http://viewchange.org Videos from ViewChange.org (Filtered by topics: Bicycle) en-us Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000 Copyright 2011 Link Media, Inc. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/with-my-own-two-wheels As a tool for development, a simple bicycle can mean transportation, employment, even access to education and healthcare. With My Own Two Wheels weaves together the experiences of five individuals into a single story about how the bicycle can change the world, one pedal stroke at a time. Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:00:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/with-my-own-two-wheels Bicycle, Economic development, India, Ghana, Koforidua, World Bicycle Relief, Zambia, Disability, Health, Environment >> TITLE: Look for solutions, not problems. - Dan Eldon >> TITLE: Hubub Films Presents >> TITLE: With My Own Two Wheels >> TITLE: 5:30 AM, Chapola, Zambia >> FRED HANYINDE: My name is Fred Hanyinde. I was born here in Chapola in 1975. I am 35 years old. I got married in 1997. My wife's name is Emelda Chulu. She was born in 1983. We have four children. >> FRED HANYINDE: I am a farmer. The soil here is fertile. I grow many types of crops. I grow potatoes, corn, sunflowers, cotton, groundnuts, and peas. I also have a garden where I grow vegetables like tomatoes and cabbage. The most important things in my life are going to church, then being a caregiver, then football! These are things I love. >> TITLE: Zambia is roughly the size of Texas. It has an estimated population of 12 million. 1.1 million are infected with HIV/AIDS. Many of these HIV/AIDS patients live far from the nearest clinic. Their only regular care comes from volunteer caregivers, like Fred. >> FRED HANYINDE: I decided to become a community health caregiver because of my brother, who suffered from HIV/AIDS. The issue was very close to my heart. The Bible says that, "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, so you do unto Me." As a caregiver, my job is to visit and take care of the sick. The main problem with our clients around here is how they are kept in their homes. They are stigmatized. Most of them say, "The people around here don't want me." Their families tell them, "We are not the ones who gave you that disease. That is of your own doing." Sometimes families give patients their own plates, because the family is afraid that they will be infected as well. Because of this, patients are normally happy when we caregivers come along. We shake hands and do all sorts of things together. They become very free with us, and they tell us problems that they wouldn't tell their own families. >> TITLE: 7:15 AM, Koforidua, Ghana >> MIRRIAM ODURO: My name is Mirriam Oduro. I am 27 years old. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: She wants to explore. She is something like -- she is adventurous. Sometimes, when she wants to do something, I will even try to discourage her. But, she will have the courage to pursue. >> TITLE: In Ghana, people with disabilities are often stigmatized. Many find it difficult to fit in, let alone find a job. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: I was a kid, and I had a dream that a dog bit me. Then my mom told me that I started shouting, "A dog has bitten my leg there." The next day, I couldn't even stand on my feet. I was paralyzed. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: I found it very difficult to get even school for her. Because at the normal -- or at the regular school -- they didn't want to mingle up with people with crutches. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: When I was a kid, I found life difficult. At that time, I didn't want to come out. I didn't want many people [around]. I didn't want people to see me walking. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: Some people, when they see them, they admire them, they have sympathy for them. But some people too, when they see them, they just shun them. >> TITLE: 8:00 AM, Sone Sangvi, India >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. My favorite actor is Mithun Chakraborthy because he always plays a humanitarian, someone who helps other people. There are a lot of people who live on the streets. I will help them. There are so many people in this world who do not even get one meal a day. I will help them. >> TITLE: In India, 81 percent of girls attend primary school. Only 49 percent of girls attend high school. 46.4 percent of women are illiterate. Many women in Bharati's mother's generation were married by the time they were Bharati's age. >> TITLE: Bharati's Mother, Bharati's Father >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: My life, my generation, was full of darkness. If you are uneducated, then it is as if you only have one eye. >> TITLE: In 1998, Armene Modi founded Ashta No Kai to empower women in Bharati's community. >> ARMENE MODI [Founder, Ashta No Kai]: For about a couple of years, we only focused on adult women and literacy for them. And I noticed that many of the girls who came to the class were very, very young girls, with a mangalsutra, which is a gold and black beaded necklace that they wear around their necks, which in India is a symbol of matrimony. And they had babies on their hips, and I started to ask, "What's going on, and why are such young girls married off already?" And there's a famous Indian saying, "Why water a plant that is going to grow in a neighbor's garden?" >> TITLE: 9:00 AM, San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala >> CARLOS MACHIN: My name is Carlos Enrique Marroquin Machin. I am a native of San Andres Itzapa. I am 41 years old. My farm is three kilometers from here. We call it El Chibul, because it is much higher up than the town. Now, in the month of September, we grow beans, ejoteros, that is, green [unripe] beans to sell to the market. I also