Bringing life to film

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Watch communities in Sierra Leone learning how to use video to change their own lives for the better by lobbying their leaders for change [Photos: Alex Coley]
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Paul Higgitt writes about how a Sierra Leone project is proving that digital video can play a vital role in communicating the stories of those who are often voiceless

More than 300 people had gathered at the chief’s compound in the small town of Boajibu near Kenema in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone.

The group of 20 locals and six facilitators I’d been working with had moved a generator into place, borrowed assorted coloured plastic chairs from neighbours and hung a white sheet against a wall in preparation for the film screening.

Dozens of children, wide eyed and smiling, sat cross-legged at our feet and giggled, then howled with laughter and disbelief as the first images of their neighbours and town flickered on the wall.

Hopeful times

What made this screening so special was that the film had been made by local participants just a few days after they had picked up a video camera for the first time.

And, in turn, they had learnt these skills from members of staff of a local CAFOD partner, who themselves had only been introduced to participatory video techniques at the beginning of the week.

Hope is one value that has always underpinned CAFOD’s work in some of the world’s poorest countries, and these are hopeful times for Sierra Leone.

A country roughly the size of Wales on the west coast of Africa, infamous for its brutal 11-year civil war and blood diamonds, but with a new government in office after relatively peaceful elections earlier this year.

There are signs of a strengthened resolve for national unity and a more just society.

I was in Sierra Leone to launch the first phase of a two-year project with our local partner Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD) - working with Insight, a pioneer of participatory video projects.

Arriving in Boajibu, my group’s first visit was to the chief’s house. Local traditions and formality still holds strong and it was important for us to let the chief know of our project and seek her blessing.

Communities in Sierra Leone learning how to use video to change their own lives for the better by lobbying their leaders for change [Alex Coley]

Happily she was in a benevolent mood and we were allowed to move to the "barray", the local open air court house, where we were to hold our first meeting.

I was worried that we would only have a handful of people wanting to take part - but that turned to panic when more than 100 showed up.

We were able to organise ourselves in to two groups of ten, with three facilitators to each group, and the work began.

Brilliant footage

Over the next two days the groups became more confident at using the camera equipment and moved on to the planning stage of the two films they would make.

One group decided that they wanted to address the issue of poor housing in the town, while the other chose to focus on the local road network conditions.

Once the filming got underway the facilitators and I had to adjust to letting go of the process and trying not to interfere unnecessarily.

This was their film to make and, although the temptation to get involved was strong, the opportunity to sit back in the shade eating mango was a good consolation!

We reviewed the footage together. It was brilliant! Yes, the scenery and the people are particularly photogenic, but visually and technically they had got the majority of the shots right.

I was so pleased at how well the footage had worked out and it was real proof to me that, given the opportunity to produce their own films, digital video can play a vital role in communicating the stories of those who are often voiceless.

I found it difficult to concentrate on the films during the screening at the chief’s compound later that evening - I was too distracted by how happy and proud the participants were.

When Hawa, who was sitting next to me, appeared on screen, the children around her feet jumped up and patted her legs and pointed from her to the picture in excited laughter.

It is a couple of hours that will stay with me for a long time and I have high hopes that this will be the first of similar projects that some of our other partners can be involved in.

Three cameras and a dedicated video-editing laptop have been left in country and, by the time we return for the second phase next year, our original participants will have completed another six short films.

Already, one of our group, Sallieu Kamara from NMJD, has met with the new Minister of Information and Communications, who was apparently “thoroughly impressed” with what had been achieved at the start of this project.

The challenge our colleagues in Sierra Leone are now working towards is to make sure the completed films are distributed and seen by key decision-makers and those in authority, so the issues raised and solutions put forward can be properly addressed.

When that starts to happen we really will have achieved positive change together.

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