Being back in the States has been an interesting transition. I got to have all the conviences that I missed while in Africa and see my loved ones, but yet things feel different than they did before.
I was touched by all the people I met in Africa, and now have been working on how to tell their story. A task I take very seriously, and consider an honor. There’s alot of footage to go through, and so many interesting moments, that its taking alittle longer than I would have thought to edit it all down.
But the team has re-convened at a mountain retreat to focus on the post production process, and will have a trailer up soon.
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We have officially finished shooting in Africa. We have about two days of travel ahead of us before we’ll be back in the states. I anxiously await dome time for a little rest and relaxation.
This past week has been a wild one. It started with Breezy slipping and snapping her ankle at the bottom of this beautiful revine. Megan took charge and before we knew it we were carrying breezy on her back, while megan stablized her ankle as we carried her up a hill, and to our luck found some germans who had a car, and were willing to take us to the hospital.
It turns out the break was pretty bad, and the doctors suggested that breezy fly home to the states to have surgury. So Keri and Breezy left a couple of days ago, and we’ve been keeping them in our prayers.
Having breezy get hurt put alot of things in perspective for me, and made me grateful for all that we’ve been able to acomplish over here.
These last few days have been pretty rough on me as well, I have contracted some sort of sickness, and I am anxiously awaiting to be done with all this travelling.
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I know we haven’t been updating that much lately, which has been due to our busy production schedule, but I decided to give some quick updates.
this is one of the hills we walk up almost everyday
When taking on a project like this you try to plan for the unexpected, but no matter what you do there will always be surprises. Most days it feels like rolling dice; will people show up? Will they let us shoot? Will they open up? Will we get the shots we need?
It makes planning difficult, you can spend days figuring out the right scene to tell the story, and then at the last minute it doesn’t happen, and you’re back at the drawing board.
Other days, you get unexpected surprises, where some new piece of information is introduced, or you get invited somewhere even better than you had originally planned.
This is the joy of shooting Verite documentaries. The outcome is unknown, but that doesn’t mean our story is unknown. We have lots of stories, and I guess its up to chance to see how everything will come together, and we will arrive at our final story.
We have about two weeks left of shooting to do, which doesn’t seem like that much time, considering all the things we still want to shoot. I guess you need deadlines to keep you on track, as well as deciding at some point that you have enough.
We are managing to have some fun in the midst of all the work.
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We’ve reached the halfway point of our trip over here, and things are going well. I feel more at home now, and our production is moving.
It’s been nice being here, where there are little distractions. We all spend most of our time thinking, planning, and working on the film.
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5/22/08
Trying to keep this blog updated.
We’ve been visiting everyone who agreed to be a part of our film.
Some seem more interesting than others, but we have committed to meet each person at least once. There are a few that stand out, and I can’t wait to go deeper with them.
Our main focus is on the Stigma that these people living with HIV face.
We realize this isn’t a problem unique to Africa, and that people face sigma world wide.
We hope to show this groups struggle and accomplishments, and that we might be able to inspire other people who face similar situations.
We’ve heard some powerful stories, and we’ve been focusing on figuring out how to show this Stigma visually.
The people we’ve met have been surprisingly open to us. I’m sure it’s a bit intimidating when a group of white people show up with two big video cameras, and a couple still cameras and tell you to go about your daily business. They’ve been good about not looking in the lens, and we’ve come to really understand what daily life is like for these people. Most are farmers and have some livestock, and we’re realizing it’s a full time job to feed your animals, and yourself.
Bought a Chicken to eat today, which is pretty exciting, because we’ve been eating veggie food for too long.
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5-18-08
We took this Saturday and Sunday off from shooting, and went to Moshi to stock up on some supplies, and to visit some of Megan’s friends from the Peace Core. It was refreshing to hang out with people who speak English and eat some good food. We ended up at some other friends house with a bunch of young people who were all here for similar reasons; helping people. We played some guitar, sang, a little break dancing, and just had some fun. We left pretty early this morning to head back up to Rombo, which is about 2 and half hour bus ride when everything goes smoothly.
It rained last night which made waking up this morning interesting considering very few of the roads are paved. We slid our way down the street to pick up some last minute supplies, then started up the mountain. The paved road stop half way up the mountain, and that’s where things started getting interesting. Our bus that was filled to capacity with people standing in the aisles was fish tailing back and forth on these muddy roads. at some points we were completely side ways. We ended up sliding off the road, and getting stuck in a big rut. Our bus was stuck at a 45 degree angle, and most people filed off the bus, and began trying to rock the bus out. All the villagers made there way out to see what the commotion was about. Eventually a few men dug out some of the mud and we were able to get the bus back on the road.
