiere, other screenings soon follow across Samfya. >> PENELOPE: At the end, people were passing some comments and I was happy that the comments they were passing, they were good. They didn't know that in Samfya, there would be a group like this. >> BENJAMIN CHAMA: The things you've seen do happen in our village, right? Especially to orphans, when property is grabbed from them. >> MAN: This film is very good. Next time, I would like even more information. >> PENELOPE: I'm proud because we want to make a difference. So even my fellow friends, they are proud. >> WOMAN: Stop making noise! We're really thankful for being shown this film. We never expected to see a film like this in Samfya and we really want to thank the people who made it. >> VOICEOVER: After their screenings in town, the women have one important audience left to face. They bring their film back to the people of the fishing camp, to the husbands and children of their fellow filmmakers. >> PENELOPE: Making a film about your life story is not easy, but if you really put your heart into it you can explain everything, because if you keep something to yourself it becomes a burden on your heart. But if you share it with people it becomes lighter. Because of our film, by telling my story, and showing the film to people, my heart has slowly, slowly started to open up. Because of this, I started forgiving my father's relatives. People say, you never forget, but I'm putting the past behind me. >> AGNES: I want to thank those people who picked us up. We never imagined that we would do what we have done, and for that we are on our knees. >> MAN 1: This group has been really good, and they've enlightened us. We've seen firsthand what happens when you leave a child and the child is suffering. I want to say thank you. You who have come to visit us have brought us happiness; you've left us with joy. >> MAN 2: Orphans like me used to shed tears when we saw other kids with their parents, seeing them happy together. This used to bring us misery thinking back to those times when we were with our parents who we've lost. I really want to thank this group, and I'm left speechless. And I ask this group, are we going to see you again? >> SIGN: Sweet After Sweat Shopping Center >> AGNES: This project has brought joy to us women in Samfya, especially us women in the Samfya Women Filmmakers. People in other areas who are not in this group are really envious, and they say they want to join us. Others came to us and said, "It's great what you're doing. You should make more films, you shouldn't stop." I'm hoping this group will continue. Just like a fire, when it's burning, it should keep on burning. >> TITLE: Abigail graduated from high school. She hopes to study business in Zambia's capital, Lusaka. Cindy is finishing primary school. She wants to be a lawyer one day. Frieda cares for three young relatives and her five-year-old daughter. She wants to be a teacher and hopes to begin training soon. Agnes has started her own small business selling vegetables. She is now in school taking literacy classes. Bridget cares for her sister's three young children and her own daughter. She has been elected secretary of the group and is studying social work. Penelope graduated from high school. She has started her own small business and hopes to start teacher training soon. >> TITLE: The Samfya Women Filmmakers went on to show their film to over 3,000 people across their community. The group is already at work on their next film, a documentary about child marriage. This project was made possible by The Campaign for Female Education. For more information about how you can help educate and empower girls and women in rural Africa, visit www.camfed.org. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/kiberatv-kemricdc-project A new home-based HIV testing and counseling program in Kibera is neutralizing the social stigma of being seen going into a clinic to be tested. The program builds on the idea that people will be more comfortable getting tested and receiving information about HIV/AIDS in the privacy of their homes. Mon, 29 Aug 2011 09:57:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/kiberatv-kemricdc-project Kenya, Africa, Health, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kibera, AIDS, Youth, Education, Circumcision >> TITLE: KiberaTV >> WILFRED MASEA [Reporter]: KEMRI/CDC is a home-based counseling and HIV/AIDS testing group that has young men and women moving from door to door with an aim of educating youths, young men, and women on HIV/AIDS. As the rate of HIV/AIDS keeps on growing higher, it is said that 78 percent of couples in Kenya do not know their partner's HIV status. The result also indicates that 7 percent of people aged sixteen to sixty-four years are infected with HIV/AIDS. I have been tested, and I am HIV negative. Do you know your status? KEMRI/CDC, a home-based HIV counseling group, is here for you. Have you been tested? According to statistics, 1.4 million adults in Kenya are living with HIV/AIDS, which also indicates that 56 percent have never been tested, while 28 percent think that they are not infected with HIV/AIDS. CDC is working hard to transform and educate youth in Kibera through a dummy, and also educating them on ways to protect themselves. It is also proven that the medical procedure of male circumcision reduces the risk of getting HIV/AIDS. >> WOMAN [KEMRI/CDC Counselor]: When you use a condom with your partner, you will never doubt yourself on any infection, since you are using protection. We are also campaigning for voluntary male medical circumcision. It has been researched and proved that circumcised men have a reduced risk of contracting HIV by 60 percent. >> WILFRED MASEA: According to them, a large number of young people find it hard to get tested, and have a negative perspective towards the outcome of the results. But through home visits, many of the youths are able to express their views freely, feeling more comfortable being at home than going to health centers for the test. >> AMOS WANDERA [Student]: My name is Amos Wandera, I come from here in Kibera and right now I'm a student. Most of the time, initially, people always fear being seen going into a testing center, because their colleagues will believe that he doubts himself. But the initiative that the KEMRI people have taken to visit people in their houses gives more people the confidence to be tested because nobody will see you out going for HIV testing. You'll just be tested in your house, and there will not be any doubt at any particular time. It is confidential, not very public. >> WILFRED MASEA: This is also another way of educating the whole family on HIV/AIDS matters, matters that many parents do not like to share with their children. >> AMOS WANDERA: We are in another century, whereby we need to understand the reality about HIV/AIDS; we need to know our status so that we may live a good life. So being tested near your parents, near your wife, near your kid, it shows a positive picture of development in the developing world. Well, first of all, I was not tested when I was first going to be tested. I felt like I was scared, I really didn't want to make this particular move. But slowly, within my discussion with the counselor, I really gathered that confidence. And the last time, when she opened her kit, and I saw that it was only one line, which indicated that I'm negative, I felt like jumping up. I felt like I've been renewed, because I didn't trust that I was really negative. I always believe that everybody is positive unless proven negative. So that was the shoe I was in. But when I received that information I saw it myself that I was negative. It was like I was jumping from the seat I was sitting on, and said, "I've been born again. I'm new, I'm clean." So I was so happy. >> WILFRED MASEA: After going through the test, young girls, boys, men, and women, whether negative or positive, are educated on how to be faithful, having one partner, and also how to use protection. Wilfred Masea, reporting for KiberaTV, Nairobi. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-team-episode-4-change-of-guard In the wake of a disastrous loss in their first match together, massive changes are afoot in the leadership of Imani FC. Tension around ethnic, economic, and gender differences rises to the surface as players struggle to deal with the past. Will the roster, captain, and coach of Imani FC all be different by their next match? Fri, 06 May 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-team-episode-4-change-of-guard Kenya, Youth, Soccer, Ethnic conflict, Gender, Ethnic group, The Team: Kenya, Change Makers, Education, LinkTV Picks >> PRIEST: Hey Abbas, relax man, it was just a friendly. No big deal.>> ABBAS: But I got substituted and I'm the captain. >> PRIEST: So? In fact it was me who was removed from the field. Next time you'll do better. I'm the one who got sent off. I spiked the guy.>> ABBAS: Don?t forget I?m the one who ordered it. But it says one thing about you.>> PRIEST: What?>> ABBAS: You know how to follow orders.>> PRIEST: You are silly. It?s only because you are the captain that I even agreed.>> JOHARI: Ben! Ben! Ben! Wake up. Ben wake up.>> BEN: Johari, what's wrong? What's the matter? Would you please excuse us?>> OLI: Sure. >> JOHARI: I had that dream again.>> BEN: You mean nightmare. Take it easy; it was just a dream.>> JOHARI: No, it was what happened.>> BEN: But we're okay. All of us are okay, including Mom and Dad.>> JOHARI: But I could hear them asking for our blood, Ben.>> BEN: Relax; we all got out of it, and probably stronger than we were before. >> JOHARI: I don't know what I would do without you.>> BEN: Let's hope you never get to find out.>> OLI: What was all that about?>> BEN: You will never understand.>> VOICE: And Kezia has the ball; she breaks through, she dribbles past both defenders and unleashes a scathing shot and goal! Kezia has scored. This young girl is beautiful, glamorous and amazing on and off the pitch.>> KEZIA: Tina? Tina? >> TINA: Leave me alone!>> KEZIA: What is wrong Tina? Just tell me.>> TINA: Kezia, this is not like you. One minute you are treating me well, the next you are mean to me. Do you expect me to tell you anything? I won?t. Leave me alone.>> KEZIA: Okay. I am here when you need to talk.>> TINA: Okay.>> COACH: Yesterday you played poorly, and the Bible says you will get your reward. Where is Ben? Oli, where is Ben?>> OLI: Sleeping?>> COACH: Why didn?t you wake him up? I will deal with you later. Now, does this team have a captain? And just what do you think is your role on the team? Laps. Remember, you can still be dropped from the team. >> COACH: You have five minutes to get to the pitch. If not, you are off the team. What's going on here? What?s going on? Ben, what?s going on?>> BEN: I don't know! It?s this crazy woman! I mean she just came up and hit me.>> COACH: Tina, what's going on? Tina, I'm talking to you!>> BETH: Let me handle this.>> KEZIA: Coach, Tina is normally bewitched.>> TINA: Kezia, how do you know, have you become the witchdoctor?>> BETH: Tina, Tina. You can talk to me>> TINA: What do you want me to tell you?>> BETH: What is the problem?>> TINA: I don?t have any problem.>> BETH: And the nightmares?>> TINA: You can't change anything. If you want to help me, just leave me alone.>> COACH: Yesterday?s match was a disaster! Abbas, you are the captain. What happened?>> ABBAS: Coach, I don't mean to be rude, but the problem is playing with these girls. That?s the truth. That?s the truth.>> COACH: I see. Does anybody else have any other views? >> JACKIE: The problem is the boys. They were refusing to pass us the ball even when we were in the right positions.>> ABBAS: Coach, the best example is Tina. She runs away any time a defender gets near her. How can we play like that?>> JACKIE: What did you expect, for us to rush into a defender?>> BEN: Football is a contact sport.>> ABBAS: Exactly.>> PRIEST: Let me tell you, these girls are letting us down. If you don?t want to meet head on with someone then there is nothing you are doing on the pitch. Go home, you are selling us out.>> TINA: Why should you be on the team if you want to play alone? Why don?t you just become a goalkeeper? >> COACH: Order! Tina has a point. You all failed to perform as a team.>> OLI: Not all of us coach. I was better.>> COACH: As the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link!>> BETH: Thanks to technology, it doesn't have to be my word against yours.>> COACH: First, there was a total lack of teamwork. Boys, what makes you think you can play this game without the girls? And then, there are those who decide who their coach should be. And then there was just plain stupidity! I not only have one fool on the team, I have two! And what makes it worse, one of them happens to be the captain.>> PRIEST: What do want me to do?>> ABBAS: Get her off the pitch.>> PRIEST: Do I trip her? That?s easy work.>> COACH: Priest, I expected better of you than to act like Abbas' robot!>> ABBAS: She had to be stopped. She was making us look bad.>> COACH: Abbas, your attitude is all wrong. Having said that, we also had some moments of brilliance. And that, boys and girls, is how a team should play. Now, I hate to do this, but I have to. I need to cut the team to ten players. So the following four will be leaving. Tony.>> TONY: Coach.>> COACH: Jane. >> JANE: Coach, please.>> COACH: Juliet. Myna. Now, not everyone can be on the team. The remaining ten players consider yourselves very lucky. I expect to see more effort and discipline from you. One more thing: Abbas, you are no longer the captain.>> ABBAS: But why coach?>> COACH: Who is the coach of this team?>> ABBAS: It is you.>> COACH: Who makes the decision here?>> ABBAS: it is you.>> COACH: Good! Now, do you understand that your conduct on the pitch was not that of a captain or a leader, but that of a gangster or a vigilante? That I will not allow on my team.>> ABBAS: I think -->> COACH: I will only discuss this if what I?m saying isn't true. Priest! Don?t go on leg breaking errands. Johari!>> JOHARI: Yes coach?>> COACH: You are the captain.>> ABBAS: Coach, you can't do this to me! >> COACH: And who are you to tell me what I can or cannot do?>> ABBAS: But I was elected!>> COACH: My first mistake. This is a football team, not a political party.>> ABBAS: This is unfair! You are being so hard on me.>> COACH: If I were being hard on you, you would have been one of the four I dropped. >> ABBAS: No, listen. I?m sorry. All I?m asking for is that you give me another chance.>> COACH: That you're still on the team is your other chance.>> OLI: Hey, congrats. I?m proud of you.>> JOHARI: Thanks. Oli, I can't be captain. I don't even want to be captain.>> OLI: You'll make a very good captain.>>J OHARI: You think so?>> OLI: I liked the way you handled the team during the friendly. That was brave of you.>> JOHARI: But I let in four goals!>> OLI: If it weren?t for you, it would have been much worse. I thought I was the only one who thought so, but thank God coach thought so too. >> JOHARI: What about the rest of the team?>> OLI: They're all behind you. Trust me, they are.>> JOHARI: What about Abbas?>> OLI: Don?t mind him. He?ll sort himself out. Now cheer up. It?s your happy day. See you around.>> BEN: Hey sis. Or should I call you captain?>> JOHARI: Don't you start?>> BEN: Did you ever imagine you would be captain of this team?>> JOHARI: Not at all.>> BEN: Neither did I. But it works for us, right?>> JOHARI: What do you mean?>> BEN: Hey, I'm you brother, your twin. Doesn't that count for something?>> JOHARI: Yes it does. It means that as the captain, I'll have to make sure I'm not accused of favoritism. So you have to work harder than before.>> BEN: You must be joking.>> JOHARI: No Ben, I'm not joking. You have to work harder than ever everybody else. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some things to attend to.>> MR. BUKENYA: How much?>> MAN: The total value, which is inclusive of insurance, is 22.5 million shillings. Two weeks to arrive at the boat and our commission will be five million shillings.>> MR. BUKENYA: That?s too little. >> MAN: Mr. Bukenya, considering that our only work here is to facilitate the procurement of these goods, it makes very good business sense that we accept their offer. We won?t be breaking any sweat bringing in these goods, and mark my word Mr. Bukenya; we will then be retained as their official agents in the East African region. Which would definitely be good business for all of us.