just planted huicoy, carrots, lettuce, corn, piligua. Also radishes and beets. We grow it all. They say I have the hand of God, because I have five children. My eldest daughter is 18 years old, Carlos is 17, Antonio is 14, Jenny and Carolinia are 11, and Christian is almost six. >> TITLE: Guatemala is still recovering from a long and brutal civil war. >> CARLOS MACHIN: When the armed conflict started, I was a child. I had a very painful experience. I was tortured, because I was accused of hanging out with the paramilitaries. After that, after growing up, I did not have the chance to have a childhood as my children do now. It was lost. >> TITLE: The civil war wreaked havoc on the indigenous Maya community. In the rush to rebuild, the residents of San Andres have paid a steep price. The air quality in the region is now so bad that many farmers can no longer work in their fields after 9 AM. Some, like Carlos, are looking for a new way forward. >> TITLE: 10:00 AM, Chapola, Zambia >> FRED HANYINDE: I used to walk. Whether the patient was near or far, I used to walk. Rain or shine, I used to walk. I asked the caregiver program for a bicycle, but they never gave me one. They said, "You are only using it for useless programs." But we needed to help sick people in the community, so we used to walk. >> TITLE: Caregivers like Fred often walk 15 to 20 kilometers to visit a patient. They must visit these patients two to three times every week. In 2005, World Bicycle Relief partnered with Rapids, one of the largest caregiver programs in Zambia. Their goal: To increase the effectiveness of caregivers by giving them bicycles. >> JOHAN BRUYNEEL [Board Member, World Bicycle Relief]: What I find so particular about it is that it's so simple. It's measurable, something that we take for granted, and that in other areas of the world is something that changes lives. One bike, it is 134 dollars per bike. And I know that that bike is going to go somewhere and it's going to change the life of not only one person, but probably of a whole family. >> TITLE: Fred is one of 19,000 caregivers who now make their rounds by bicycle. >> FRED HANYINDE: The bicycle helps me reach patients in good time. For example, if I go by bicycle to visit a patient at 7:00 AM, I can reach the patient early and come back early. The bicycle makes visiting patients easier. Now I can visit a patient as late as 4:00 PM and still make it home by sunset. >> TITLE: 12:00 PM, Sone Sangvi, India >> ARMENE MODI: In many villages, there were only schools until seventh grade. There were no high schools. So we worked in ten villages at that point of time, and there were only three high schools. So then I asked the parents, the mothers, "Well, what happens to the boys, how do you send the boys to school?" And they said, "Well, we give them bicycles." And I said, "Well, what about the girls," and they said, "Oh no, it's a waste of money to give a bicycle to a girl, she's going to turn around and get married. So I thought, my god, if it's only a bicycle that's keeping girls from going to school, let's go ahead and give it to them. >> TITLE: Thanks to Ashta No Kai's Bicycle Bank program, Bharati and her friends are now able to get to high school by bicycle. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I am going to Nimgaon Bhogi High School. I am learning in the ninth standard [grade]. I like mathematics because I like solving mathematical puzzles. The bike has been really useful. Now, the time that I save commuting to school can be used to study. Also, now I can ride to school with my friends. It is a lot of fun. >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: She now feels very motivated and enthusiastic to attend school. I have to make sure that my daughters get a good education. It is our duty. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I want to become a district supervisor, because then I can make big decisions, and also have the power to implement them. I would be able to make decisions regarding the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. I would be able to help transform society. I want to eradicate poverty from this country. >> TITLE: 2:00 PM, Koforidua, Ghana >> MIRRIAM ODURO: This is my bench, yes. I have all the tools that I need at my bench. >> TITLE: Mirriam is now a mechanic at Ability Bikes, a bicycle shop cooperative established by Boston-based Bikes Not Bombs and staffed entirely by disabled Ghanaians. >> DAVID BRANIGAN [International Programs Director, Bikes Not Bombs]: The first day, there was one young woman named Mirriam Oduro. They came up to me and said, "David, I want to be a part of this project." And I said, "Okay, that's great, you want to learn how to fix bikes." And she said, "Yes. David, I'm serious. I want to learn how to fix bikes." >> MIRRIAM ODURO: That day, they [the other mechanics] were laughing at me because I bent my [wheel]. So, when David taught me and I started doing it, I finished mine, and David came and checked it. He said, "Oh wow, you have done well!" They are sitting there [saying], "Mirriam, can you help me with my rim?" I said, "You are sitting there laughing at me. You want me to help you? I won't do that!" Then David told me, "Mirriam, you can help them." So I helped them. >> MIRRIAM'S FATHER: She is always adventurous. She wants to go beyond what everyone expects of her. She doesn't seem to be handicapped. She doesn't seem to be worried about her problem at all. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: It's a pretty amazing thing to have this aggressive male come with his bike and say, "Hey, my bike needs to be repaired. My wheel is going like this," right? And then everyone looks at him and they say, "Okay, we'll fix it for you." And then they take the wheel off and give it to Mirriam. And the guy's expression is like, "What? This woman, this disabled woman is going to true my wheel?" And what ends up happening is that she trues his wheel for him. And sometimes there are men sitting there, just watching, as Mirriam is repairing their wheel, something that they can't do themselves, and there's this female, physically disabled, mechanic fixing their wheel for this person. