FilmAid: Connecting Youth Across the Globe

When Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast a year ago last August, FilmAid responded.  We brought much needed entertainment and diversion to people displaced in Louisiana. Over a year later, the vast majority of evacuees remain without permanent homes and rely on government support and private charity to survive. We at FilmAid understand just how spirit-crushing a life on pause can be.

                              “You’re taught how to make friends, but no one ever
                                           teaches you what to when you lose them.”
                                                       -Ashley Anderson,  Sophomore,
                                                   Bay High School, Bay St. Louis, MS

We also know the power of young voices to stir honest dialogue in a community torn apart by tragedy. Through an innovative partnership with local organizations in Bay St.  Louis, Mississippi, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, FilmAid is providing affected young people with the tools to share their  experiences through video. Thanks  to the support of local and national  partner organizations, in April of  this  year  eighty  high  school  and  middle  school-aged  youth  were  taught how to craft stories using  animation. Reflecting on their lives post-Katrina, they gained a sense of mastery over how their stories are being told.  The experiences of these uprooted youth, both of heart-wrenching tragedy and creative empowerment, mirror the experiences of young refugees in Kenya enrolled in FilmAid’s Participatory Video Program. 

This September, FilmAid and our partner Barefoot Workshops conducted special workshops with young people in Kenya’s Kakuma camp.  These  youth  worked  in  teams  to  write, act, shoot  and  edit  videos  grounded  in  their  personal  experience.  The films were shared with the larger community, providing important affirming messages about HIV/AIDS, women’s rights, family bonds and conflict resolution. With additional funding, FilmAid hopes to extend the opportunity for empowerment, understanding and dialogue to even more youth in the U.S. Gulf Coast area and East Africa. American and African youth will create and share their video stories with each other, which FilmAid hopes to then stream on the web and broadcast at film festivals and through other media outlets.  In  addition to offering youth a voice and an opportunity to connect with their peers around the world, our goal is to rally increased  public support in the United States,  Africa, and elsewhere for the more  than 30 million refugees and displaced people worldwide.  All we need is your financial support to make it happen.

The Voice
the voice
so powerful
from just a tussle
it screams
with just a word
it whimpers
the voice
so easily expressed
yet so commonly muzzled
this voice
so forgotten
so let down
so unimportant
these people
this place
this hope haven in culture
this, my life, becoming one great
   sculptor
given this opportunity I won’t
    let you down
these people this place
has helped me be found.
I have so much meaning
and I see so much more
my skies are much bluer
my eyes are much newer

it’s thanks to you I can say this now
it’s thanks to you I can be so proud
of being here and having a voice
knowing you’re here to help me
rejoice.

       By Ashley Anderson,                      Sophomore, Bay High School,
     Bay St. Louis, MS
Written in response to FilmAid’s new Gulf Coast project, a partnership with Barefoot Workshops

< Back to newsletter