>> MR. BUKENYA: Coach, how are you doing today?>> COACH: I?m good.>> MR. BUKENYA: How is the team doing?>> COACH: The team is fine; the players are in good shape.>> MR. BUKENYA: Great. You know, sometimes I, Mr. Bukenya, have to step in, for the interests of his investment. >> COACH: I don't understand.>> MR. BUKENYA: This tournament presents a very good opportunity for me -- I mean for this community -- to prove a very important point. You see, for the last ten years I have been in all kinds of businesses and charities. But none as visible as this one, when one has to deal with people directly, especially young people.>> COACH: But Mr. Bukenya, football earns nothing compared to, for example, your petroleum business.>> MR. BUKENYA: True, true. But that's not like this football tournament that we are in. I mean, the whole country is watching; there is extensive media coverage. Don't you get it? >> COACH: I see.>> MR. BUKENYA: And what better way to show that? A team is comprised of players from all corners of Kenya.>> COACH: Mr. Bukenya, I keep on losing you.>> MR. BUKENYA: That is the point. You will keep on losing me as long as you continue sacking elected leaders of the team.>> COACH: So you mean he came complaining to you?>> MR. BUKENYA: But he was elected by his teammates. >> COACH: In an election he won because he was able to buy the players.>> MR. BUKENYA: That?s beside the point. >> COACH: Fine. Abbas can be captain, as long as I'm not coaching this team. >> MR. BUKENYA: Coach. I know we can reach a compromise. >> COACH: Mr. Bukenya, not on this.>> MR. BUKENYA: Okay, have it your way.>> COACH: Have a very good day, sir.>> KEZIA: Tina, do you have to practice in the room?>> TINA: I?m just doing a little practice.>> KEZIA: It makes the room smell of sweat.>> TINA: Sorry, I am about to finish.>> KEZIA: Tina, I have a plan.>> TINA: Which one?>> KEZIA: Why don?t you go share the room with Johari?>> TINA: Why?>> KEZIA: Just like that. I feel like I?m in your way.>> TINA: How?>> KEZIA: Just like that.>> TINA: Why don?t you go share a room with Johari?>> KEZIA: No hard feelings?>> TINA: Is it because of my tribe?>> KEZIA: Listen Tina, not everything is about tribe. >> TINA: Okay, you go away.>> KEZIA: It is not hard. I will go.>> TINA: Okay, go.>> COACH: This is the line up for our next match. In goal will be Johari. Backs will be Priest and Oliver. Then Kezia, Ben, and Tina will strike, and Abbas will play midfield. If there is a problem and any of you thinks they can't play, let me know. Good. Well, I hope you play better than you played in the friendly. Good luck.>> ABBAS: Coach, I just wanted to thank you for including me on the team.>> COACH: No problem, as long as you realize it had nothing to do with your father or Mr. Bukenya. >> ABBAS: I know. In fact, I?m so sorry for running to Mr. Bukenya behind your back.>> COACH: Do you really mean that?>> ABBAS: I do. >> COACH: You might be learning something after all.>> ABBAS: Thank you. Thank you so much. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-team-episode-3-friendly After a night of partying, led by Abbas, the players of Imani FC don't look up to the task of facing Nyota FC in a friendly match that very afternoon. Coach is angry with the players, and chooses a starting lineup that leaves Ben and Oli fuming. As game time approaches, the team must find a way to play together to avoid losing badly. Fri, 29 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/the-team-episode-3-friendly Kenya, Education, Ethnic conflict, Soccer, Change Makers, The Team: Kenya, Gender, search for common ground, Ethnic group, Youth >> KEZIA: What is all the noise for? Stop being annoying and keep quiet.>> COACH: What did you say Kezia? >> KEZIA: Nothing coach.>> COACH: I thought so. Abbas! Abbas!>> ABBAS: Coach?>> COACH: This is your first and last warning. A repeat of last night and you will be out of here faster than you can spell your names. We have our very first friendly match today, and what do I get? A bunch of good for nothing partying misfits masquerading as players!>> OLI: Coach, with all due respect, you don't have the right to call us names.>> COACH: You, my learned friend, don't have the right to tell me anything!>> OLI: But coach, honestly, why are you ignoring our rights?>> COACH: Not after breaking all the rules of this camp. Ladies and gentlemen, let us agree that we are all doomed. Nyota FC is going to plow through you the way a matatu plows through rush hour traffic.>> KEZIA: And coach, who are Nyota FC?>> COACH: Now let's watch a bit of Nyota FC?s play. Okay, from there, can anyone tell me what their strengths are? >> ABBAS: The girls' faces?>> COACH: Abbas!>> ABBAS: Coach?>> COACH: Can you go and find out where Oli is and tell him to come back here? Anyone else? Yes?>> PRIEST: Let me ask you coach, this Nyota FC, what strength do they have that we don?t?>> COACH: Their strength? Well, it is very simple. They are everything that you?re not. As you can see, they play as one unit and everyone knows their place on the field. They are disciplined, determined, and dedicated. Most importantly, they respect each other's role.>> PRIEST: The way we have become good players yet you say we are not?>> ABBAS: Hey Oli, are you still alive?>> OLI: Barely.>> ABBAS: But last night was fun, man. >> OLI: Honestly, that was the wildest party I?ve ever been to man. My hat is off to you. >> ABBAS: Next time I will definitely take you to a much better place.>> OLI: When is there a next time? >> ABBAS: There?s always a next time.>> OLI: I surrender. I?m not attending any of your parties.>> ABBAS: Clean up. Coach is missing you.>> OLI: No way. I?m never going back.>> ABBAS: Never say "never." >> OLI: No, no, no. My head is killing me.>> COACH: That is the line up for today?s game.>> BEN: But coach -->> COACH: Yes Ben? >> BEN: The team needs me.>> OLI: Excuse me coach, what criteria have been used in naming today's team? Because I smell foul play!>> COACH: Look here Ben, you may be the best player on this team, but always remember that you are not irreplaceable.>> BEN: But coach!>> COACH: Ben! >> BEN: But coach!>> COACH: Ben! When will you learn to respect me as your coach? And as for you Oli, I do not need sick people on my team.>> OLI: Coach, I?m not sick.>> COACH: Look here; I made this decision after a very careful consideration.>> OLI: But then why -->> COACH: An hour ago you looked as if you were dying.>> OLI: Yes coach, but now I feel much better. I?m okay, I promise.>> COACH: You don't look it.>> OLI: Coach, we may not be as disciplined or dedicated as Nyota FC players, but we are determined.>> BEN: Very determined!>> OLI: That's how we got here in the first place.>> BEN: And some of us against great opposition.>> OLI: So please coach, we are begging you. Please give us this chance.>> BEN: Let us prove ourselves.>> OLI: Please coach. We need this chance.>> COACH: All right, you are in.>> OLI: Yes!>> BEN: Yes!>> COACH: But don?t make me regret my decision.>> OLI: Thanks coach!>> PRIEST'S AUNT: Hello?>> PRIEST: Hello.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: How are you?>> PRIEST: Did you receive the money I sent you?>> PRIEST'S AUNT: I got it, thank you very much. How are you doing there?>> PRIEST: I am fine. In fact, today we have a friendly.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: Don?t worry. You will win.>> PRIEST: Thank you. How are Mum and Dad?>> PRIEST'S AUNT: They are fine. Mum was telling me she has a minor cold that is disturbing her.>> PRIEST: Say hello to her and tell her to get well soon.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: I will tell her.>> PRIEST: Thank you. Let's talk later.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: No problem, my child. Thank you. >> PRIEST: And thank you for talking to Mum. >> PRIEST'S AUNT: You?re welcome. Sister, that was Priest, your son.>> PRIEST'S MOTHER: No. Not any more.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: You can't say that. He is your son. >> PRIEST'S MOTHER: I can't believe I brought such a person to this world.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: You have to understand the environment that we live in. All we can do is pray for him and accept him. I believe that will change him.>> PRIEST'S MOTHER: I have tried that for years.>> PRIEST'S AUNT: We can't give up. Furthermore, he?s even trying to reach out to you. Please, let's give him a second chance. >> PRIEST: Hello, Mamou, we can?t talk right now. No, but don?t let it get in the way of business. I will call you later.>> COACH: Where is Priest? Today is your first match as a team. Yes, it's a friendly match. But to me, it is a deciding factor. It's going to decide the tone of the remaining time between now and the championship. This game decides who goes home and who stays in the camp. Therefore, you must play well and you must play good. And to win, you must remember three very important things: One, teamwork; two, teamwork; three, teamwork. And if anyone of you does anything to piss me off, I'll make your life a living hell. Grumbling is one of the things that pisses me off! That's better. Well, if you win today's match, you get an extra day off.>> ABBAS: Imani FC! Imani FC! Tell me, who's going to win?>> TEAM: We will!>> ABBAS: Who's going to win?>> TEAM: We will!>> TITLE: Imani FC: 0, Nyota FC: 1. >> RODEZ: Don?t worry. We've still got a long way to go before the end of the match. >> COACH: Kezia! Long ball, long ball!>> RODEZ: Kezia! Short pass! Kezia, short pass!>> COACH: Long ball, long ball! What is she doing? >> TITLE: Imani FC: 0, Nyota FC: 2. >> TITLE: Halftime: Imani FC: 0, Nyota FC: 2. >> COACH: Now, could someone please tell me what is going on out there? Ben! You practically begged me to put you in today's team. Now prove to me that I've made the right mistake! Kezia! >> KEZIA: Yes coach?>> COACH: Who's the coach of this team? Now can you try and remember that before taking unsolicited coaching from foreign entities! There can be only one team coach at a time.>> KEZIA: Yes coach.>> COACH: Abbas, football is a team sport. I need to see your team spirit. Clear?>> ABBAS: Crystal.>> COACH: Now the rest of you, I want you to go out there and pull up your socks. I need you to go there and do better than you did. All right?>> TITLE: Second half: Imani FC: 0, Nyota FC: 2. >> TITLE: Imani FC: 0, Nyota FC: 3. >> ABBAS: Hey Priest, this team is making us look bad.>> PRIEST: What do you want me to do?>> ABBAS: Get her off the pitch!>> PRIEST: Do I trip her? That?s easy work.>> COACH: Priest!>> TITLE: Full time: Imani FC: 0, Nyota FC: 3.>> BETH: What?s wrong with you? Players shake hands. These players have displayed what it means to behave honorably. Why don?t you respect that by following their example by shaking hands?>> PRIEST: Yes Mamou, I'll be there. No, for the whole weekend. We have leave. Okay. See you in a bit.>> COACH: Well, I was happy to see you help calm the fans down, but their sentiments are valid. You played very, very poorly. Where is your captain? Where is Priest? Well, can you convey to them that this weekend's leave has been cancelled?>> RODEZ: Cheer up! The place where I sat, everyone was cheering for Kezia. I told them, that?s my sister. >> KEZIA: Oh come on. The coach is angry. Even the leave we were supposed to have this weekend has been cancelled.>> RODEZ: Why?>> KEZIA: He said I did not play well. When you told me to pass the ball to another player, coach asked why I listened to you and not him.>> RODEZ: So he is angry with me?>> KEZIA: It will be fine.>> OLI: Ben, come on man! Could you possibly be any more annoying than that?>> BEN: I don't know, but since our leave has been cancelled and I have all this time on my hands, let's see just how annoying I can be.>> COACH: Lulu, I have had a bad day, and we are not going to go through this tonight. Eat the pasta.>> LULU: It is overcooked. Mum didn?t cook like this.>> COACH: Mum is no longer with us; it's just you and me. So you either take it or leave it. >> LULU: I'll leave. >> COACH: Sit down! I?m sorry, please forgive me? Please, please, please? There you are. A smile. Give me a hug? Okay, a handshake then. Good girl. That?s more like it. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/children-of-the-digital-divide The Dharan Information and Communications Technology Center in Nepal offers free training on computer basics for children of poor and marginalized communities. Umesh, Manamaya Darji and Bhakta Shrestha are a few of the many young people whose lives have been changed by the ICT center. Here, they share their experiences. Mon, 28 Feb 2011 09:46:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/children-of-the-digital-divide Nepal, Technology, Information and communication technologies, Education, Poverty, Street Children, Youth >> TITLE: A film by Pranay Limbu. Editor: Santoshi Nepal. >> YOUNG MAN: It was impossible. I come from a squatter community. I had never imagined that I would touch a computer. My hands trembled when I first touched the keyboard. I feared even a mouse would give me an electric shock. >> TITLE: Children of the Digital Divide >> VOICEOVER: Dharan ICT center has been successfully conducting computer training for children of poor and marginalized communities. Trainees receive free training on computer basics, web page designing, photoshop and hardware. >> MAN: They live below the poverty line. Children come from an extremely marginalized community. Some are conflict victims, others are street children and children with disabilities. >> VOICEOVER: Umesh is a former street child. He now gives computer lessons to his peers. There is a junkyard near the Dharan ICT centre. Just like these kids, Umesh used to come to this junkyard to sell discarded items. >> UMESH: I also used to come to this place. I was unaware about the centre though it was at a stone's throw distance. I used to earn a dollar or two per day. Sometimes I wouldn't make a penny. I made money by collecting plastic and polythene bags. I only knew later that ICT was giving training to street children.>> VOICEOVER: Umesh gives counseling to street children for their bright future. >> UMESH: That is ICT centre. I learned to operate computer there. I will also teach you. Will you come?>> VOICEOVER: In Damak, there is a squatter camp just by the river. Manamaya Darji comes from an untouchable or outcaste background. Initially, nobody in her community thought that she would make it to ICT centre. But she has now become a role model for other children in her community. >> VOICEOVER: Once Bhakta Shrestha made a living by pulling rickshaw. Now, Bhaka not only operates computer but is also an IT activist. Bhakta not only takes classes at ICT centre, he also teaches children from deprived background. Bhakta has been a source of inspiration to other rickshaw pullers. >> VOICEOVER: Children at Itahari ICT are preparing for e-news. The meeting decided to give responsibility of writing a report on child marriage among Mushahar community to Dilip Sada and Sanjay Thapa. Child journalists Dilip and Sanjay have come to Musahar settlement. >> WOMAN 1: We've become conscious now. Children have also become literate. Before, the average age of marriage was 15. Now, it is 20. >> VOICEOVER: After finishing the interview, Dilip and Sanjay go back to ICT centre to prepare an e-news about child marriage. The news will disseminated to organizations and communities. >> VOICEOVER: Children's group regularly take information about diarrhea and health issues from the centre to their community. A team of reflect volunteers and children from ICT centre have come to community to raise awareness about diarrhea outbreak. >> WOMAN 2: In order to avoid another diarrhea outbreak we have to be careful and we should use it for rehydration. Otherwise take the patient to the nearest health post.>> VOICEOVER: Recently, Bhakta has been appointed as a layout designer in the local Masline Newspaper. Meanwhile, Umesh has started designing web pages dedicated to the plight and rights of street children.>> TITLE: ICT centers were established in four areas of Eastern Nepal as a pilot project to facilitate the access of poor and marginalized communities to information and communication technology. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/love-and-life-live-on-air <p>In Uganda, where sex education is clouded by myths and misunderstandings, one young radio journalist is giving it to the people straight. Follow Doreen on her mission to spread the word about safe sex, and find out how she confronts the same issues in her own life.</p> Tue, 15 Feb 2011 09:32:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/love-and-life-live-on-air Uganda, HIV, Kampala, Safe sex, Sex education, Sexually transmitted disease, Reproductive health, Birth control, HIV/AIDS in Uganda, Marie Stopes International >> TITLE: Love and Life: Live on Air >> RADIO HOST: Hey yo, what's up guys? This is the Straight Talk radio show. It is fun, educative and hilarious. Stay tuned. >> RADIO CALLER 1: Dear Straight Talk radio: If I put toothpaste on my penis before sex, will my girlfriend get pregnant? >> RADIO CALLER 2: Dear Straight Talk: I've missed my period for two months. Am I pregnant? >> VOICEOVER: Uganda, in east Africa, has many problems relating to sexual and reproductive health. In lots of cases, young people's lack of sex education is to blame. >> MAN 1: Is it true that if you drink a lot soda and have sex with an HIV-infected person, you cannot get the virus? >> VOICEOVER: Doreen is 20 and works for Straight Talk as a radio journalist. Her job is reporting on sex and relationship issues, although she's never slept with anyone herself. >> DOREEN [Radio journalist, Straight Talk]: These are letters from my listeners. They write in telling me their stories, sometimes they have questions about relationships, about sex. You can see this one, it says: "I had my fellow student who I used to sit with and she was beautiful and attractive. After sex I started feeling a lot of pain on the fore part of my penis." Straight talk is an organization whose mission is to give information to adolescents so that they can be able to make informed decisions about reproductive health. I did different interviews with different people. This is from someone called [inaudible] telling me the first time she had sex. >> VOICEOVER: Doreen and her producer Charity are working on their next show, and their theme is of particular interest to Doreen: having sex for the first time. >> CHARITY [Radio producer, Straight Talk]: What do you imagine about first time sex? >> DOREEN: Lots of things. >> CHARITY: Like what? >> DOREEN: I'm still scared about sex. >> CHARITY: No, don't get scared. I know you're scared, but time will come. I thought about sex, but time came when freely from my heart I said, "I think I should have it." So if you're scared, don't do it. >> DOREEN: What is the truth about the first time to have sex? >> VOICEOVER: Doreen sets off around Kampala interviewing young people about their first sexual experience. >> RADIO CALLER 1: Dear Straight Talk radio: I am a 14-year-old boy at secondary school. I always feel like having sex. I want to have sex with somebody. Am I too young? >> RADIO CALLER 2: Dear Straight Talk: I have a boyfriend. He wants "live" sex. And for me, I want to use a condom. Since I don't know his status, what should I do since I love him? >> VOICEOVER: She's arranged to interview Jackie about her first time. >> JACKIE: The way I lost my virginity actually changed my life. It was pressure that led me to lose my virginity. The pressure that I had because I thought it was real love. >> DOREEN: So you guys met, and you get into a relationship with him, and then... >> JACKIE: Because I loved him, I decided to give in for him. Giving in, actually I thought that things were gonna be more better. Unfortunately things were worse. And I got pregnant, he ran away. >> VOICEOVER: Jackie gave birth to a boy. But her troubles weren't over. >> JACKIE: When my child died... >> DOREEN: How old was he when he passed away? >> JACKIE: He was 11 months. When he died I decided to go and have an HIV test and it was bad for me. >> DOREEN: Jackie, What made you think of taking an HIV test after your child's death? >> JACKIE: Well, I was not myself. I used to feel sick. My dad told me, "Why don't you go for an HIV test?" >> DOREEN: Did you use a condom in your first relationship, or the first time you had sex? >> JACKIE: No. I didn't use a condom in my first relationship. >> DOREEN: How different do you think it would have been if you had used it? >> JACKIE: I think it would have been safe. I wouldn't have got pregnant, I think even the virus. Because you know, a condom protects you from various things. >> RADIO HOST: Don't go anywhere. Be here or nowhere. Stay tuned. >> RADIO CALLER 1: Dear Straight Talk: my boyfriend asks sex all the time. What can I do to stop him? >> RADIO CALLER 2: Dear Straight Talk: is it true that if you have sex once, you do not get pregnant? >> DOREEN: I'm going to Marie Stopes to see someone that can talk to me about how to prepare for having safe sex for the first time, yeah. >> SIGN: Marie Stopes Uganda, Namuwongo Health Centre. >> DOREEN: I work with Straight Talk Foundation; I'm a journalist for young people. And I'm trying to do different interviews about having sex for the first time. >> BEATRICE NYAMAIZI [Family planning nurse]: That's very good, because we get so many younger girls who come in for advises, they come in to ask what they should do. >> DOREEN: How do I make sure that I am safe as a young girl? >> BEATRICE NYAMAIZI: Think about family planning. Family planning they solve their various issues. But all in all, family planning doesn't protect you from AIDS or STDs. So you should ask about condom use until when you have decided that you want to get children. >> DOREEN: And then something else you were talking about, inserting the implants and the coil. Would you do that for me as student? >> BEATRICE NYAMAIZI: Yes, of course. It's not for only married people. Even students. You may have sex and when you don't want to have pregnancy, so I can do it for you. >> DOREEN: Thank you very much. >> DOREEN: Well I really learned so much: the different family planning methods. I learned about the fact that even me -- a young girl, a student who isn't a married woman -- I can access the health facilities. And it's really fine; it's not the thing I always thought. I really realize that even if I chose to have sex now, I can be safe. >> VOICEOVER: With her assignment finished, Doreen has everything she needs to make her show. And make a decision about her own love life. But tradition and religion will play an important part in whatever choice she makes. Tonight, she's celebrating her cousin's wedding with her family, and it's really got her thinking. >> DOREEN: Right now I really feel like I ought to wait until marriage. I think it will be more exciting. >> PATIENCE [Doreen's cousin]: Honestly, I think you do it with someone you love. I don't know if it's about marriage or whatever, I think it's about who you love. >> DOREEN: Doing it with someone I love after marriage, that's my opinion. Honestly. >> VOICE: Ah, yes, wonderful! Beautiful. Hug times one, hug times two, hug times three. Can you separate? >> DOREEN: What is the truth about the first time you have sex? I have talked to quite a number of people about this and I have learned a lot. Everybody's story is unique. And they all have different perspectives about sex. But on the whole, I think that what is important is that you feel ready, that you feel secure, and that you have safe sex. This is Doreen broadcasting from Straight Talk studios in Kampala. Hope to be with you next week, same time, same station. Keep safe. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/youth-zones-lebanon During conflicts and natural disasters, young people, at a crucial stage of their development, are faced with numerous challenges. Yet in the midst of these difficulties, youths will also help to raise their younger siblings, put food on the table, contribute to peace movements, galvanize their communities, and contribute in numerous other ways to positive changes. Crucial as these stories are, most of them are never told. Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:53:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/youth-zones-lebanon 2006 Lebanon War, Sierra Leone Civil War, Youth Zones, Lebanon, Beirut, Sierra Leone, ViewChange Online Film Contest, West Africa, Youth, Education >> TITLE: Lebanon>> MAN [War survivor, Sierra Leone]: What did he say?>> WOMAN 1 [Discussion leader]: He said, "What are you doing here? This is a country of conflict.">> MAN: Well, you have to hear where I come from, and then you will know. Sierra Leone, you may not know, brother, but it's a small country in West Africa. And, in 1991, we had a terrible war that lasted for 11 years. I saw, in Sierra Leone, what it meant, I saw how my sisters, my cousins, people that I loved, were sexually abused and raped. I saw houses being burned. I saw schools being burned. I have lived and seen what it means when a society decides to not give a voice to its young people, and ... ah ... yes. >> WOMAN 1: Wow>> VOICEOVER: Exposure to extreme violence is known to cause immense emotional distress to adolescents and children. >> MAN: I just want to hear how you think war affects your lives as young people. >> WOMAN 2 [War survivor, Lebanon]: For me, the war left some negative things inside of me, because we lost many people we knew. >> WISSAM [Student]: In a moment of dust and a stunned soil, no time to lose a tear. >> VOICEOVER: Issam is a 20-year-old student in Beirut who is visiting his parents' home, located in Cyrus city, south of Lebanon, when Lebanon's 2006 war began. >> WISSAM: You can see the cracks in this wall, due to the bombs that were thrown beside the building here, and also another crack here that's well visible. >> VOICEOVER: When the bombs and helicopters were circling above, Wissam and his family and some neighbors took shelter in their basement. >> WISSAM: We don't have enough mattresses, so there was a law: Mattresses are just for the children. Women and men must sleep on the floor. And once I was looking at the children sleeping. I can't forget that image. So, I decided with my sister, since we have a camera, a digital cam, let's take photos. We started doing funny stuff. Just trying to live, to do something because we were so depressed, honestly. Inside, we were so depressed. Maybe, if we died, and the media would come here, and they would see us dead, they can find the camera, and they can see us, that we were civilians, we were peaceful, and we were killed for no reason. I was asking, why do they fight? What for? Life is not worth to fight for it. You're going to lose it. You're going to die someday. So, try to live it. Go. Sing. Dance. Bring colors to people. Give love to everyone. Smile. This is life. It's nice. >> GENWA [Wissam's sister]: I didn't believe in brotherhood. Instead, I wanted to fight. And if I could, I would. I ran away and helped them instead. Today, I'm stronger. I'm not afraid. Now, I'm up for peace or anything alike. Enough bloodshed. Life is a one-time strike. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/favela-rising Life in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro has long been dominated by powerful drug gangs and corrupt cops. But Banda AfroReggae&mdash;part rock band, part community movement&mdash;wants to tell a different story, and give favela youth a different option. Co-founder Anderson Sa tells the group's uplifting story. Wed, 02 Feb 2011 09:13:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/favela-rising AfroReggae, Favela, Vigário Geral, Anderson Sa, Rio de Janeiro, Illegal drug trade, Drug lord, Brazil, Social movement, Afro-Brazilian >> TITLE: Sidetrack Films and Voy Pictures present a film by Jeff Zimbalist, Matt Mochary>> ANDERSON SA: My first memory of seeing violence: I was with my mom at a neighborhood bar, across the street from a spot where they sold cocaine. I was about 10 years old, and the dealers caught this guy that didn't pay for some drugs, or maybe he was an undercover cop, and they started beating him silly in the street. Residents were walking by like everything was normal. My mom covered my eyes, but I could still see through the gap between her fingers. The dealer was standing over this guy and shooting him many times in the head like trrraw. I remember all this stuff flying out of the back of his head, but I didn't cry. I just calmly watched and thought. I was thinking, "I'm not afraid of dying." >> TITLE: Between the years of 1987 and 2001, 467 minors were murdered in Israel and Palestine combined. During that same time, 3,937 minors were murdered in one city in Brazil. >> ANDERSON SA: For many decades, the government has ignored the slums. The government has never thought of improving the lives of the people living in the slums, living in the hills. The slums have forever been stagnant, paralyzed. It's as if the spinal cord of the favela has always been broken. >> TITLE: Favela Rising>> TITLE: Favela (f a ve'la) n. in Brazil, an urban slum or ghetto; illegal squatter settlement>> ANDERSON SA: I was born and raised here. This is the community of Vigario Geral. Of Rio's over 600 favelas, this is considered the Brazilian Bosnia. Instead of falling asleep with our mothers singing to us, we fell asleep to gunshots and people screaming, the sounds of violence. It took me a long time to understand all this. The problems of childhood stay with you the rest of your life. When I was a boy, I often dreamt that I would become a revolutionary drug lord, and I would lead the favelas towards a better life. >> ANDERSON SA: My name is Anderson Sa, and I was educated on the street. We used to play "Cops and Robbers." No one ever wanted to be the cops. We pretended our names were the same as the drug dealers' names. We carved machine guns out of wood, and we ran around pretending we were killing each other. I came from a crew of 17 friends. Seven are dead. Five are in jail. I got involved with the crime organization indirectly. I buried weapons, packaged drugs, little favors here and there. I would witness tortures, murders. I was hanging out with criminals. >> VOICES: I sell weed and powder. / If I didn't work here, I wouldn't work at all. / I use the money to buy clothes and sandals. / I've robbed and killed. / The boss tells me to kill, so I kill for him. / And I'll eventually die for being what I am. >> INTERVIEWER: What's the average age of death for drug soldiers?>> ANDERSON SA: Fourteen to 25 years old. >> BOY: We all kiss their asses. We're like, "Oh shit, what cool guns." All the teenage girls chase the guys that have machine guns. They want to be with these guys, to be respected in here. They have nice motorcycles, so the girls are called "Maria Gasolina." They don't pay any attention to us. That's why I'm getting a motorcycle now, to get some girls. They make about USD$650/week. >> TITLE: Average salary for a Black Brazilian Adult: USD$13/week.>> BOY: Everybody likes that job. The outlaws skin people, man, slice the guy's skin off his body. >> INTERVIEWER: While he's alive?>> BOY: Yep, while he's alive. I will cut your finger off so you can't point. I'm going to cut your tongue out so that you don't go telling things. >> INTERVIEWER: Are you sure this is okay? What if there's someone who hears you now? >> BOY: It's okay. I'm just explaining. >> INTERVIEWER: I get worried about you and me. >> BOY: This is no problem. But, if we used a camera to actually film them up there, that'd be a very serious mistake. >> TITLE: Name unknown, 16 years old.>> ANDERSON SA: It's prejudice. Favela residents are excluded because of our zip code. People think everyone in the favela is involved with trafficking, but the majority are honest people who just want to work and live peacefully. My favela here is one drug faction. Past these roofs is a rival faction. No one's allowed to cross into a rival drug lord's favela.