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: I know that her life is changed by it. I know that she now sees herself in the world as an influential person. She sees herself as having skills that other people don't have, that are valuable to her community, and even to the world. She sees herself as now representing other physically disabled people who were in her position before, without work, and in a position now to advocate for them, and for recognition of the enormous amount of unemployed disabled people in Ghana. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: She is a woman working in a field that is generally dominated by men. So she's even expanding the boundaries of women, and other women who are able-bodied look up to her as an example of how women can be in the world. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: It makes me happy. It helps me to achieve something. And I feel proud. My name is Mirriam Oduro. I am a mechanic. >> TITLE: 4:00 PM, San Andres Itzapa, Guatemala >> TITLE: In 1997, Carlos helped start Maya Pedal, an organization dedicated to creating environmentally friendly tools to empower rural Mayans. Their invention: the bicimaquina. >> CARLOS MACHIN: First of all, the bicimaquina is all recycled. We start from the bicycle. The bicycle is the fundamental part. To this we attach the old machines that used to be powered by other sources, like gasoline. With the bicimaquina we try to join together elements that have been discarded [bicycles] with elements that used to pollute. >> CARLOS MACHIN: First, the bicimaquina does not pollute the environment. Second, it fills the gap between the artisanal and the industrial. It is a middle ground, because it is going to allow the user to complete tasks faster. Third, it helps the economy quite a bit, because it reduces expenditures on fuel and energy. It helps to minimize the costs of both running and maintaining the machine. It is simple. >> TITLE: The community of Cruz Nueva has two bicimaquinas: a bicimolino (corn grinder) and a bicipulpar (coffee depulper). >> WOMAN 1: Oh God! It used to be a lot of work. We only ground at night, and could only grind a little at a time using our old tools. This is what we used before. But now that we have the bicimaquina, we don't use that one anymore. Now it is different. Yes, it has helped us a lot. With it I can strip corn very quickly to make my tamales. I can now grind my corn very quickly. Now grinding corn is a communal activity. The bicimaquina helps all of us. >> CARLOS MACHIN: It also helps the family to learn to use the resources that are at their disposal, that surround them. It helps them learn how to do things in new ways that don't pollute. They learn how to do things in a better way. >> MAN 1: We export coffee to the United States and, in another year, maybe Japan. The bicimaquina has helped facilitate this. Those two bicimaquinas help us to use less diesel or gasoline or electricity. It is a little better, no? Really, there's a lot of pollution. Those two help us pollute less. >> CARLOS MACHIN: For someone who hasn't seen a bicimaquina, the concept is impressive because they are astounded by what it can do. If someone has a heart attack, we are going to try to revive him or her. That is what we are trying to do with these bicycles. >> TITLE: 5:30 PM >> TITLE: 8:00 AM, Santa Barbara, CA, United States >> TITLE: Sharkey Esquives >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: You feel the fresh air. You can feel how fast you are going. You feel like you're going a hundred, you're going, like, only ten, fifteen! You can feel all that wind coming to your face; you're feeling all fresh and everything. It feels good, better than a car. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: It all depends, the day and the mood. If I feel like riding my bike somewhere far, with my headphones, I go to my racing bike. It has blue tires, blue frame with some chrome on it. With the beach cruiser, if I feel like riding with my friends, with my homies, anywhere, I take my beach cruiser or my mountain bike, whichever one comes in handy. >> TITLE: Sharkey is a volunteer bike mechanic at Bici Centro, a community-run bike shop that sells refurbished bicycles and teaches patrons how to repair their own bicycles. >> ED FRANCE [Director, Bici Centro]: You have recreational road riders, who can generally afford bikes up to two, three thousand dollars, more. You have recreational mountain bikers, same deal, and those folks will tend to replace bikes every few years, even. You have the die-hard enviro bike commuters, but that group is not just the classic image we have of a bicycle commuter, the white, well-educated cyclist who's decided to simplify their life and to live environmentally, and thus they're going to bike. In Santa Barbara, at least half of that five percent of people getting around by bike are working-class folks who rely on that bike, probably not necessarily out of choice, because people ride whatever they can, you know? And again, that's half of our active bike commuting population. And so, our feeling at Bici Centro, as the group of founders, was that that group wasn't being served. >> ED FRANCE: I feel a lot of sympathy for people in Shark's position, because out of high school, the possibilities are really bleak. What do you do? Continue hanging out with the gang? He probably has some hard job prospects. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: It has kept me from the streets, from kicking it with my homies, kicking it with everyone, not knowing. Getting busted, getting locked up every time. Bici Centro has helped me in stopping it. I could be here, I could come here, and it?s kind of like a job. Come here, throw all my stress in here, and go home and just chill, and just pass out. It?s like a regular day, doing a regular job like a regular person. I've always been proud of working in here. Been helping a lot of people from different spots, people from a different world, different states, different age. You get the smallest kid to the biggest, oldest, like, "O.G." -- old man -- whatever! You could get anyone in here who doesn?t know anything about bikes, we teach them. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: My life has changed plenty. A lot of people know me better from working at Bici Centro. They'll be like, "Aren?t you that person who helped me fix up my bike?" I?m like, "Yes, I'm the one who fixed it." They'll be telling me, "Thanks for fixing it, it's running good." My name is Sharkey, I'm from Santa Barbara. I'm from Bici Centro, I'm a volunteer, and I?m 21 years old. >> ED FRANCE: This is just the same story over and over: people with enormous potential that are overlooked throughout the world. But we need our solutions that are intermediate. We have all these overpowering solutions. We want to have electricity! Well, we'll just dig up that mountain and we'll just make electricity, and we'll just run railroad cars and trucks. All we do is overpower things or neglect things. >> CARLOS MACHIN: We as human beings need to take care of the world, not the world take care of us. Because we have been given wisdom, understanding, and all this. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: The majority of trips that people need to take in their lives -- if you're in Guatemala, or Ghana, or in Boston -- are bikeable. >> JOHAN BRUYNEEL: If we have a problem with transportation, we wake up in the morning, we look at the sky, and we say, if it's cloudy, do we go by car, or do we take the bike? The transportation story or transportation problem in Africa is totally different. They don't have the choice. They either have to walk-- kids have to walk two to three hours to school and from school, or caregivers have to walk all day long, in the best circumstances they can see maybe two or three patients. It's a completely different view on what a bike can do. We don't see the use of a bike other than, we have the choice. >> ARMENE MODI: Having a bicycle and being able to access education can have such a huge impact on aspiration levels, on educational levels, on quality of life. >> DAVID BRANIGAN: That bicycle is increasing their mobility. It's increasing their ability to go places. It's broadening their scope of their life, of what resources they can access. >> JOHAN BRUYNEEL: Bikes have been part of my life, naturally, for always, and I've never thought about not having a bike. What a bike can do, to me, just made too much sense, and I couldn't afford myself to say, "I'm not part of this." >> ED FRANCE: It is a comprehensive development tool. Development that happens for an entire country starts with one person. And if every single person in that country begins to become empowered, and begins to have access to resources, the entire country's going to develop. >> CARLOS MACHIN: We know that we don't have to speak for the machine. The machine speaks for itself. >> FRED HANYINDE: You can go and see a patient and still make it home. The bike makes the work of a caregiver lighter. >> SHARKEY ESQUIVES: You fix that one up; he's going to tell his friend. His friend is going tell another friend. >> MIRRIAM ODURO: It gives you mobility to do something. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I was very happy when I got the bicycle. I felt really good riding my bike. >> CARLOS MACHIN: The machine speaks for itself. http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-the-mothers-index Being a new mom is rewarding and challenging. But what extra burdens do mothers in poor and rural communities face? Take a tour of the world's best and worst places to be a mom, in this report from Save the Children and ViewChange.org. Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:27:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/viewchange-the-mothers-index Save the Children, Maternal death, Child mortality, Childbirth, Pregnancy, Ashta no Kai, Education, Gender, Nepal, Malawi >> VOICEOVER: Next up: an all-new mother's day special. Being a new mom is rewarding and challenging -- but what extra burdens do mothers in poorer countries face? Come take a tour of the world's best and worst places to be a mom, in this new report from Save the Children and ViewChange.org.>> VOICEOVER: ViewChange is about people making real progress in tackling the world's toughest issues. Can a story change the world? See for yourself in ViewChange: The Mothers Index.>> VOICEOVER: You've heard the term "lottery of birth." More often than not, children born in rich countries win it, while those in poor countries lose. A child's life expectancy, health, education, and so much more hinges on where he or she happens to enter the world. But there's also a lottery of motherhood, and expectant moms in developing countries are facing the toughest odds. Every year, more than 350,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth -- most, simply because they don't have access to basic delivery care. >>WOMAN: Push hard!>> VOICEOVER: And the ripple effect is dramatic: when a mother dies, her children are more likely to be poor, more likely to die before the age of five, or to drop out of school if they survive. But private aid groups and governments are working hard to change the odds in the lottery of motherhood. In Sierra Leone, a place that Save the Children ranks as one of the very worst places to be a mom, a new government program is trying to turn the tide, as we see in this short film from ViewChange.