So we continued swerving up the hill, but now I was a little more concerned about our safety after being stuck in the rut and seeing how close to tipping we came. On either side of the road were these big ruts where the water flowed, and sometimes they are bigger than others. We all we hanging on and bracing ourselves for the chance that we might go over the edge, which would surely meaning rolling over. I took a second to glance up at our bus drivers mirror, and he had a smile on his face. Apparently he wasn’t worried at all, and in all fairness he was able to get us up the muddy mountain. The trip took over 4 hours, and now that I’m home safe I can say it was actually pretty fun. Once you loosened your grip and relaxed a little it felt like it could have been a ride at Disneyland.
It’s cold here tonight, and I think we are all happy to be home, and preparing ourselves for the busy week that lies ahead.
Wish I had some pictures to post, but we intentionally didn’t bring cameras this weekend, as it was suppose to be our time off.
5/21/08
Production is going well, finding it hard to find time to come post. Ryan grabbed this quick still from one of our emotional interviews.
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5/11/08
I got to meet Mama Oska for the first time yesterday, and she was even better than I imagined. After a long trek up hill to get to her, we were greeted with open arms, and a warm smile. She was especially happy to see Megan, as they had spent so much time working side by side in their attempts to educate people. She was more beautiful than I thought she would be, and a lot taller also.
She is soft and caring, yet strong and has a bit of attitude too, which I think helps makes her a dynamic character. I think we all fell in love with her son Oska. He is so open, and full of excitement and wonder. He loves our cameras, and goes around taking pictures of everything around him (check Ryan’s last post to see his pictures).
After being at Mama Oska’s less than 10 minutes Oska had already sat down next to me placing his arm on mine. There is a lot of affection shown here. I often find myself having hand shakes that last a couple of minutes while we talk.
One example, was Ryan and I went for a walk the other night, and were following the sound of music we could hear from just about everywhere. We ended up outside a church, where we sat listening for a minute, when a man came out to greet us. Lucky for us he spoke English and turns out he was the pastor of the church. We introduced ourselves, and when I was shaking his hand and introducing myself, he got excited, and started telling me about his son who was also named Joshua. He proceeded to tell another story about the church, all the while still holding my hand. It’s not really that awkward, I think it was just something I had to get use to….
I think one of our main objectives of our film is to try and stop the idea of just throwing money at a problem and expecting it to go away. Instead what we’d like to see is empowering people in the community, so that they can learn to help themselves.
Mama Oska is a great example of this, and we are hoping to find a couple other characters that are doing the same thing.
5/12/08
Production for our feature starts today.
Woke up early this morning and went to Mama Oskas house to meet with potential characters for our film. We had a wide range, and after describing to them our idea, almost all were interested. One guy said he didn’t feel comfortable because not that many people know he is positive, and wouldn’t want to have a film crew poking around his life.
This is understandable, and is one of the main reasons we are making this film.
We ended up having 13 people volunteering to be a part of the film. Way more than we need, but this way we have some options and some back ups. I already have a few that stand out to me, and look forward to spending some time with the rest. We have made appointments almost everyday for the next two weeks, and feel that the production will be going at full speed from here on out.
It was nice to have a little time to adjust to being in a new place, test out some things with the cameras, and to just do some good to help the community.
Don’t know if I’ll have as much time to post these days, as it looks like it going to get crazy busy for a while.
I offered to throw a huge party when we’re done shooting….and kinda promised to buy a cow, I think they cost around 3-4 hundred dollars, so let me know if your interested in help sponsoring the party….because I’m already broke.
5/15/08
Finally have a minute to sit and write. Yesterday was a very busy day, woke up early and went to a group meeting of a couple of our characters in the morning and in the afternoon we went to a funeral. I don’t think any of us really knew what to expect. We hiked for about two hours to get to the house that the funeral was at. We greeted every single person there when we showed up which was about 50. It turns out we were early because with in the next 2 hours, another 2-3 hundred people showed up. People were sitting in the bushes, and packed in where ever they could find a seat. I found out it was rude to pass by a funeral and not attend, so we had a majority of this village in attendance. We were there to shoot video and definitely captured some heavy moments, of a dead woman, and young girls crying, people digging their hands in the dirt to help bury the dead. It turns out this woman had died fro AIDS, and Mama Oska took it upon herself to lecture this community, about helping each other instead of stigmatizing those who have contracted the virus.