>> MAN: Not even regular favela residents? >> ANDERSON SA: People have family in other favelas. They meet outside the ghettos, in a neutral place. >> JB [Former drug lord, Red Command Cartel]: Vigario Geral was the headquarters of the Red Command cartel. Every drug lord lived here. All the meetings were here. I was a drug dealer here. We were so strong, we robbed and kidnapped during the day. That was through the early '90s. Then came The Massacre. I was at the plaza that day, hanging out with friends. This one police chief used to badger and beat people to extort money. Our drug lord was fed up with this guy because everyone was afraid of him, and I remember it as if it was yesterday. The policeman's car rolled past the church and down into the plaza. The next second, I saw our van slowly driving towards the police car. The police car had its four windows open. My drug lord came out of the van alone and executed all four police. I watched it happen. >> ZUENIR VENTURA [Author and Journalist]: It was August 1993. The favela Vigario Geral, with a population of 30,000 residents, was invaded by an infamous division of the military police. They entered houses and randomly murdered many people. They were avenging deaths of four police killed by outlaws earlier that week. Except, of the 21 people they murdered, not one was connected to drug trafficking. They were absolutely innocent people. This image became the anti-postcard of Rio de Janeiro, instead of the Christ statue or the women on the beach. >> JB: It's the worst thing I've ever seen, all those corpses laid out in a line. That image is tattooed in all of our minds forever. >> ANDERSON SA: It was after 11 at night. I was in front of my house. "Rambo" was on TV. The police entered and started shooting anyone on the street. They killed one guy going to work, carrying his meal. Another guy walked by. They killed him, too. They went into a house and killed a family of eight Evangelists. They killed a 15-year-old girl, a 65-year-old man, and the woman was 70. If I had known at the time who the guys were that did this, I would have found them and killed them. No remorse at all in shooting them, honestly. There was serious suffering and serious rage. >> ANDERSON'S GODMOTHER: Anderson lost his brother in the massacre. I was afraid the pain would push him deeper into the drug army to seek revenge. >> ANDERSON SA: When the shooting started, I had gone inside my house. Then this woman came to us, screaming for my mother. "Something terrible has happened." She brought us to him, and there he was, dead, laying on the floor of the bar amongst other bodies. Even when people have done serious wrong, it's terrible to see them like that. Imagine when it's a family member, and he's innocent. Imagine. The police had checked everyone's papers then threw a grenade and killed everyone at the bar. I started to ask why we wanted to kill each other, why such hatred? Think how to stop violence. Think. I was just figuring things out and discovering without a plan, hope it'll come naturally, got nothing calculated. How do I end violence? >> ANDERSON'S GODMOTHER: I didn't realize how evolved he was at that young age. There was no reason for him not to stay with the drug army, but he didn't think it was right, and he got out. He chose another path, thank God. I am proud of him. It's a great honor to be his godmother. >> ANDERSON SA: Amidst the turbulence, the massacre, my connection to the cartel, I started to think of a better life. My parents were worried about me. They didn't want me on that path. I had clothes, food on the table, things other kids lacked. Somehow, I had to fight for something better, give back to my people for all they'd done for me. This is how it started to happen. There was this guy, Junior, who I always admired for his leadership. Junior didn't believe in lost causes. Junior looked for the people that nobody wanted, the most delinquent, and he worked with them, transformed them, like a warrior. "Why not do it? Who says you can't?" He has no barriers. He breaks them all. >> JOSE JUNIOR [Executive Coordinator, Grupo AfroReggae]: I first met Anderson in a time of terrible adversity. Anderson's from a generation where all of his friends were dead. Similarly for me. If I hadn't lost so many friends, if I didn't have so much suffering in my youth, I wouldn't be doing what I do. We're a group of destroyed people infected by idealism. Our lives all sucked before AfroReggae, but that moment when we formed the group changed everything. It's a Shiva effect. Shiva is the goddess of destruction and transformation. We are a Shiva effect. >> ALTAIR MARTINS [Grupo AfroReggae member]: Our group believes strongly in "the Shiva effect." First, the God Shiva creates the chaos in order that he can then rise as a Phoenix from the ashes. That was us. >> ZUENIR VENTURA: When I went to Vigario Geral to research for my book, that first day, I met the group of kids who became Grupo AfroReggae. It wasn't a movement yet. They had just a little newspaper then. But they intended to not seek revenge for the massacre. Rather, they sought to call society's attention to the reality they were living. >> JOSE JUNIOR: We didn't have any idea what an NGO or social movement was, but we knew the Afro-Brazilian culture was under-represented, so we created the AfroReggae News. The graphics and printing services had to be donated by good will, so we were always waiting at the end of a long line. It was a blow to our self-esteem. People left the group because we didn't have any money. We couldn't even support ourselves, just to stay alive. >> ANDERSON SA: One day, I was caught up in sadness about the massacre. I had a fight with my girlfriend, my sister, my mom, and I wasn't doing well at work. I went home and wrote a song called "To Bolado" [I'm Overwhelmed]. "I'm from Vigario. I love my community, but I'm pissed off." So I started to think about using music as an instrument of change. Ask yourself how to stop violence; culture is a vehicle. How do I use music as an instrument of change? Because through music, you can reach everyone. That's how we did it. It was tough to start the program, but, eventually, we were able to borrow enough instruments. Each week, we'd bring the instruments to Vigario, and a volunteer would come to the favela to teach percussion to us, and it was through music that we appeared. Through music, we changed our reality. And from those percussion workshops, we formed the band and called it AfroReggae. >> TITLE: Banda AfroReggae school benefit concert>> MEN: One, two three - AfroReggae!>> ANDERSON SA [Singing]: Twenty-one workers assassinated by the police. Our people killed by the luck of the draw. Hatred breeds violence. I've had enough. Yet my pride still resides in Vigario. I love my community. But I'm pissed off. >> ANDERSON SA: Young people who live in these hills, what they need is a positive reference, a nonviolent, black role model. It's the favela's choice, because the favela kid can have options. He just isn't given access to information about culture. >> JOSE JUNIOR: Sadly, what attracts a kid to crime is clothes, status, lack of opportunities. The lack of any structured groups for them to join. Youth feel the need to be involved in a collective identity, and, in the favelas, the only such group is the narco-trafficking organization. >> TITLE: Grupo AfroReggae Youth Percussion Program>> ANDERSON SA: Today, I'll show you something new. We'll get the big drums kickin' in, and then we'll do rhythm exercises to get a sense of the division. This is how we'll start. That's it. Let's work it out. Then we'll work some rhythms within it. Let me do it first. Then copy me. Right here. Right here! In all the groups, bands, and programs that we coordinate, no one is allowed to drink, smoke, or do any drugs. These are the rules for all of our participants. For every kid AfroReggae attracted to our percussion class, five were waiting to join the drug army. We were happy just to have that one kid, yet?.>> JB: After the massacre, there were riots, and the police kept killing. >> ZUENIR VENTURA: In the mid 1990s, things continued to turn for the worse. The police and the drug armies expanded the scale of their activity. >> TITLE: Military Police Boot Camp, outskirts of Rio de Janeiro>> ANDRE LUIS AZEVEDO [Investigative Journalist]: This is the elite, specialized troop of Rio police. They go up the hill into the favelas in times of conflict. They dress in black, like most urban SWAT teams, and they are trained in specific techniques of guerilla warfare. Rio de Janeiro police, especially those who work in the favelas, have become extremely corrupt. Police are the real beneficiaries of narcotics trafficking. Drug lords sell, and they make money, but you never see the millionaire drug lord, and in the favela, everyone is miserably poor. So where does all the real drug money go? It goes to the police. Who sells the guns to the favela armies? Policemen. Who delivers the drugs? We know police are always the middlemen. Police corruption may be the cause of all the lack of control in the favelas. >> MAN [Policeman]: This man we found is one of their soldiers. He was up there in their war zone. >> MAN [Policeman]: This one is marijuana, and that one is cocaine. >> JOSE JUNIOR: A member of AfroReggae named Paulo Negueba was shot in the legs by the military police. He was on his way to work and the police mistook him for an outlaw. It was a time when we were extremely angry at the State. We can't wait for the government because they have no control. Yet we know that, to fully reverse our predicament, we'd need support from the private sector, civil society, and the media. >> ANDERSON SA: AfroReggae realized that nothing could be left up to outside authorities. If we keep talking in the third person, judging other parties, then we're going nowhere. >> ZUENIR VENTURA: It was the beginning of a new consciousness, that the solution exists in the participation of each individual. >> JOSE JUNIOR: We mobilized like crazy. The first thing we did was make our own video showing random acts of police brutality to the rest of Rio. >> TITLE: In 1997 and 1998 combined, Rio's military police killed 699 people. Sixty-one percent were executed at point-blank range. Almost all were favela citizens. >> JOSE JUNIOR: There must be some police presence, but their presence needs to be dramatically more civil, more humane. Our police are undertrained, extremely underpaid, and, of all the jobs in Brazil, they are the victims of the most prejudice. >> ANDERSON SA: I have this peacefulness at times that even impresses me. My fiancee is like, "The world can be falling apart and all is wrong, and you're always just calm, convinced things'll get better." >> MICHELE MORAES [Anderson's Fiancee]: I first met Anderson at the bus stop here in Vigario Geral. We had similar work schedules and always took the same buses. Our first kiss was inside the bus. We started "dating," as they say, and we've been together for over eight years now. If everything goes alright, we'll be married beginning of the year, but I'm very afraid of the violence, of dying, afraid of how I'll die. That's really what it is: how you die. Could get caught in crossfire on the street. Could be a stray bullet while you're at work. Middle of the night, during the day, we're always in danger here. It seems like Anderson doesn't fear violence. >> ANDERSON SA: At the same time that I don't let the violence affect me, loss really gets to me. Alone in my room, listening to music, I cry often. Remembering our crew, my good friends, our time together. I wish they could be here now, to see how I've changed, to see I'm a different person. >> JB: I first admired AfroReggae when they started giving those free concerts in the favela. Then I saw AfroReggae was also doing all that positive work with young people. I saw the power their group had in the favela and particularly in the eyes of my drug army. They get respect. I think God writes wise words in crude penmanship. I recruit dealers to AfroReggae now. I go up to a guy with his gun out and tell him to change his life. To them, I'm an example of a guy who got out. >> ANDERSON SA: We have many examples of people like JB in AfroReggae now. Like the other day, JB and I went to a funk party in the favela, and this very ironic thing happened, because a drug lord came up to us and thanked us for what we do. The drug lord told us that his younger brother had joined AfroReggae, and this drug lord said he knew that his little brother would have a better life now and would stay out of crime. All that we do is directly against everything that the drug army is, and our mission is to take youth out of the drug army, yet this drug lord thanked us for the work we're doing. >> TITLE: In 1997, a prominent U.S. foundation awarded Grupo AfroReggae a multi-year project grant.>> ANDERSON SA: We have 13 groups in Vigario now. >> BOY [Member, Grupo AfroReggae]: Before AfroReggae, I was going to become a drug soldier. When I entered AfroReggae, everything changed. >> TITLE: On April 21, 1997, AfroReggae lost its first member. >> TITLE: Bigu Alves was shot dead in the street. >> JOSE JUNIOR: People want to express their anger about these things, but they could be killed if they say anything. Fear controls these people. After Bigu's murder, we started to take more risks. We began speaking out about the drug wars. >> TITLE: Plaza of Vigario Geral>> >> ANDERSON SA [Singing]: An outlaw up in here gettin' beat in our streets for his naked little woman. A gunshot and people scatter. Both cartels got beef with the other. But I got a hammer in one hand, pencil in the other. I'm another one who's made the great escape. Rio's explosion has arrived to stay. The new face of the people's culture, and it's all going to change. We're legitimately on magazine covers, newspaper spreads. We are AfroReggae from Vigario Geral. >> SIGN: Vigario Geral demands justice.>> ANDERSON SA: What are you up to, man, studying? >> MURILIO: Studying sucks. Because we don't do shit in school. >> ANDERSON SA: To be someone, you gotta study. What's your name? >> MURILIO: My name's Richard. >> BOY: Liar. His name's Murilio. >> MURILIO: You gonna believe him or me, man? >> ANDERSON SA: Murilio, why don't you say your real name, man? You think I'm gonna tell on you? I'm from the favela, too, from Vigario. What do you want to be when you grow up? >> MURILIO: An outlaw. >> ANDERSON SA: What are you talking about? Why not be a worker and avoid the suffering? Drug dealers die young. >> MURILIO: I'd rather be in prison than die.>> BOY: Six outlaws just died in Vigario. >> ANDERSON SA: They die every day. It's no good being an outlaw. I know how it is. You'll have money, clothes, all that, but name one outlaw who's 50 years old. They're all dead. You have to work, Richard Murilio, to feel good, to buy yourself an honest gold necklace.>> MURILIO: The necklace I'm wearing, I stole.>> ANDERSON SA: Oh, yeah? Come steal my watch then, huh?>> MURILIO: I can't. You're from the favela.>> ANDERSON SA: You're no thief. You're no outlaw. You're a good kid. But you gotta study or practice sports or learn something cultural.>> MURILIO: I'm gonna be an outlaw.>> ANDERSON SA: Don't believe the bullshit, man. You're no outlaw, Richard Murilio.>> ANDERSON SA: We want residents to see AfroReggae leaders can cross favela borders freely, and we're able to support ourselves, doing dignified work for a living. >> MICHELE MORALES: The other day there was a fight between drug factions, and everyone came to Anderson because the cartel took someone's nephew or whatever. He's like a voice for the community. But he wants so much to help people that he forgets the use caution. If he keeps this up, living so publicly, someone's going to take advantage of him. Like the people asking his help the other day. How does he know those weren't bad people? It really worries me, how he'll do anything to save the world, without protecting his own survival. It pains me to talk about it. >> WOMAN: Well, he's the man of your life ...>> MICHELE MORALES: Yeah. And I'm very proud of him. >> ANDERSON SA: I have a recurring dream that I'm falling. The drop is bottomless, endlessly falling and falling ... until I fall off my bed, and I wake up. Then, at three or four in the morning, I go to the beach. I go to surf. Don't need the tan. I always thought surfing looked cool on television. So I started surfing, alone. It's an escape for me. I forget everything, all the problems of life, and fully relax. Meditating on one solitary thing, waiting for the right wave. And, by 5 am, I'm back in the favela. >> ANDERSON SA: The city government wants us to expand to 20 more favelas, but movement has to come from the community itself. In other slums, we'd be applying our solutions to their problems. If we become McDonald's, putting one everywhere, we've lost the essence. It only works when residents themselves know what they want. Outsiders come into the favela wanting to implement this or that. Do they know that's what the people want? What if a kid wants to learn how to make and sell paper for profit. Sometimes he doesn't want dance workshops or martial arts class. Maybe he wants to do ... hair. He wants to be a hairdresser. Plus, Rio has over 600 favelas. >> MAN: So you're not going to expand the movement?