>> TITLE: Where Every Pregnancy is a Gamble. Lauren Malkani and Ami Vitale, Sierra Leone>> VOICEOVER: After a brutal decade-long conflict, Sierra Leone has the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world.>> FATIMATA KONTE [Expectant mother, Kroo Bay]: My name is Fatimata Konte. I'm 36 years old. We women suffer too much. Women in Sierra Leone suffer too much! I've lived in Kroo Bay for four years. When I wake up at 5am I get out of bed, and the kind of pain that I feel is from my waist bone down to the bottom of my belly. I cough and I'm very sick. I'm really sick but it's like this for all women. From the day a child is born, she must work. Every day I must go to the market. There I have to bargain for fruits. It's a strain to go to the market. I must sell the fruit to have money to buy food to sell for the next day. It's all I can do to survive. I work for my daughter so she can go to school. She is in class four. I want her to learn. Let her learn. I want her to be somebody.>> DR. TAGIE GBAWRU-MANSARAY [Doctor, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital]: When a woman is educated she can take care of herself, she can take care of the children, she can take care of her husband, her home. It benefits the population, the family, and it will help Sierra Leone in the long run. I'm a medical doctor, house officer here at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital. When you're in school and you're studying to become a doctor, you read about all the fanciful techniques, all the wonderful drugs, the magic pills that you give to patients, all the different things that you can do as a doctor. When you come into the real world and you see that even basic things we don't have here -- the basic drugs, simple equipment -- and you are limited. At times you see a particular case and you think to yourself, if only I had this, if only I had that, I would have been able to save a patient's life.>> VOICEOVER: One in five children die before their first birthday, and one in eight women die during pregnancy.>> FATIMATA KONTE: I have two children and I've lost five, so this is the eighth pregnancy. So right now, I am remembering the past. I am worried this one can die too. My biggest fear is that this child will die.>> VOICEOVER: The one referral hospital in the capital of Freetown services a population of over 400,000 people.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE [Doctor, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital]: Hello, good afternoon. My name is Dr. Ibraham Thorlie. In this hospital we have four gynecologists. One doctor can serve over 100,000 people.>> VOICEOVER: Though the hospital is severely understaffed, it is not the only reason so many people are dying.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE: The delay starts from home. If a woman is pregnant, she wants to give birth, and the husband is not around, she cannot be taken anywhere without the husband coming, because he gives the money. If you come too late, we cannot help you.>> VOICEOVER: And, often, those patients who come too late are very close to death.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE: It's a big dilemma. If the patient can pay you, then it's good. But when they cannot pay you, you need to help them.>> VOICEOVER: Rather than watching their patients die, many doctors and nurses like Rebecca pay for the worst cases from their own small salaries.>> REBECCA MASSAQUEI [Nurse, Princess Christian Maternity Hospital]: I'm a poor nurse. I don't have money to take care of this baby. But the baby should have died, because there was nobody to take care of the baby. So that's why I decided to take the baby. He will live to tell this story. So he's the victory child. That why I call his name Victor.>> VOICEOVER: Victor is one of the few lucky survivors in a place where so many die. However, the government has just launched a program providing free healthcare for pregnant women and children under five.>> DR. IBRAHAM THORLIE: Now things are picking up with the pronouncement of the free healthcare system. It's a big incentive and we hope that will surely bring a difference. But to sustain it is not an easy thing.>> FATIMATA KONTE: We women are all very happy that women will finally get treated.>> TITLE: On April 16, 2010 Fatimata Konte gave birth to a healthy baby boy.>> TITLE: [end credits]>> VOICEOVER: So where are the best and worst places to be a mom? For its "State of the World's Mothers" report, Save the Children studied 164 countries, and compiled a "mothers index." At the top of the index, women have what they need to thrive: excellent medical services, plenty of skilled health workers, and opportunities for education and advancement. But the gap between the top- and bottom-ranked countries is stark. At the bottom, one in three children suffers from malnutrition, and one in 30 women will die from pregnancy-related causes. And how does the United States stack up? Number 31. America's maternal mortality is the highest of any industrialized nation. >> VOICEOVER: But the study is also clear about solutions that work. And the very best solution for helping moms and children? More health workers on the front lines. The equation is simple: more doctors, more midwives and community health workers means more mothers and children surviving childbirth and the early years of life. Nowhere is this more clear than a place like Nepal, which is ranked 133rd on the Mothers Index. This ViewChange short film from Living Proof tells the story. >> TITLE: In one of the world's poorest places, the day a woman gives birth is the most dangerous day of her life, and her child's life. Can one woman and her baby beat the odds?