Pamoja tunaweza (together we can)

The Bongodox team!












From left: Luka, Eddie, Katrine, Maulidi, Inganile, Michael, Francis, William, Godfrey and Imani

Our first fieldtrip

Few weeks ago no one from Bongodox had ever used a video camera. Now I hear discussions about framing, zooming and locations all over Bongo Camping. Many mistakes are made, but I also see huge smiles when they suddenly realize they have made a well working scene. So far they have worked on their basic skills of filming and how to make a proper video interview. The first challenge of shooting was in the nearby village of Katumba. They made a couple of small interviews with villagers, asking them questions about their experience and opinions about HIV. This went much better than I had expected, and the following screening brought good reflections on learning. But one thing is to meet people in the neighbourhood, where everybody is familiar with each other, the real challenge was this Monday - our first fieldtrip.

We visited a group of HIV affected people and our most important lesson this day was to be well prepared for shooting film in pouring rain. My appearance created a lot of attention and many discussions of whether we had to pay for filming people. I tried to be as invisible as possible, but it is quite difficult to hide a “mzungu” with blue eyes in Africa.

We have fantastic news about our budget since we had the oportunity to go shopping for a tv, a computer and Bongodox t-shirts this week. As soon as possible I will uploade a picture of the group in our new uniform. Until then you can enjoy the pictures of our videoexercises at the campsite.

Workshops with plenty of talent

The Bongodox group is finally a fact! At first I want to assure you that it wasn’t at all an easy task to choose the nine people, who are now joining the team. For a short while I felt like the evil judge in a talent audition, leaving some people disappointed and sad. But hopefully this project is only the beginning of future video experiences at Bongo Camping.

Saturday morning was something special. To wake up and realize that what I had been dreaming of and waiting for was now coming true. I was pretty nervous since until now Bongodox had only been ideas on paper and I suddenly had my doubts – Is this really going to work? Everything was ready and even the weather was perfect. As the members arrived to the campsite one by one I realized that there was no need to be nervous. The nine members were full of curiosity and enthusiasm and more than ready to make it work.

So far the program has been about introduction, exchanging ideas about HIV/AIDS and filmmaking and of course the first hands on the video cameras. The teaching part is a huge challenge for me, but it’s even more challenging to use a mixture of English, Swahili and an unknown kind of sign language. Surprisingly enough the members seem to get my points and all I have to do to see nine smiling faces in the classroom is to hand out the video cameras with the simple message: Try! And one thing is for sure, I don’t need to worry about if we are in lack of creativity or visual skillsamong the members. There is plenty of talent, and I can't wait to go on.