>> ANDERSON SA: We are. But we intend to attract the leaders of each favela, people who already have some mobility in their community, and pass on to them the history and objective of AfroReggae's work. Hopefully our methodology will be applicable in their favelas. >> ZUENIR VENTURA: The favela is starting to show itself differently to the outside. They're saying, "We don't just create violence like the papers report. We create music and art. We are capable of creating our own cultural universe. >> TITLE: In February of 2001, Universal Music signed Banda AfroReggae to an international record deal. AfroReggae vowed to put the earnings back into their programs. >> ANDERSON SA: With the city government of Rio, we started "Urban Connections," a project to bring concerts to other favelas with the same production quality as the big shows they have in Copacabana and the rich areas. Twenty- to fifty-thousand favela residents will come to these shows, because it's empowering to have this offered right in front of our homes. >> TITLE: Favela: Complexo Da Penha; Population: 80,000; Cartel: Red Command>> ANDERSON SA: The thing I fear most is paralysis. Immobility. But I don't like to speak negatively. I have this paranoia that when you think negative things, they happen. When I have a negative thought, I reach my hand into my head and throw it out. Immobility ... >> JOSE JUNIOR: I was at a meeting outside of town when we found out that the war between Vigario Geral and the rival favela named Lucas had just reignited after a 20-year ceasefire. >> WOMAN: I'm not going.>> ANDERSON SA: It was Friday when the drug army from Lucas invaded Vigario Geral. I got in the middle of it all to mediate as a voice for the community, to do what I could to help prevent more innocent people from dying, because the residents were protecting the drug armies. Residents should not be coerced into a cartel war. Some of the Lucas residents who were there returned to Lucas, saying I had chased them out of Vigario with a gun in one hand, AfroReggae T-shirt in the other. >> JOSE JUNIOR: They invented a huge lie. They said Anderson had a rifle and a handgun. They said he raped a girl and that he was holding 20 hostages from Lucas. As absurd as it sounds, over in Lucas they believed it. Hours later, over 200 people showed up from Lucas to lynch Anderson. >> ANDERSON SA: We were at the community center. And everyone was yelling, "They're coming to kill you, Anderson. Let's get the fuck out of here." I said, "I'm not leaving, because if I leave they'll think I'm guilty. I won't admit to anything because I haven't done anything. I'm going to stay and try to talk with them. Go if you're going ..." They all said, "Then we're staying too." >> JOSE JUNIOR: I was driving there to die with them because I couldn't live without them. So we could all die together. It was Anderson, Altair, Vitor, Dada, Sandro, Leandro, and Samuel. They called me and I could hear all the yelling through my cell phone. All I heard was chaos. >> ANDERSON SA: In the moment I found the strength to yell, "We are neutral. We are neither Red Command nor Third Command. We're just a loud voice in the community." We stood up to them in a way they're not used to. >> JOSE JUNIOR: By the time I arrived the chaos had cleared. And they were all sitting there laughing. >> ANDERSON SA: A drug lord from Lucas who respected us had convinced the mob to listen. He said, "Let's hear what AfroReggae has to say and evaluate the situation." He said, "It's interesting that you're still here and didn't run away." If it wasn't for the Lucas drug lord, the mob would have tortured us, stoned and beaten us to death. >> JOSE JUNIOR: We've already made a name for ourselves. Why take these risks? Because as long as we reside in a war zone, our ideology won't allow us to live passively, in comfort. We have no choice but to join the combat, to fight. We go to war to demand peace.>> ANDERSON SA [Singing]: Even if justice delays, it never fails. All of you know this. Within music and culture, a new movement exists. It's the movement that fights for peace.>> JOSE JUNIOR: If you compare the Vigario of today with how it used to be, there's much less suffering, there are fewer homicides, more job opportunities. But the most important change of all is that now, for the first time, Vigario is a place of hope. >> ANDERSON'S GODMOTHER: These days, many more of us are behind Anderson. The people follow him. We want to learn from the things he says because it's rare to find a responsible black man with dignity like that. The drug dealers used to eat at my home cafe, but I didn't like them around. One day they came and said, "We're here to eat." I said, "I'm sorry. AfroReggae supports me and I won't serve you." That was a huge moment in this favela, to be free to refuse to serve them. >> TITLE: When AfroReggae began in 1993, there were over 150 drug soldiers in Vigario.>> ANDERSON SA: Families, please focus our children on their culture, on education, so our youth aren't lured into organized crime. >> TITLE: By 2004, the number of drug soldiers had fallen to less than 25.>> ANDERSON SA: The only time people mention your favela is to talk about the violence here. But we know this is also home to peace-loving, hard-working people. >> TITLE: And the AfroReggae movement had expanded to nine favelas with over 2,000 participants. >> ANDERSON SA: We need to quit the mindset of this side versus that side, slum against slum. Because we're all from the favela, right? >> JOSE JUNIOR: I was exactly here, in this office, when a band member called and told me, "Look, I think Anderson suffered a major accident." He said, "He was surfing and cracked his head on a rock.">> ANDERSON'S MOTHER: He was trapped by a wave and knocked unconscious. He's stopped breathing and was just floating in the waves. His friend dragged him to shore and called an ambulance. At the hospital I saw a crowd at the door and I thought my son was dead. >> DR. NIEMEYER: He broke his fourth vertebra and was instantly quadriplegic. It is an extremely severe injury. Rarely can this type of paralysis be reversed.>> JOSE JUNIOR: We told the doctor, "We don't have any personal money, but we can't just let Anderson be paralyzed. This is priceless." And then Dr. Niemeyer called me and he already knew about AfroReggae, he knew what Anderson represents for so many people, and he said, "Don't worry about money. I won't charge you." >> DR. NIEMEYER: Those who can pay, pay. And those who can't pay, don't. Those are the doctor's politics my father passed down to me. We have to help everyone. We all pay for each other.>> JOSE JUNIOR: But Dr. Niemeyer, who's been doing this surgery for many years, warned us that he can count on his fingers the number of patients who were ever able to walk again. >> ANDERSON SA: I don't know if this was supposed to have happened. I was always afraid of something like this. To be paralyzed. To be unable to move.>> MICHELE MORALES: He said that if he has to be paralyzed forever, then he'd rather die. He says he'll ask the doctor to give him something to ... He thinks it'd be easier to die. >> JOSE JUNIOR: We are thinking about stopping AfroReggae. Because Anderson's the face of the institution, and the band. How could it go on without him? The whole world is waiting. We've all cried so much. The youth are all praying every day for him. No one told them to do it. They are just honestly praying. >> ALTAIR MARTINS: The night before surgery, after visiting hours, we snuck behind security through the back way to Anderson's ward. We found him crying by himself. He talked to us and said that he was feeling real bad. The craziest thing: While we were talking this old lady appeared. I looked at the door and there she was, walking straight towards us. She stopped by Anderson's side and said, "I've never met this man before, but a god has asked me to come and talk to him. This god that has guided me here to talk to you, he is the god that moves the sea ..." When she said "moves the sea," our hair raised. She told Anderson that the god of the sea would give him the victory sooner than any of us could ever imagine. Today, when Anderson asked me to find a T-shirt for him to wear home, I took the top shirt from his bag. Guess what shirt it was? >> VOICE: Shiva.>> ALTAIR MARTINS: Yep. Shiva. >> TITLE: Anderson's release from hospital, four days after surgery>> ALTAIR MARTINS: Do you want to go in the wheelchair or do you want to walk?>> ANDERSON SA: In the chair is fine. It doesn't matter.>> ALTAIR MARTINS: No one knows but you. Do you want to walk? You wanna be cool about it and walk out like you're a miracle?>> ANDERSON SA: I want to be a miracle. >> DR. NIEMEYER: He is an exception. He needs to thank every day, because it is extremely rare for a quadriplegic patient to recover.>> ANDERSON SA: It was on the second day after the surgery. The doctor sat next to me and told me to try to stand. I thought he was joking, but he said, "It's okay. Let's try it." He wasn't so confident himself that I would be able to do it. I started to lift my head and chest. I wanted to sit up and I did. I felt the greatest happiness. >> TITLE: Junior's home>> ALTAIR MARTINS: This is his ultimate test. To rise above and continue moving the slums forward.>> JOSE JUNIOR: I have to give him strength, so today I made a deal with him: "Each day will be the Olympics. Each day is a record to be broken. You'll have to work through the pain. >> ANDERSON SA: Little things have a lot of importance now, like the way I sleep. Any small movement that I do with my hands becomes important. I am a warrior of the people. I will be there again, making things happen.>> JOSE JUNIOR: What we create and destroy doesn't end with me or with Anderson. It is passed through the generations. All life is a karmic process. Our actions will be infinite. >> TITLE: 10 months later>> ANDERSON SA: This thing I was most afraid of. Paralysis. Immobility. I think the favelas can relate. They've been through this pain. It's as if the spinal cord of the favela has always been broken. >> TITLE: In March of 2004, 10 months after the surgery, Anderson performed again, for the first time since his accident.>> ANDERSON SA: Now all the favelas must start to move for the first time. We must all begin to show that we are able. That we can lift our own arms, that we can raise our heads. Now it's back to work. >> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/ted-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-on-aid-versus-trade Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, sums up four days of intense discussion on aid versus trade on the closing day of TEDGlobal 2007, and shares a personal story explaining her own commitment to this cause. Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:39:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/ted-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-on-aid-versus-trade Africa, Nigeria, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Private sector, Infrastructure, World Bank, TED, Mo Ibrahim, Millennium Development Goals, Biafra >> TITLE: Remarkable people, unmissable talks, now free to the world>> TITLE: TED: Ideas Worth Spreading>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: It's very, very difficult to wrap up -- to speak at the end of a conference like this. Because everyone has spoken, everything has been said. >> TITLE: June, 2007. Arusha, Tanzani>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: So I thought that what may be useful is to remind us of some of the things that have gone on here, and then maybe offer some ideas which we can take away and take forward and work on. That's what I'd like to try and do. We came here saying we want to talk about "Africa: the Next Chapter." But we are talking about "Africa: the Next Chapter" because we are looking at the old and the present chapter -- that we're looking at -- and saying it's not such a good thing. The picture I showed you before, and this picture, of drought, death, and disease, is what we usually see. What we want to look at is "Africa: the Next Chapter." And that's this: a healthy, smiling, beautiful African. And I think it's worth remembering what we've heard through the conference right from the first day, where I heard that all the important statistics have been given -- about where we are now, about how the continent is doing much better. And the importance of that is that we have a platform to build on.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: So I'm not going to spend too much time -- just to show you, refresh your memories -- that we are here for "Africa: the Next Chapter" because for the first time, there really is a platform to build on. We really do have it going right, that the continent is growing at rates that people had thought would not happen. After decades of 2 percent, we are now at 5 percent, and it's going to, projected, 6 and 7 percent even. And inflation has come down. External debt, something that I can tell you a long story about because I personally worked on one of the biggest debts on the continent, has come down dramatically. You know, as you can see, for almost ... from almost USD$50 billion down to about USD$12 or USD$13 billion. Now this is a huge achievement.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: You know, we've built up reserves. Why is that important? It's because it shows off our economies, shows off our currencies, and gives a platform on which people can plan and build, including businesses. We've also seen some evidence that all this is making a difference because private investment flows have increased. I want to remind you again -- I know you saw these statistics before -- from almost USD$6 billion we are now at about USD$18 billion in 2005. Remittances: I just took one country, Nigeria ... you know, skyrocketing ... skyrocketing is too dramatic, but increasing dramatically. And in many other countries this is happening. Why is this important? Because it shows confidence. That people are now confident to bring ... if your people in the diaspora bring their money back, it shows other people that, look, there is emerging confidence in your country. And instead of an outflow, you are now getting a net inflow.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: Now, why is all this important? To have to go really fast? It's important that we build this platform, that we have the president, Kikwete, and others of our leaders who are saying, "Look, we must do something different." Because we are confronted with a challenge: 62 percent of our population is below the age of 24. What does this mean? This means that we have to focus on how our youth are going to be engaged in productive endeavor in their lives. You have to focus on how to create jobs, make sure they don't fall into disease, that they get an education, but, most of all, that they are productively engaged in life, and that they are creating the kind of productive environment in our countries that will make things happen. And you know, to support this, I just recently ... one of the things I've done since leaving government is to start an opinion research organization in Nigeria. >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: Most of our countries don't even have any opinion research. People don't have voice. There is no way you can know what people want. One of the things we asked them recently was what's their top issue. Like in every other country where this has been done, jobs is the top issue. I want to leave this up here and come back to it. But before I get to this slide, I just wanted to run you through this. And to say that for me, the next stage of building this platform that now enables us to move forward -- and we mustn't make light of it. It's only five, six, seven years ago [that] we couldn't even talk about the next chapter because we were in the old chapter. We were going nowhere. The economies were not growing. We were having negative per capita growth. The macroeconomic framework and foundation for moving forward was not even there. So let's not forget that it's taken a lot to build this, including all those things that we tried to do in Nigeria that Dele referred to. Creating our own program to solve problems, like fighting corruption, building institutions, stabilizing the macro economy.