>> TITLE: Dangerous Day. Living Proof, Nepal>> TITLE: Western Nepal >> TITLE: People scratch out a living in the Himalayan foothills, and life is hardest for women>> MAHESWORI: My name is Maheswori. I'm 19 years old. My husband went to India to work. Here there is no food, no rice, no nothing. Around here, there's no work. >> TITLE: Maheswori is pregnant and past due.>> MAHESWORI: I am very, very scared. Everyone has been asking about it, and that makes me even more scared. My first child was breech born, and I might just die this time. If I will live, I will live. If I will die, I will die. >> TITLE: The nearest hospital is four hours away. >> MAHESWORI: Some said take her to the hospital, some said drive her down. Everyone had opinions. But how would you get a car without money?>> TITLE: She plans to deliver in the same place she gave birth before.>> MAHESWORI: In November my daughter was born. I had the baby in our cow shed. >> TITLE: By local custom, mother and child are quarantined as "unclean.">> MAHESWORI: For 12 days after the birth, the baby and I were kept in the cow shed. On the 13th day we were allowed out. You can't take a newborn in the house, God gets angry. You're better off in the cow shed. >> TITLE: Because of Maheswori's high-risk pregnancy, an aid worker traveling with the camera crew makes a case to village elders. They consent to having a birth attendant, and she won't give birth in the cow shed. >> MAHESWORI: I am going to die. Oh my mother! I am dying ...>> WOMAN: Get me the gloves, quickly.>> MAHESWORI: I am dying ... am dying. Please ... I can't.>> WOMAN: It's a complete breech situation. Push hard!>> INDUKA KARI [CARE Program Officer]: She was completely unaware of the fact that she would need medical care because her first child was breech born. >> TITLE: She gives birth to another daughter, Seema. >> INDUKA KARI: If she hadn't gotten proper care by a trained birth attendant, she would've died. >> MAHESWORI: I'll rest for seven days, but then it's back to work. I have to pound the rice, carry water, cut grass, and chop wood. Life is tough here. >> TITLE: Living Proof. Real Lives. Real Progress. >> TITLE: In Nepal, 80 percent of births occur at home with no skilled birth attendant like Maheswori had. But support from global partners is helping train Nepal's 45,000 female health volunteers, and they are dramatically improving Nepal's health outcomes. >> VOICEOVER: If there's one overwhelming success story in maternal and child health, it can be found in Malawi, where almost half the county -- 40 percent -- lives in poverty. But, for years, the government has been investing in all sorts of new plans for life-saving care. The result? The number of deaths in children under five has been cut in half over the past 20 years. Malawi's striking results are strongly linked to efforts on the ground, house by house, community to community, to give mothers the support they need. Living Proof has this success story from Malawi>> TITLE: Grandparents Shaping Safe Childbirth. Living Proof, Malawi >> TITLE: Wacapati = Pregnancy>> TITLE: In Malawi, the word for pregnancy also means 50/50. Conventional wisdom says there is just a 50/50 chance a woman will survive childbirth. >> TITLE: Agogo = Grandparent>> TITLE: Agogos are known as the guardians of wisdom and are responsible for passing on tradition.>> TITLE: Can agogos help improve the odds of wacapati? >> TITLE: Ekwendeni, Malawi>> LYTON CHAWINGA: My name is Lyton Chawinga, and I have six grandchildren. I was born at home, in 1948. In previous days, pregnant mothers were using unsafe methods. Some would have their babies in grass huts. After giving birth, they would leave babies on the ground in the cold. We didn't know better. We had a lot of deaths. One day, hospital workers asked us to be a part of the Agogo Program.>> TITLE: The Agogo Program teaches village elders about proper natal care and helps agogos pass along those messages to their communities. >> LYTON CHAWINGA: We go to their house. We talk to both the man and the woman. We are here to chat with you about the importance of going to the hospital when you are pregnant. We show them pictures and tell them what can happen if they give birth at home. That the mother or baby can fall sick or die. >> WOMAN [Agogo]: After three months, start going for checkups. Escort each other. Many husbands refuse to escort their wives, which is not good. >> TITLE: Agogos also use traditional methods to teach modern messages. >> WOMEN: Pregnancy doesn't kill, the hospital is good, and all our children should be taken there.>> LYTON CHAWINGA: Deaths have decreased, diseases have decreased, and life has improved. I am really happy because if the student fails you are not a good teacher. I see fruits of what I teach and I am proud that I am a good teacher.>> TITLE: Living Proof: Real Lives. Real Progress. >> TITLE: With support and funding, 4,000 agogos have been trained in Malawi.>> TITLE: As a result, Ekwendeni Hospital has seen a 60 percent increase in pregnant women seeking antenatal care.>> TITLE: To accommodate them, the hospital is building a new, larger maternal ward.>> VOICEOVER: Access to health care isn't the whole story, of course. Helping women must include an investment in education. In rural Bangladesh, communities are learning the real value of empowering women. This film from Save the Children shows that giving girls a voice can be the most powerful solution of all. >> TITLE: Shilpi's Story. Save the Children, Bangladesh>> TITLE: This is Shilpi's story. Tiler Char, Barishal, Bangladesh.