Tomorrow we are going to video tape the woman’s husband about what this loss was like, and I think he is going to get tested, and be open about his status.
They had an amazing choir singing, with conviction and soul. It was so good, we filmed all of it. It was heart breaking to not be able to roll the whole time, but it made us selective about what was important.
Today we went to visit one of our other characters Costa. He’s actually one of my favorite because he’s an older man, who kind of soft spoken, but is obviously a leader. I shot him feeding his animals this morning, and we went with him to the clinic, where he picks up his medicine. He was the first in his town to go on ARV’s, and since he has he has been doing well, but now he must continue to take them other wise his body would become very weak.
We have been trying to find some obstacles for our characters to help people become invested in them.
At this point I am excited that things have been going well, and I’ve pretty much eat sleeping and breathing this project. Ryan and I will take little breaks, but I’m still going slightly mad, but that’s a comfortable place for me.
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Woke up at 4:45 this morning to go hike up the mountain a bit to film a time lapse of the sunrise, and go to visit Mama Oska. We left a little after five, with headlamps on, and all our gear strapped to our backs. It was about 4 miles up hill to get there, and we were all dripping by the time we got to our little look out point. it took about 2 ½ hours to get there, but it was beautiful to watch the sun come up and the light brought everything to life.
We went to Mama Oska’s house, but due to a little lack of communication she wasn’t there… needless to say I was a bit bummed, and after one quick stop were on our way down the mountain again. Its now 11:30 and we just made it back, I am super exhausted after lugging all this gear around and am happy to sit down for a bit, and doing a little editing. It was a good work out, but my knees are killing me. Looks like we have the chance to make the same trek tomorrow….
Yesterday we did some shooting at Tumaini Center, for a fund raiser we are planning to make for them. Sister Mary Laura, has given us her blessing, and is very influential in the community here, so we are grateful to have her on our side.
The more time we spend here, the better I am beginning to understand the culture. I was a bit shocked to see how modest of a place Mama Oska lived in, literally one room, and one bed for her and Oska to share.
Most people don’t want their pictures taken, however every now and then you’ll find a few that ask to have their picture taken. At this point I really want to be focused in my shooting, and am not bothering shooting things that don’t advance our story….
Been eating lots of rice and beans, with a side of bananas, almost daily.
More to come…..
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So much has happened, and I know we all have a lot to say, but looks like I will be the first to post, so I will do my best to catch you up on what’s been going on thus far.
Our flight was around 20 hours, not including a 3 hour layover. So with the time changes we ended up in Nairobi, on the morning of May 5th. We then took a 6 hour bus ride to Moshi, where we ended up staying the night.
Moshi has a bit of tourism as it is right at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, and most people assumed we had come to climb the mountain. I definitely felt out of place and there was no chance of blending in, but the people seemed friendly enough, so I didn’t worry much about all the looks we were getting. We ate some Indian food, and went to bed early as we were all exhausted form all the traveling.
I was grateful that the traveling went as smooth as it did, which was mainly due to Keri’s logistics planning.
It is amazingly beautiful here right now, as we have come at the end of the rainy season, so everything is very lush. The plants are bright green, and the soil is a rich red, and the open blue sky is scattered with clouds.
We left our hotel in Moshi and headed to Rombo where we will be staying. Our village is up the mountain a bit and the only way to get there is a shady dirt road. We held our cameras and computers on our laps, as it was ridiculously bumpy. I was amazed that this was the only road into town, and that buses also took this same road. It’s one of the those roads you can tell changes every time it rains.
It’s great having Megan who has taken the lead in making sure that everything runs smoothly. For the people who don’t know Megan, I think they are surprised when a white girl opens here mouth and starts speaking Swahili, and is well versed in the culture.
That being said, once we got to Rombo it appears as though Megan knows most of the people, and many were happy to see her return again. She left about six months ago, and I’m sure some of these people thought they would never see her again. Instead she brought an Entourage of Americans with big ambitions.
We’re all a bit jet lagged still, as I find myself waking up around 4 in the morning. I try to take advantage of this quiet time to write and reflect. Yesterday was our first shooting day, so I took the couple hours before the sun rose to get all the gear ready.
