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.