>> VOICEOVER: Shilpi's father died when she was very young. Her mother worked as a maid to support Shilpi and two younger sons. She earned only enough to feed them one meal a day. When Save the Children started the Girls' Voices project nearby, Shilpi joined. She met with other teenage girls to build self-confidence and learn new skills, like making a budget and saving money. Shilpi realized she could help support her family, even without working outside the home. She started her first business weaving mats. >> SHILPI: Later, I thought about how I could use the money I earn from weaving mats to do more. So I bought a small cow. After a year it gave birth. At that time we got 2 to 2.5 liters of milk from the cow every day. I sold that milk and used the money for my family. Later, when I had earned more money from weaving mats, I saved it. Our house was very small. It was awful to live there during the rainy season. So I decided we should build a new house. I sold the calf and used the money from my savings to build this house. If I had not joined "Girls' Voices" I would have been married by now, like all the other girls. Then I would not have been able to build such a big house or buy a cow. Now my plan is to buy a piece of land since we do not have any. The other plan I have is for my brother. Because he is handicapped, I am supporting his studies. That way he can get a job and earn his own living. My mother used to think if I had been a son instead of a daughter our life would have been much easier. But now she thinks "my daughter has done more for our family than a son would ever do.">> VOICEOVER: Around the world, communities are coming together, not only to save the lives of mothers and children, but to improve them. To give women real opportunities to change the courses of their lives. Basic health care can solve the most urgent crises, but a bigger sea change -- one that empowers women to learn, to marry later, and to decide when to have children -- will ultimately close the gaps in the odds that mothers face. Those changes are happening every day, country by country, and girl by girl. Sometimes, in places like India, something as simple as a bicycle can make all the difference.>> TITLE: Hubub Films Presents>> TITLE: Sone Sangvi, India>> TITLE: Pedal=Sight. Jacob Seigel-Boettner, India >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I am going to Nimgaon Bhogi High School. I am learning in the ninth standard [grade]. My favorite actor is Mithun Chakrabothy because he always plays a humanitarian, someone who helps other people. My favorite actress is Rani Mukherjee. I like her husky voice. There are a lot of people who live on the streets. I will help them. There are so many people in this world who do not even get one meal a day. I will help them. >> TITLE: Pedal = Sight>> ARMENE MODI [Director, Ashta No Kai]: For about a couple of years, we only focused on adult women and literacy for them, and I noticed many of the girls who came to the class were very, very young girls with mangalsutra, which is a gold-and-black beaded necklace, around their necks, which in India is a symbol of matrimony, and they had babies on their hips, and I started to ask, "What's going on?" and, "Why are such young girls married off already?">> BHARATI'S MOTHER: My life, my generation, was full of darkness. I have to make sure that my daughters get a good education. It is our duty. If you are uneducated, then it is as if you only have one eye. >> ARMENE MODI: In many villages, there were only schools until seventh grade. There were no high schools. So we worked in 10 villages at that point of time, and there were only three high schools. So then I asked the parents, the mothers, "Well, what happens to the boys? How do you send the boys to school?" And they said, "Well, we give them bicycles." And I said, "Well, what about the girls?" And they said, "Oh, no. It's a waste of money to give a bicycle to a girl. She's going to turn around and get married." There's a famous Indian saying: Why water a plant that's going to grow in a neighbor's garden? So, I thought, my God, if it's only a bicycle that's keeping girls from going to school, let's go ahead and give it to them. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: The bike has been really useful. Now, the time that I save commuting to school can be used to study. Also, now I can ride to school with my friends. It's a lot of fun. I used to have to walk to school. >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: Initially, she had to walk to school. It took her more than an hour. Now she can ride to school in 15 minutes. She now feels very motivated and enthusiastic to attend school. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I want to become a District Supervisor, because then I can make big decisions, and also have the power to implement them. I would be able to make decisions regarding the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. I would be able to help transform society. My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I want to eradicate poverty from this country. >> TITLE: [end credits]>> VOICEOVER: Like what you saw? Then visit ViewChange.org, Link TV's brand new multimedia website. Watch over 200 stories about new solutions to the developing world's biggest challenges, get involved with the issues, share the stories with friends, and help change the world, all at ViewChange.org>> VOICEOVER: To read the full 2011 "State of the World's Mothers" report, and to learn more about Save the Children, visit savethechildren.org.>> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/kenyan-solution-for-charging-mobile-phones <p>In rural Kenya, electricity sockets are hard to find but pedal power is everywhere&mdash;which is why inventor Pascal Katana has come up with an ingenious method to charge mobile phones using the energy generated by bicycles.</p> Thu, 23 Sep 2010 07:29:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/kenyan-solution-for-charging-mobile-phones Kenya, Mobile phone, Pascal Katana, Energy poverty, Appropriate technology, Africa, Technology, ViewChange Online Film Contest, Change Makers, LinkTV Picks >> TITLE: Spark Africa. New Business Perspectives>> VOICEOVER: Spark Africa is always looking for new businesses and surprising initiatives. Today, we report from the Kenyan countryside.