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: So now we have this platform we can build on. And it brings us to the debate that has been going on here: aid versus private sector, aid versus trade, etcetera. And someone stood up to say: one of the frustrating things is that it's been a simplistic debate. And that's not what the debate should be about. We are ... that's engaging in the wrong debate. The issue here is how do we get a partnership that involves government donors, the private sector, and ordinary African people taking charge of their own lives? How do we combine all this? To move our continent forward, to do the things that need doing, that I talked about: getting young people employed, getting the creative juices flowing on this continent, much of what you have seen here. So I'm afraid we've been engaging a little bit in the wrong debate, and we need to bring you back to say, what is the combination of all these factors that is going to yield what we want? >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: And I want to tell you something. For me, the issue about aid -- I don't think that Africans need to now go all the way over to the other side and feel bad about aid. Africa has been giving the other countries aid. Mo Ibrahim said at a debate we're at that he dreams one day when Africa will be giving aid. And I said, "Mo, you're right. We have ... no, but we've already been doing it! The UK and the U.S. could not have been built today without Africa's aid." It is all the resources that were taken from Africa, including human, that built these countries today. So when they try to give back, we shouldn't be on the defensive. The issue is not that. The issue is how are we using what has been given, what is being given back. How are we using it? Is it being directed effectively? >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: I want to tell you a little story. Why I don't mind if we get aid, but we use it well. From 1967 to '70, Nigeria fought a war: the Nigeria-Biafra war. And in the middle of that war, I was 14 years old. We spent much of our time with my mother, cooking for the army. My father joined the army as a brigadier, the Biafran army. We were on the Biafran side. And we were down to eating one meal a day, running from place to place, but wherever we could help we did. At a certain point in time, in 1969, things were really bad. We were down to almost nothing in terms of a meal a day. People, children were dying of kwashiorkor. I'm sure some of you who are not so young will remember those pictures. Well, I was in the middle of it. In the midst of all this, my mother fell ill with a stomach ailment for two or three days. We thought she was going to die. My father was not there. He was in the army. So I was the oldest person in the house. My sister fell very ill with malaria. She was three years old and I was 15. And she had such a high fever. We tried everything. It didn't look like it was going to work. >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: Until we heard that 10 kilometers away there was a doctor, who was able ... who was giving ... looking at people and giving them meds. Now I put my sister on my back, burning, and I walked 10 kilometers with her strapped on my back. It was really hot. I was very hungry. I was scared because I knew her life depended on my getting to this woman. We heard there was a woman doctor who was treating people. I walked 10 kilometers, putting one foot in front of the other. I got there and I saw huge crowds. Almost a thousand people were there, trying to break down the door. She was doing this in a church. How was I going to get in? I had to crawl in between the legs of these people with [inaudible] my sister strapped on my back, find a way to a window. And while they were trying to break down the door, I climbed in through the window, and jumped in. This woman told me it was in the nick of time. By the time we jumped into that hall, she was barely moving. She gave a shot of her chloroquine, what I learned was the chloroquine, then gave her some ... it must have been a re-hydration, and some other therapies, and put us in a corner. In about two to three hours, she started to move. And then, they toweled her down because she started sweating, which was a good sign. And then my sister woke up. And about five or six hours later, she said we could go home. I strapped her on my back. I walked the 10 kilometers back and it was the shortest walk I ever had. I was so happy that my sister was alive. Today, she's 41 years old, a mother of three, and she's a physician saving other lives.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: Why am I telling that? I'm telling you that because when it is you or your person involved, you don't care whether it's aid. You don't care what it is! You just want the person to be alive. And now let me become less sentimental, and say that saving lives -- which some of the aid we get does on this continent -- when you save the life of anyone, a farmer, a teacher, a mother, they are contributing productively into the economy. And, as an economist, we can also look at that side of the story. These are people who are productive agents in the economy. So if we save people from HIV/AIDS, if we save them from malaria, it means they can form the base of production for our economy. And by the same token, as someone said yesterday, if we don't, and they die, their children will become a burden on the economy. So even from an economic standpoint, if we leave the social and humanitarian, we need to save lives now. So that's one of the reasons, from a personal experience, that I say, look, let's channel these resources we get into something productive. However, I will also tell you that I'm one of those who don't believe that this is the sole answer. That's why I said the debate has to get more sophisticated. You know, we have to use it well.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: What has happened in Europe? Do you all know that Spain, part of the EU, got USD$10 billion in aid from the rest of the EU? Resources that were transferred to them. And were the Spanish ashamed of this? No. The EU transferred 10 billion. Where did they use it? Have you been to southern Spain lately? There are roads everywhere. Infrastructure everywhere. It is on the back of this that the whole of southern Spain has developed into a services economy. Did you know that Ireland got USD$3 billion in aid? Ireland is one of the fastest-growing economies in the European Union today. For which many people, even from other parts of the world, are going there to find jobs. What did they do with the USD$3 billion in aid? They used it to build an information superhighway, gain infrastructure that enabled them to participate, or enables them to participate, in the information technology revolution. And to do ... create jobs in their economy. They didn't say, "No, you know, we're not going to take this." Today, the European Union is busy transferring aid. My frustration is if they can build infrastructure in Spain -- which is roads, highways, other things that they can build -- I say then, why do they refuse to use the same aid to build the same infrastructure in our countries? >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: When we ask them and tell them what we need. One of my worries today is that we have many foundations now. Now we talk about the World Bank, IMF, and accountability, and all that. And the EU. We also have private citizens now who have a lot of money. Some of them in this audience, with private foundations. And, one day, these foundations have so much money, they will overtake the official aid that is being given. But I fear -- and I'm very grateful to all of them for what they are trying to do on the continent -- but I'm also worried. I wake up with a gnawing in my belly. Because I see a new set of aid entrepreneurs on the continent. And they're also going from country to country, and many times trying to find what to do. But I'm not really sure that their assistance is also being channeled in the right way. And many of them are not really familiar with the continent. They are just discovering. And many times I don't see Africans working with them. They are just going alone. >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: And many times I get the impression they are not really even interested in hearing from Africans who might know. They want to visit us, see what's happening on the ground, and make a decision. And now I'm maybe being harsh. But I worry because this money is so important. Now, who are they accountable to? Are we on their boards when they make decisions about where to channel money? Are we there? Will we make the same mistake that we made before? Have our presidents and our leaders -- everyone is talking about -- have they ever called these people together and said, "Look, your foundation and your foundation, you have so much money, we are grateful. Let's sit down and really tell you where the money should be channeled and where this aid should go." Have we done that? The answer is no. And each one is making their own individual effort. And then, 10 years from now, billions will again have gone into Africa, and we would still have the same problems.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: This is what gives us the hopeless image. Our inability to take charge and say to all these people bringing their money: "Sit down." And we don't do it because there are so many of us. We don't coordinate. We've not called the Bill Gates and the Soros and everybody else who is helping and say, "Sit down. Let's have a conference with you. As a continent, here are our priorities. Here is where we want you to channel this money." Each one should not be an entrepreneur, going and finding what is best. We're not trying to stop them, at all, but to help them help us better. And what is disappointing me is that we are not doing this. Ten years from now, we will have the same story, and we will be repeating the same things. >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: So our problem right now is, how can we leverage all this good will that is coming towards our way? How can we get government to combine properly with these private foundations, with the international organizations, and with our private sector. I firmly believe in that private sector thing, too. But it cannot do it alone. So there might be a few ideas we could think of that could work. They said this is about proliferating and sharing ideas. So why don't we think of using some of this aid? Well, why don't we first say to those helping us out: don't be shy about infrastructure. That health that you're working on cannot be sustainable without infrastructure. That education will work better if we've got electricity and railroads and so on. That agriculture will work better if there are railroads to get the goods to market. Don't be shy of it. Invest some of your resources in that, too. And then we can see that this is one combination of private, international, multilateral money, private sector, and the African that we can put together as a partnership, so that aid can be a facilitator. That is all aid can be. Aid cannot solve our problems, I'm firmly convinced about that. But it can be catalytic. And if we fail to use it as catalytic, we would have failed.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: One of the reasons why China is a bit popular with Africans now -- one of the reasons -- is not only just that, you know, these people are stupid and China is coming to take resources. It's because there's a little more leverage in terms of the Chinese. If you tell them, "We need a road here," they will help you build it. Don't shy away from infrastructure. In fact, the Chinese minister of finance said to me, when I asked him what are we doing wrong in Nigeria. He said there are two things you need only: "Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. And discipline. You are undisciplined." And I repeat it for the continent. It's the same: we need infrastructure and discipline. So we can make aid catalytic to help us provide some of that. Now I realize ... I'm not saying, health and education: no. You can also provide that as well. But I'm saying it's not either or. Let's see how aid can be a facilitator, in partnership: one idea. Second thing, for the private sector: people are afraid to take risks on the continent. Why can't some of this aid be used as a kind of guarantee mechanisms, to enable people to take risk? >> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: And finally, because they are both standing at my ... I guess I'm out ... I'm out of time. Am I out of time? Okay, so let me not forget my punchline. One of the things I want everybody to collaborate on is to support women, to create jobs. A lot has been said here about women, I don't need to repeat it. But there are people, women, creating jobs. And we know, studies have shown that when you put resources in the hand of the woman, in fact, there's an econometric study, the World Bank Review done in 2000, showing that transfers into the hands of women result in healthier children, more for the household, more for the economy and all that. So I'm saying that one of the takeaways from here ... I'm not saying the men are not important. Obviously, if you leave the husbands out, what will they do? They'll come back home and get disgruntled, and it will result in difficulties we don't want. We don't want men beating their wives because they don't have a job, and so on.>> NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA: But at the margin, we also -- I want to push this -- because the reason is, the men automatically, they get ... not automatically, but they tend to get more support. But I want you to realize that resources in the hands of African women is a powerful tool. There are people creating jobs. Beatrice Gakuba has created 200 jobs from her flower business in Rwanda. We have Ibukun Awosika in Nigeria, with the furniture, the chair company. She wants to expand. She needs another 20 million. She will create another 100 to 200 more jobs. So take away from here is how are you going to put together the resources to put money in the hands of women in the middle who are ready: business people who want to expand and create more jobs. And, lastly, what are you going to do to be part of this partnership of aid, government, private sector, and the African as an individual? Thank you. >> TITLE: TED: New TED Talks each week at www.TED.com http://www.viewchange.org/videos/guardarecurso <p>A new generation of leaders is rising in El Salvador, tackling some of the toughest environmental and community-driven challenges in unlikely ways. This film profiles Douglas Chica, a young wetlands ranger who is working to protect marshland. He also hopes to inspire local youth to follow his example.</p> Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:21:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/guardarecurso El Salvador, Wetlands, Mangrove, Sea turtle, Central America, Forest, Endangered species, Youth, Community, Fishing >> DOUGLAS CHICA [Wetlands Ranger]: I've been fishing. I've gone crabbing and all that. Yes, yes it's so much fun, but more than anything, just being out there, out in the mangroves, on the water. >> TITLE: Douglas Chica joined the Wetlands Ranger Program in high school. >> TITLE: He works to protect local mangrove forests and endangered sea turtles through awareness raising. >> DOUGLAS CHICA: I started this year, 2009, first patrolling on land, seeing what different trees there were, and the animals, too. In a lot of places, we're seeing problems with people fishing with explosives. They're killing their resources when it should be the opposite. They should be caring for them. Part of it, you know, is how you feel working in nature. You feel so tranquil out there, more than anything, when you meet someone out there doing something, something that's not correct. So it's about informing them and chatting, holding a conversation with them. >> DOUGLAS CHICA: I believe if we were a large force for caring for this resource that's the bay, it would be really valuable because, in these communities, there are young people who can't find anything to do. These programs are one of the few alternatives that exist for developing yourself. It's a way of having something to do, to not fall into self-destructive behaviors that won't help our communities move forward. We are setting the example so that other youths can get involved in the program and continue strengthening our community. It's important that, as youth, we keep integrating ourselves into the challenges facing this community. If someone isn't on the right track, it's difficult to turn them around, but when you get them focused, it's one of the best alternatives for developing our communities with the resources we have at hand. We can do a lot and have fun in the process. It's fun, it's satisfying, sharing all this. They're seeing that us young people, we're also capable of supporting and caring for our home. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/shoeshiners-in-bolivia <p>Cleto Choque is a Bolivian shoeshiner who's fighting the negative stereotypes surrounding his profession. As he struggles to pay his way through school and support his younger brothers, he's being helped by the Nuevo Dia Foundation.</p> Fri, 10 Sep 2010 02:48:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/shoeshiners-in-bolivia South America, Poverty, Latin America, Shoeshiners, Youth, Education, Vocational education, Street Children, LinkTV Picks, La Paz >> TITLE: La Paz, Bolivia >> TITLE: Shoeshiners in Bolivia >> CLETO CHOQUE [Shoeshiner]: My name is Cleto Choque. I work here. I'm 20 years old. I've been working here for eight years. I chose this job because I'm my own boss in this job. I can work from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. If I were to have another job, I wouldn't be able to study. My clients work in the ministry. Some are police officers. I have clients that recognize me as a friend, and others who don't know me and just walk past me. >> MAN 1 [Shoeshiner]: "Shoeshiners are drunks, alcoholics." That's what people say. And that's one of the reasons why we cover our faces. We are not all the same. They generalize that we are all like that. That's how society is. >> WOMAN 1 [Newsstand worker]: Sometimes, shoeshiners make themselves look bad because they work with a mask, and people degrade them, saying they are criminals, thieves. But it's good that they work as shoeshiners because they can earn their daily bread. >> MAN 2 [Businessman]: I think that shoeshiners are people who make sacrifices. They have the desire to better themselves, but sometimes society does not give them the respect they deserve. >> TITLE: "Nuevo Dia" [New Day] Shoeshiner Foundation >> CLETO CHOQUE: In the mornings, I leave for work at 5 a.m. I'm at work by 7 a.m. I work until 12 p.m. and then change into my regular clothes. That's why I feel like I have two lives. >> TITLE: The "Nuevo Dia" foundation is an institution that provides low-cost services and technical training workshops for young shoeshiners. >> TITLE: The center currently serves 200 children and more than 50 adult shoeshiners. >> RAUL ESPINOZA [Volunteer Teacher]: We offer services such as lockers. The lockers are for the beneficiaries, where they can keep their toolboxes. We have a cafeteria where breakfast, lunch, and the afternoon tea is served. We also have showers and a library, where they can take out books. Many of the shoeshiners are orphans. Some only have their mothers. Because of these circumstances, they start to work to help their mother or their family. >> CLETO CHOQUE: I have a big responsibility taking care of my little brothers because I give them lunch money. I send them to school so they can study. I do not want them to shine shoes. >> RAUL ESPINOZA: We have to support the youth so that they don't work as shoeshiners forever. All those who come here must study. It is a necessity and an obligation. It's a great challenge for them to work and study. They have to study, and most that come here do, and that makes us very happy. >> CLETO CHOQUE: I've seen many people in society who are corrupt, that do bad things to people, especially to the people in the country, and there is no one to defend them. I have seen my parents treated very badly by others. That is why I want to become a lawyer, so no one can abuse my parents or relatives. And now I'm studying, and I know I can achieve this: becoming a lawyer. >> TITLE: Global Nomads Group http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-youth-radio-initiative-in-lao-pdr Laos National Radio and UNICEF support a weekly radio program ran by youngsters in Luang Prabang. The show, &ldquo;Smile of Hope,&rdquo; is part of a four-year-old initiative that is giving young people a chance to reach out to others like themselves, via the airwaves. Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:47:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-youth-radio-initiative-in-lao-pdr Laos, Health, Southeast Asia, Luang Prabang, Youth, Lao National Radio, UNICEF, Technology >> VOICEOVER: Going live on air tends to be a nerve-wracking experience. But there’s a quiet assurance about the youngsters who run this weekly radio show in provincial Laos. The program is called “Smile of Hope.” It's part of a four-year-old initiative, run by Lao National Radio with backing from UNICEF, that’s giving young people like Pany and Denphachanh a chance to reach out to others like themselves, via the airwaves. >> PANY [Laos Youth Radio]: Up until now, we’ve done programs about immunization, but soon we will include other issues like hygiene and sanitation, avian flu, and education. >> DENPHACHANH [Laos Youth Radio]: There’s nothing sensitive, even when we talk about drug addiction, it's acceptable for the youth program. >> VOICEOVER: When they’re not in the studio, the youth radio team is going out to the community, using their skills as live performers to promote the same messages that they put on the air. The puppet show is always a big hit, especially with the younger members of the audience. Events like this, spread over a weekend to ensure maximum participation, are designed to change the habits and beliefs of centuries, and thereby boost the health and well being of children. Humor is a key weapon in getting the message across. Here, the radio team plays the part of seven childhood diseases that are vanquished thanks to the power of immunization. But even while the show goes on, Pany and another colleague are back in the role of radio reporters, gathering the interviews and other material they will need for their next show. It’s in encounters like this, with ordinary villagers, that the impact of their work becomes clear. >> HOUMPANH VITHAYAPHONE [Luang Prabang Radio]: It’s very important that young people here in Luang Prabang can contribute in providing information about immunization and other issues that affect the social and economic development of the province. >> VOICEOVER: This is only one of ten provincial stations now hosting youth programs, in addition to a national youth radio show that was launched recently. Clear evidence that in Laos, the power of youth radio is yet to be fully tapped. This is Simon Ingram in Laos, reporting for UNICEF. Unite for children. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-radio-for-and-by-children-in-banda-aceh UNICEF has been working to build a long-lasting protective environment for children and women in Aceh, Indonesia, who were affected by the 2004 tsunami. Nineteen children&rsquo;s centers have been built and provincial law revised to address issues of abuse, exploitation and trafficking. Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:47:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-radio-for-and-by-children-in-banda-aceh Indonesia, Education, Aceh, UNICEF, Trafficking of children, Child abuse, Banda Aceh, Gender, Youth, Child >> VOICEOVER: A new kind of talk show is on the air in Aceh, one just for children. Putri Saleh hosts a radio program in Banda Aceh that tackles issues ranging from homework to child abuse. Today, she and her guest are discussing child trafficking. Her show is the broadcasting component of a special media program that also includes a magazine written and edited by and for young people. Together, the radio and magazine provide a new forum for children in a region still recovering from the tsunami, as well as from a decades-long conflict. >> PUTRI SALEH [Youth Radio Show Host]: I am a child as well. I need support from adults and also support from my peers. We need to help our friends who have been victims of violence, the conflict, or child trafficking. Formal lessons aren’t useful, because these children don’t need theories about how to protect themselves, they need support from adults to gain their courage back. >> VOICEOVER: UNICEF has been working to build a long-lasting protective environment for children and women in Aceh. It is transforming children’s centers built in the wake of the tsunami into social welfare centers to care for vulnerable children. It has also helped revise provincial law to address issues of abuse, exploitation, and trafficking. As a result, Aceh now has one of the most advanced legal protection systems for children in all of Indonesia. Special courtrooms for children have been set up in three districts, and 22 police stations across Aceh have established children’s desks, to handle cases involving young people. Ibu Elfiana was among the first group of police officers trained to deal specifically with children. Now she is the chief of a sub district police station in Banda Aceh, the only woman in the province to hold such a position. She says authorities are now much better equipped to handle children who come in contact with the law. >> IBU ELFIANA [Chief Officer, Baiturrahman Sub District]: The training and cooperation with UNICEF have changed our way of thinking and our perception of children. It’s made us more sensitive when dealing with children as perpetrators and helped us to take more care of children who are victims. But we still need to build a better awareness in the community that children should not be treated the same as adults. >> VOICEOVER: A challenge to protect children that continues, years after the tsunami. In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, this is Steve Nettleton reporting for UNICEF television. Unite for children. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-brazilian-youth-center-educates-after-school A new youth center, sponsored by UNICEF and Brazil's Municipal Secretary of Health, is providing children in Vi&ccedil;osa do Cear&aacute; with a positive place to spend time outside of school. The center increases access to educational and cultural programs and gives parents peace of mind that their kids are staying out of trouble. Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:47:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-brazilian-youth-center-educates-after-school Brazil, Education, Viçosa do Ceará, Learning, Child, Adolescence, Youth, Community centre, UNICEF >> VOICEOVER: Like many mothers in Viçosa do Ceará, Brazil, Elionete Maria Dos Santos spent years worrying about providing her four children with a safe environment that would give them the educational and cultural opportunities needed to escape a life of poverty. It was all too common for children in the area to spend their time after school doing nothing but lounging in the streets, assuming they attended school at all. Her fears disappeared with the creation of the Children and Adolescents Care Center, which is sponsored by the Municipal Secretary of Health, and supported by UNICEF. Its mission is to guarantee and stimulate access to cultural, educational, and sports activities. Elionete's children receive computer training, special tutoring, dance and singing lessons, as well as get plenty of time to socialize and interact with other children in a secure, safe environment. >> ELIONETE MARIA DOS SANTOS [Mother]: For sure, while they are at the center they are not learning anything wrong. They are being prepared for their future, what I expect the most. When they are there I don’t have to be concerned with their meals. They have snacks and even lunch. >> VOICEOVER: Elionete herself is receiving training on how to make clothing. The extra money she'll earn will help supplement her husband's modest salary as a bricklayer. The center is also actively working to reduce child mortality. It has hired more than 100 health agents who fan out through the community on motorcycles, reaching some of the area's most impoverished and excluded children. They offer key services like prenatal care, as well as postnatal consultations. There's also a mobile health bus. Families are given a range of services, from immunizations to getting their cavities filled. A dedicated and proactive staff at the center has helped the community increase school enrolment and attendance, in part because they make learning fun. >> DANIELA RUFINO [Coordinator, Children and Adolescents Care Center]: My daily role is to make sure that the activities are being fully developed, guaranteeing that children and teenagers are really learning and assuring that this new knowledge is being applied and really learned. So I have to plan and accompany these activities. >> VOICEOVER: Since the center opened last year, Elionete's children are receiving better grades and showing greater interest in reading and studying. The centre is just one strong example of what's possible when a community comes together and works to improve childhood survival. This is Thomas Nybo, reporting in Viçosa do Ceará, Brazil. Unite for Children. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-young-malaysian-footballers-on-the-offensive-against-hiv <p>HIV is a growing problem among young people in Malaysia, which means more effective ways are needed to teach teenagers about the dangers of the disease. In one innovative UNICEF-supported initiative, exchange students are talking to young Malaysians about prevention in settings far from traditional classrooms.&nbsp;</p> Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:47:29 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-young-malaysian-footballers-on-the-offensive-against-hiv HIV, Malaysia, UNICEF, Kuala Lumpur, AIDS, Youth, Foreign Assistance, AIESEC, Education, Soccer >> DIPRA RAY [exchange student]: HIV now has basically gotten rid of our defense, right? >> VOICEOVER: It's not the usual pre-game pep talk. These young Malaysian football players are learning about a challenge very different from winning today's game: keeping themselves safe from HIV and AIDS. This lesson has become a standard ritual of youth football leagues in the capital, Kuala Lumpur. It is a new approach to reach out to young people, who are increasingly at risk of catching and spreading HIV. >> GAYE PHILLIPS [UNICEF Representative to Malaysia]: In Malaysia, more than 37 percent of the group who are currently infected are between the ages of 13 and 29. That's a serious population group that we need to look at. Because it shows us that young people are not being well informed. >> VOICEOVER: In partnership with the Football Association of Malaysia, UNICEF and the Association for the International Exchange of Students of Economics and Commerce, known as AIESEC, are working to make youth more aware of the dangers of HIV, and what they can do to avoid it. Dipra Ray is an exchange student from New Zealand. He believes it's critical for young people to hear this message from other young people ? and in an active setting far from the classroom. >> DIPRA RAY: For us I think that's the biggest motivation: it's that we're coming here, we're having fun, but at the same time we try to make sure that they get the lesson. Because if the young generation, if we -- if I and my friends -- if we know how we can stop HIV, we can stop it. It's not like it has to spread. It can be stopped. >> VOICEOVER: For young footballer Shawn Daniels, it's a lesson that is starting to sink in. >> SHAWN DANIELS: I learned about many things: how to protect myself, how to say no. >> VOICEOVER: A winning game plan for young people to follow, long after the whistle is blown. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, this is Steve Nettleton reporting for UNICEF Television. Unite for children. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-political-violence-and-unrest-in-madagascar-impacts-children-the-most <p>The recent political turmoil in Madagascar has had a devastating impact on the lives of many of the country's children. UNICEF and its partners have been providing pyschosocial support to young people in this troubled island nation to help them cope with the violence they have experienced.&nbsp;</p> Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:10:15 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/unicef-political-violence-and-unrest-in-madagascar-impacts-children-the-most Madagascar, United Nations, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2009 Malagasy political crisis, UNICEF, Antananarivo, Child protection, Youth, Child, Foreign Assistance >> VOICEOVER: Since January, the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar has been a country in crisis. The unconstitutional change in government and its subsequent international isolation has deepened poverty and had a devastating impact on the lives of the countries' children and young people. In order to better understand what they had experienced, UNICEF and its partners conducted a study of 12,800 youth and children from all over capital, which sought to capture their experiences and perceptions. The results indicate that all were affected in one way or another -- either they committed, suffered, or witnessed violence and abuse. Students at the Lycée Rabearivelo, a high school in the center of the capital, were especially hard hit. Rioting, looting, and shooting took place right outside their school gates. Students bore witness to extreme violence and death and feared for their own lives. >> YOUTH: I wasn't involved in the rioting or looting but I witnessed violence. I saw people looting shops and I myself was tear-gassed and it burned my eyes. I saw security forces shooting, it felt like a movie, but I always witnessed violence. I saw many, many dead people outside the shops belonging to Ravalomanana. I saw a pregnant woman who had been shot dead and I can't get the image out of my mind. >> VOICEOVER: In response to the violence, UNICEF has been working hard to deal with the emotional and psychological trauma suffered by children. It is part of an effort to make sure that their rights be protected against all form of exploitation, especially violence and abuse, as outlined in article 36 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The organization's education and child protection sections have supported the training of social workers and the implementation of psychosocial support to both primary and secondary schools. Over 33,000 children from 60 different schools throughout the country were assisted between April and August. >> NOROTIANA JEANNODA RANDIMBIARISON [social worker]: The main goal of the psychosocial support is to help students to express themselves, to express their emotions, their feelings, and to help with their schoolwork. Social workers do individual counseling with students who were individual victims of violence. >> VOICEOVER: The psychosocial sessions are adapted according to students' age and they express themselves through drawing, writing, and singing. Through these activities they confront and deal with their trauma. >> NOROTIANA JEANNODA RANDIMBIARISON: After the psychosocial support, we asked the students to evaluate it: 90 percent of them felt that it had really helped them. Many of them said they are now much happier and we see it in their faces, in their actions. >> VOICEOVER: In response to the instability, child-friendly spaces have also been reinforced and developed throughout Antananarivo. They give younger, preschool children a safe place to play and learn, away from the potentially volatile streets. They are supervised and given toys, games, and musical instruments to play with. While the political stalemate continues, interventions like these are helping Madagascar's children and youth move on with their lives while re-instilling traditional values. With luck they will not make the same violent mistakes their political leaders have. This is Guy Hubbard reporting for UNICEF Television. Unite for Children. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/barrio-de-paz <p>Youth worker Nelsa Libertad Curbelo Cora describes the inspiration behind Barrio de Paz (Peace Town), a non-violent youth movement in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It brings together street gangs to provide services to the struggling community. Gang members band together out of a need for unity, structure, and love when their social fabric has been torn apart.&nbsp;</p> Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:49:11 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/barrio-de-paz Latin America, Ser Paz, Nelsa Curbelo, Youth, Ecuador, Social change, South America, Gang, Community development, Social equality >> TITLE: Global Oneness Project. >> TITLE: Barrio de Paz. >> TITLE: "Everything in society tells us to distrust others. I think it's the other way around. We need to profoundly trust in those around us, in their potential and in who they are." - Nelsa Curbelo Libertad Cora. >> VARIOUS YOUTHS: My name is Pier Mora. / Edison Ramiron Ovan. / My name is Mauricio Jefferson Torres Santos. / Angelo Martin Hernandez Apolinario. / My name is George Asanza. / My name is Mariela. / My name is Edison Masillas. I belong to the gang "Big Clan," the only real gang here in Guayaquil. / "Nacion de Hierro" gang. / "Latin Kings" gang. / "Nacion de Hierro." >> TITLE: Guayaquil, Ecuador. >> NELSA CURBELO: Let me show you the T-shirt. >> SIGN: Barrio de Paz (Peace Town) >> NELSA CURBELO: My name is Nelsa Curbelo. My work is to promote peace in the areas that have the most conflict such as the gangs in this city. I work with kids who have become gang members. That's my field of work. But it is beyond just work, it's my life because it's more than a job, it's a lifelong project. It keeps me busy day and night, because it's about building a better world. >> NELSA CURBELO: It has to do with young people who live at the edge of society and who are the product of a very unfair and unequal society. Often society blames young people for instigating conflicts when in reality they are a mirror of society. They reflect back to us what we don't want to see, and as a society what we don't want to acknowledge. There wouldn't be gangs in societies if their environment didn't support their growth. They exist in societies with huge inequalities where individualism is too strong and where people no longer live in groups. Our society has produced a large number of people who are either extremely rich or extremely poor. It has created families with no core structure and a lack of love. So they feed each other: society from the youth and youth from society. In order to change society we need our youth to be the leaders. >> NELSA CURBELO: Not all of these kids are criminals. In our city there are around 60,000 young gang members. If all 60,000 were delinquent nobody could go out to the streets anymore. So to translate "gang member" as "delinquent " is not accurate. Yet, not long ago in this country, a number of people bankrupted 14 banks and now they live abroad and nobody calls them crooks, even though they left this country in absolute poverty. >> NELSA CURBELO: In society there are people who are in, and people who are excluded; they are out. Society has expelled these kids. They are not even marginalized, they are just out. Because they are outsiders they unite. They start to establish territories, their codes, signs, and colors become their language. This is their way to respond to a society that has excluded them due to its lack of knowledge, lack of understanding of how this has happened, and its failure to give them the education they need. Most kids who end up in gangs don't have what they need to keep going in life. The street is their world, the street is their school, the street is their neighborhood, and the street is their home. The streets have walls to paint on; that's why they write everything on them. It's a way to live and experience the city and the society that we, the adults, have created. >> NELSA CURBELO: Young people did not invent drugs or weapons. The fact that they are involved in trafficking drugs and weapons, this is something that was invented by us adults, not the young people who enter society today. They didn't create this world, we did. This world, with its inequalities, and the lack of respect for the environment, for ecology, and for humanity, was created by us, by those who have been living on this planet for years. It's not the fault of the young people whose lives are just beginning. They encountered this situation and responded to it. >> NELSA CURBELO: And I think that there is something positive in their response: that they form groups and team up. That's good. The challenge is to transform the group into a positive opportunity for social change. Young people are attracted to gangs because the group offers them the family they don't have. So, in the beginning they come together because the group gives them friendship and solidarity. They get together to talk about girls, and other guys, to go out or to go dancing. That's the origin. But then, it changes into groups that need rules, where they need to go through rites of passage. They imitate the military at its best and at its worst. They carry out the same military tests in the streets, but they make it much tougher. Gangs are networks with fast communications systems with leaders whom they obey. That's why I believe that they are not rebels but rather young people who need authority. If they were truly rebels, they wouldn't accept the orders of their leaders without objection. These kids need an authority figure to make rules for them to follow. One of the most effective ways to generate violence is submission to authority. It's not simply obedience, because obedience presumes that you understand what you are being asked to do. But submission is when you are told to do something and you do it, even if you don't understand or agree with it. This works very well in a gang. So, it is the need to submit to a leader's authority, and the need for love, unity, and solidarity, that keeps the gangs together. That's what keeps them united. >> VARIOUS YOUTHS: I became a gang member when I was twelve. / I ran away when I lost my parents, and joined a gang. / What I miss most is my dad, who died when I was seven. / I went through all kinds of things on the streets: violence, fights, wars. / I was almost killed three times, but I survived and I'm fighting to stay alive. / I still have scars all over my face. / There was nobody to support us. / I had both bad and good experiences. / People in society think all kind of things about us, because they've never been here on the inside. / Not all gangs are like people think. / Unfortunately, people don't value us, and they always say: Gangs are worthless, all they do is to steal, smoke, and harm society. / People think that gangs are bad and it is true, in some ways. But they don't know what it's like. People should lend us a hand because they don't know how we really feel deep inside. >> NELSA CURBELO: Working with gang members taught me a few things that I think we all should learn. First of all, I learned that these kids are not murderers you have to be afraid of, but rather, they are very vulnerable young people in deep need of love and affection. And from there we can start to build. That was the first thing I learned. I also learned that there is an incredible solidarity among them. This work has truly been a "school of life" for me, a school of understanding. And by far the most terrible thing I learned is that assaulting, harming, or killing others is a way to say "I am here," to show that they exist. Changing this behavior so that they feel present without committing a crime, is the real challenge. And when they discover this new way, they are much happier. I believe that violence is a way of recognizing that one has no power. The opposite of violence isn't non-violence, it's power. When one has moral power, power of conviction, and the power to do good, one doesn't need violence. There is another kind of power: power over others. That's authoritarian power. Then there is the power of humanity working together, the power of teamwork. And there is another power, one that comes from inside. Gandhi had this power, Martin Luther King, Jesus, Mother Teresa, and many others. These people who have such coherence in what they say, what they want, and what they do, that they have a power which emanates from them. This power, which is not a power over other people, or an authoritarian power, is actually the power of service. That's the real non-violent power. In reality, I translate power as service. That's power; true power means to serve. >> YOUTH: I wanted to give you the news: She gave birth yesterday. >> NELSA CURBELO: What is it? >> YOUTH: It's a boy: Raoul Francois. >> NELSA CURBELO: When you lack the power to give life, it seems that the only recourse is the power to take away life. What needs to be enhanced is the power to build life. The joy that this young man feels due to his son's birth will change his life. We found out that they change when they fall in love, when they love somebody, and when they start to protect someone. That's why we try hard to promote teamwork among them and support them helping one another. They already do it, but they could do it even more. Nothing is more revolutionary than love. Love is the greatest power. Love is more powerful than violence, more powerful than the atomic bomb. Love has the power to transform lives, to change cities, and the whole world. Only love has this deep creative power. I am absolutely sure of it. >> YOUTH: When you meet a person who shows you love you start to trust that person. That love motivates you to change, and allows you to see new, positive options for your life. It's something that touches your heart. I've known Nelsa for seven years now, and I'm ready to give my life for her. We really love her very much. >> NELSA CURBELO: It's the kids themselves who give me hope. I think that each time we are with human beings who are able to change themselves, we are filled with joy and hope. One saved life, only one, justifies all the work we try to do. And I'm convinced of something else, too: Flowers don't grow from diamonds, they grow in the mud. And from these kids, who are considered the scum of humanity, the mud, the best things can be born. A different world is born when they are the change makers. This is what motivates me: to prove that those who live at the edge of society can sometimes lead deep changes. >> VARIOUS YOUTHS: Everything can change. Like I did it, we all can do it. We can overcome and move on. / Before, my aspiration was to be violent. Sometimes you are not aware of what you do. Now my hope for the future is to be somebody important in life. / My dream for the future is to finish my studies. I want to be somebody important in life so that my family is proud of me. I want to help at home, my mother, my brothers, my sister. / That my daughter, because I have a baby girl, doesn't experience the violence I have. I want to protect her from all that. / I wish to work with gang members, because truly, there's no one better to do it than someone who has lived it. And since I have experienced it, I know how things are. / For the last seven years, my wish has been that all gangs come together and talk peacefully. That war ends and something new can begin in a positive way, that everybody can fulfill their dream and have a decent job, that everyone is respected, and that discrimination toward "the other" ends. >> TITLE: Nelsa Curbelo founded the organization SER PAZ (Being Peace) in 1999 to work with youth gangs in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Its mission is to help gang members reintegrate into society by providing them with education and professional training. Members of rival gangs have come together to form print-shops, music studios, and pizzerias, which have brought alternative economic opportunities to the neighborhoods and provided the youth with outlets for creative expression. >> TITLE: www.globalonenessproject.org