Ryan and I went outside to test some settings on the camera, and we amazed with all the sounds we could here. The sun was just coming up, and we were listening to the symphony of animals.
heres a short little sample, have to keep them short due to poor internet connection
watch it here
I haven’t taken many pictures as my main focus is to shoot video. But I did shoot one roll of film mainly from the window of the car, and the rest of the team has been shooting digital.
Yesterday we stopped for breakfast on our way to the Ngaleku Orphanage, and the five of us all ate, and had coffee for less $1.50. It appears we will be eating lots of bananas, as they are a staple here.
After a long car ride we ended up at an Orphanage in the middle of nowhere, that looked more like a resort, that an orphanage. The place was being run by a Dutch couple, and was for orphans who were younger than 7. We offered to help create some promotional material, in exchange do some shooting for our film.
After a quick coffee, we geared up and walked into the school where the children were singing a song. Immediately I think we all felt like we were watching one of the films we’d seen before. 20 little children singing and dancing in a circle, all dressed the same, and eyes wide at their new visitors, who were armed with cameras. These kids were use to cameras, which made shooting a little easier. I quickly learned how to say don’t touch in Swahili, and quickly found myself surrounded by children.
We learned a few of these children had HIV, and one for sure had full on AIDS. I tried to take some special time we these children, but from the outside it was hardly noticeable. I asked the head doctor about it, and he explained that there was lots of sickness, and no one distinguished the differences, and that they were all doing there best to just be healthy.
watch it here
We spent some time shooting the children, then went to visit the babies… Most were sleeping and a few were crying. I went in looking for powerful images for my film, but as I saw the snot filled noses, and the tears in their faces, I felt the burden of being human, and wanting to put my camera down, and pick up the babies.
I got the rest of my shots, and then went outside for a breather. A bit heavier than I was expecting, and I know that this is just the beginning. It much easier to watch the images on TV, than to be able to hear the breathing, and smell the shit, and look into their eyes and know they’re looking back at you.
I went to look for my bag and found a baby sitting alone, and when he saw me reached his arm out to me. I started to give him a high five, but realized that he was looking to be held. He reeked of poop, but I picked him up any way. He looked indifferent, as I expected him to smile when I picked him up. We sat there for a minute just looking at each other, and as I was rubbing his little body, I felt like he could have easily been my child.
watch it here
It’s hard to think about these little people who are still so helpless, and in need of love and guidance as being victims.
Peter said, it takes more than financial support to raise an Orphan; it takes Love.
As much as I like to be a hater, and say that this topic has been over done, when your there with these orphans, you see the value in getting this message out.
I don’t think this will be the topic of our film, but will definitely try and do what ever I can to help these children.
On our way back, we stopped to shoot some scenics of the beautiful landscapes. One of which was this long dirt road, filled with people walking to the market. We got some shots of people walking through the frame, and most seemed ok with this and we were not focusing on any one person, and usually the children find us to check out what we were doing.
watch it here
The Masai tribe, which tends to reject the western world, and has done there best to keep there tribal traditions, are amazing to look at but are very sensitive about you taking their picture. A group of women happened to walk down the road we were filming, and they were offended to know that we had been shooting them, there was a little argument, but we apologized, and left. I don’t blame them, I get the feeling their image is exploited all the time, and I don’t want to be one of those people. They aren’t the reason we’re here, although it would be amazing to have them as subjects, and give something back to them.
We have a nice little house here in Rombo. It’s actually the guest house of a German couple who live here part time. The place was much nicer than I expected, as we have hot water, a stove, a fridge, power, and two sleeping rooms. We bought some groceries, and borrowed some pots, and had our first home made meal here after returning from the orphanage.
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We leave for Africa in less than a week.
These last few weeks have been super busy wrapping up our lives here, and preparing for the adventure that lies ahead.
We’ve secured an apartment to live in, got our Tanzania visas, been testing out some new gear, finishing up getting our permits, got new business cards and have been “getting word out” about our project, searching for more donations, watching good documentaries for inspiration, researching whats already been done, emailing contacts, making new contacts, reading books, writing ideas, writing political leaders, moving, buying more gear, getting prescriptions filled, conference calls, meeting with Lawyers, packing, editing a teaser, finishing up our other jobs, paying taxes, paying bills, turning off our phones, etc.
the list seems never ending, and I still have a long list in front of me…
But the closer we get to leaving the more real this project becomes
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