>> TITLE: Kenya. Population: 38.8 million. GNP per capita: USD$547. Rural population: 90 percent. Electricity: 10 percent of the rural population. >> VOICEOVER: Electricity doesn't come out of a wall here, let alone a phone connection. Therefore, a mobile phone is useful, but how do you charge it? >> CRISTINE AKELO [Spark Africa Kenya]: It is estimated currently, 17.5 million people out of the 38.5 million people in Kenya's population own a mobile handset, and thus, they need to be charged.>> PASCAL KATANA [Inventor, Smart Charger]: We'll reduce the problem that is being encountered in our rural areas. >> CRISTINE AKELO: Students of the university of Nairobi came up with a solution to this. The smart charger is easy to use: just connect it to the dynamo of your bike. The apparatus will convert the resulting energy into electricity, which can be used to charge a mobile phone. After about an hour of cycling, the phone is then charged. Normally, charging your phone is more time-consuming. Sometimes, you have to walk hours before finding a charging location. Small shops with solar panels or batteries charge it for you and charge USD$1. However, even the man who profits from charging other people's phones seems to be happy with the smart charger.>> MAN: I'm happy for the people who can now charge their phone while riding a bicycle. It won't affect my business. Customers will keep on coming. It's important to take care of each other. We all suffer because of the electricity problem. >> CRISTINE AKELO: The bicycle is a popular means of transport in east Africa, which makes the mobile charger simple and effective. For personal, business, or just for transport means, the inventors of the charger are already working with professional cyclists and bicycle couriers. >> PETER NJOROGE [Bicycle courier]: This mobile charger is good. It will definitely help us. I place this charger to my bike. The device charges while I drive. >> CRISTINE AKELO: The smart charger has recently been brought to the market. For one charger, it costs about 350 Kenyan shillings, which is about USD$4. The inventors are hoping for international success. >> PASCAL KATANA: Tanzania, Ivory Coast -- they have really requested for that smart charger.>> CRISTINE AKELO: Pascal and Jeremiah will have to look at their options in the coming period, because there is a great chance that this device will be readily available in the years to come. There is one thing they do not need to worry about: everybody here rides a bicycle. >> TITLE: [end credits] http://www.viewchange.org/videos/pedalsight <p>For many children in the West, usually a bicycle is little more than a toy. For Bharati it is a means to an education, a means to a better future, and a tool to achieve what women in her mother's generation could not. Bharati wants to change her world with a little help from her own two wheels.</p> Thu, 16 Sep 2010 08:17:00 +0000 http://www.viewchange.org/videos/pedalsight Ashta no Kai, Education, India, High school, Armene Modi, Bicycle, Poverty, ViewChange Online Film Contest, LinkTV Picks, Gender >> TITLE: Hubub Films Presents >> TITLE: Sone Sangvi, India >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I am going to Nimgaon Bhogi High School. I am learning in the ninth standard [grade]. My favorite actor is Mithun Chakrabothy because he always plays a humanitarian, someone who helps other people. My favorite actress is Rani Mukherjee. I like her husky voice. There are a lot of people who live on the streets. I will help them. There are so many people in this world who do not even get one meal a day. I will help them. >> TITLE: Pedal = Sight >> ARMENE MODI [Director, Ashta No Kai]: For about a couple of years, we only focused on adult women and literacy for them, and I noticed many of the girls who came to the class were very, very young girls with mangalsutra, which is a gold-and-black beaded necklace, around their necks, which in India is a symbol of matrimony, and they had babies on their hips, and I started to ask, "What's going on?" and, "Why are such young girls married off already?" >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: My life, my generation, was full of darkness. I have to make sure that my daughters get a good education. It is our duty. If you are uneducated, then it is as if you only have one eye. >> ARMENE MODI: In many villages, there were only schools until seventh grade. There were no high schools. So we worked in 10 villages at that point of time, and there were only three high schools. So then I asked the parents, the mothers, "Well, what happens to the boys? How do you send the boys to school?" And they said, "Well, we give them bicycles." And I said, "Well, what about the girls?" And they said, "Oh, no. It's a waste of money to give a bicycle to a girl. She's going to turn around and get married." There's a famous Indian saying: Why water a plant that's going to grow in a neighbor's garden? So, I thought, my God, if it's only a bicycle that's keeping girls from going to school, let's go ahead and give it to them. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: The bike has been really useful. Now, the time that I save commuting to school can be used to study. Also, now I can ride to school with my friends. It's a lot of fun. I used to have to walk to school. >> BHARATI'S MOTHER: Initially, she had to walk to school. It took her more than an hour. Now she can ride to school in 15 minutes. She now feels very motivated and enthusiastic to attend school. >> BHARATI PHAKAD DATE: I want to become a District Supervisor, because then I can make big decisions, and also have the power to implement them. I would be able to make decisions regarding the welfare of the poor and downtrodden. I would be able to help transform society. My name is Bharati Phakad Date. I am 14 years old. I live in Sone Sangvi. I want to eradicate poverty from this country.