Tag: non-intervention

Hope on the horizon – the movie (+de)

Hope on the horizon: The short experimental film Healing in Babalmé has been officially selected for screening at the Dawson City International Short Film Festival 2013.

DCISFFlogo

Healing in Babalmé – A story of hope from a marginalized place tells the story of a humanitarian worker’s lived experiences during a malnutrition crisis in Chad, where a pastoralist community on the edge of the Sahara desert mobilizes its own resources to overcome effects of marginalization. This short experimental documentary is a witness to the power of supportive non-intervention and true community development.

für eine deutsche Übersetzung klicke hier: Hoffnung in Babalmé
I am pleased to announce, that my creative spirits have persisted, thanks to the encouragement of Celia and others, to revise and re-edit the animated audio-visual presentation based on my experiences in Chad. I still feel blessed that I have been able to witness the events that inspired me to write the story. They are still a source of hope for me. The events illustrate for me that there is “that of God in everyone”: People with nothing can make a difference if we don’t crush their individual and collective agency with might and paternalistic intentions.

The 2013 Dawson City International Short Film Festival will be another venue to share the message of hope with a wider audience.

You can enjoy the preview in this YouTube version anytime by clicking the arrow button:

Dedicated to the people of Babalmé and the North Kanem/Chad Continue reading “Hope on the horizon – the movie (+de)” →

The time for giving – global needs you would have never dreamed of

Over the last few days, I came across several writings in the blogosphere about aid. It started with the blog from a Norwegian family that inquired whether providing employment for a person from a marginalized context (read: Third World country) could potentially constitute a form of development aid at the private, most direct level.

Is hosting an au pair the most direct form of developmental aid maybe?
I´m not being cynical. It is a sincere question. (from Au pair host: “Development Aid?“)

In response, I offered some of my own thoughts for finding an answer:

…However, I have some doubts about the notion of development aid. In the first case, the mother and child have migrated from the less affluent to the more affluent context due to marriage. They have uprooted themselves to significantly improve their social and hopefully economic standing – this is what I call upward mobility. There is no development in Kenya associated with that.
In the second case, the young woman has returned with hard earned and saved cash and is able to run a family business. At least that will have a development effect in the country of origin. But the process is a form of migrant labour, or maybe another form of remittance.
I think that if a person from a marginalized country comes and works as au pair in a highly privileged country and is treated like a human being and not simply as cheap labour, it is a noble exchange.
But it does not constitute charity:

Nick Negerli - the ubiquitous guilt-absorbing church collection boxes of a recent past (photo credit: vgntramp.wordpress.com)
(photo credit: vgntramp.wordpress.com)

Continue reading “The time for giving – global needs you would have never dreamed of” →

Hope on the horizon – the movie (+de)

Healing in Babalmé – A story of hope from a marginalized place tells the story of a humanitarian worker’s lived experiences during a malnutrition crisis in Chad, where a pastoralist community on the edge of the Sahara desert mobilizes its own resources to overcome effects of marginalization. This short experimental documentary is a witness to the power of supportive non-intervention and true community development.

für eine deutsche Übersetzung klicke hier: Hoffnung in Babalmé
I am pleased to announce, that my creative spirits have persisted, thanks to the encouragement of Celia and others, to revise and re-edit the animated audio-visual presentation based on my experiences in Chad. I still feel blessed that I have been able to witness the events that inspired me to write the story. They are still a source of hope for me. The events illustrate for me that there is “that of God in everyone”: People with nothing can make a difference if we don’t crush their individual and collective agency with might and paternalistic intentions.

I am planning to submit this version to the Dawson City International Short Film Festival 2013.

DCISFFlogo

It will be another venue to share the message of hope with a wider audience.
You can enjoy the preview in this YouTube version anytime by clicking the arrow button:

Dedicated to the people of Babalmé and the North Kanem/Chad Continue reading “Hope on the horizon – the movie (+de)” →