Photos from Education Tour in the villages

Ready to head the villages

Preparing the canvas screen for the projector

The film screening in Ibililo Village

Kisamakibo performing 

th

Kisamakibo performing with Bongodox

These days the local band Kisamakibo is performing together Bongodox at the Education Tour. This video is from Kibisi Village, close to Bongo Camping.

Bongodox on Education Tour

Newsletter Week 31, August 2012.

Bongo Dox and the BDT and Kumbe partnership

Catherine Gathoni and Mathias Haase from Denmark arrived safely in Tukuyu, Mbeya in August. They will be assisting Kumbe throughout the education tour, which started 6 August 2012 and planned to end in October 2012. While Catherine is contributing with her experience from the Danish organisation Salaam Film & Dialog, Mathias is contributing with his knowledge with acoustic engineering and other practical matters.

Catherine and Mathias report that the co-operation between BDT and Kumbe is living to the spirit of a genuine partnership. Matters are discussed in an open forum between the members, and final decisions on how to put different solutions into practice are made by the board members of Kumbe.

Bongo Dox - education tour:

At the end of August, Kumbe will have visited 12 villages. The first three visits took place last week. Kumbe has shown their documentaries and discussed matters related to HIV and environmental issues in Mbambo, Masoko and Katembo villages. The music and dancing by the group Kisamakibo is used as an attraction tool, and once darkness has arrived, the documentaries are shown. Bongo Dox is yet to visit following villages, Mbeye one, Kopologwe, Ibililo, Mboyo, Simike, Ikama and Kibisi. In September, when the secondary school students are back from summer holidays, Kumbe will start the second part of the education tour.

The villagers are generally happy to see Bongo Dox. First and foremost, they are happy that an enjoyable event is taking place in their village - having them at the centre of attention. Secondly, they are happy to be given a chance to be heard about local problems and concerns. In fact some, when interviewed, use the opportunity to speak to the mass about proper behaviour related to environment and HIV/AIDS.

The chairman of each village is responsible for organising the gathering of the people, and each has received a letter informing on the date and timing of the event. However, the number and variety of people at the different events depends on location. With most youth, children and men participating at the events, it seems that many women are busy with housework. However in Masoko more women participated in the event than in Mbambo. The proportion of women participating will be observed throughout the education tour.

Progress:

Bongo Dox encountered some infantile challenges related to technicalities and layout of the scenery at the first viewing in Mbambo. However, as Kumbe is dedicated to progress. Evaluations are held after each viewing and solutions implemented accordingly in a professional manner. Solutions to the challenges in Mbambo were discussed the following day at a group meeting and successfully implemented at the second viewing in Masoko. Now that the technique is in place, the focus has shifted to improving presentation skills, questioning technique and project evaluation methods.

As the tour progress - there are more newsletters to come. For now, get a taste of The Education Tour by viewing the pictures taken in Mbambo and Masoko.

Donate your tent

Dear Bongoes!

Great news regarding the BongoDox 2 project: The time schedule and the budget is kept and the 4th and last  movie is almost finished! Everything goes as planned!

Next is the Bongo Educational Tour where some of the work will be presented in local schools and villages in order to discuss and inform about the challenge of HIV/AIDS. In this final part of the project a danish supervisor (Catherine) will join the team and help out for the last 3 months. She will be blogging here from the beginning of next month.

The campsite is still having an increasing number of guests for every year and now the need of tents have arisen. If any Bongofellow out there has a good tent she/he wants to donate (preferably 4-6 person and not too heavy) it would be a big help. Cath will me able to bring it along before 1st of August. (contact bdtbestyrelse(at)gmail.com)


Stay tuned for news about the Bongo Educational Tour


Best regards
BDT

Usisahau kutumia kondomu

It has been some very exiting days at the Bongo camp site. We have started filming a small educational campaign addressing issues about HIV/AIDS, with the motto Usisahau kutumia kondomu (don’t forget condoms).

The Bongo Dox team have written three short films (infomercials) designed for Tanzanian television. One about the proper use of condoms, one about local myths and one about the ways you can contract HIV/AIDS. Producing the campaign is an exercise that can help the Bongo Dox team, when they are going to undertake a longer video project about HIV/AIDS, in the year 2012.

It has been a pleasure to see how much the team have developed and the enthusiasm with which they have taken on the task. Making an instructional video about the proper use of condoms can be somewhat of a delicate matter, but the team have received a lot of education regarding this issue, and they are most certainly not shy. The manuscript quickly came to include a very blunt instruction on how to proper use a condom, using a wooden penis replica as an instrument for demonstration. For theatrical effect the video was shot in a tent with one of the crewmembers as a leading actor. It might be a little over the top for Tanzanian television, but it has really shown the creativity and the capability of the team.

The workshops will soon come to an end, and it will be sad to leave. It has truly been a privilege to be received so open-hearted at the campsite, and work with a group of young people, that are so willing to learn and develop their skills.

Working with the Bongo Dox team

My name is Jakob Nielsen and I have had the privilege of working with the Bongo Dox team for the last week, teaching them various aspects of movie production. The Bongodox team consists of young, hardworking, and talented people who are on their way to becoming professional filmmakers. To sharpen the teams abilities and nurture their creativity, we go through small exercises everyday; writing, filming and editing small films.

We have finished a few films but at the movement our internet is not at YouTube capacity, so you will have to wait a little to see some of the short films, that among others, include an introduction to the Bongo Camp, and an action packed kung fu battle, called Manyoga Style (Snake Style).
The next couple of days we will work with one of the core themes for the Bongo Dox team; HIV/AIDS. The participants have been discussing ideas for a small video campaign concerning the issue, and the next couple of days, we are going to make them come to life and compose small films for a campaign.

The Bongo Camp is truly and amazing place, and right now we are in the editing face of a movie that displays all of the beautiful nature that surrounds us. On this project we have my esteemed colleague Mr. Shime in charge of the editing, and the result is looking really good so far.

The team has really progressed over the last couple of days both in the class room working with theory, in the field filming, and in the editing room. We will keep you updated and hopefully be ready to upload some movies soon.

Visiting film experts

During December we´ll have a special series of posts written by visiting film experts at Bongodox. From their point of view they will highlight examples of what is going on at Bongodox.


There are now two film experts visiting at Bongodox. Beside having mr. Shime from Mbeya City, yesterday Bongodox welcomed mr. Jakob from Denmark.

8th December 2011 at Bongodox. Centre: Jakob. Right: Luka, Bongodox supervisor

The local host prepared a reception for Jakob which took place yesterday. It was a fine reception, not least due to the fact that project visitors from as far away as Denmark don´t just pop in every month. It was also creating positive vibes across the project participants and other members of the local civil society organization (Kumbe) owning the project.

8th Dec. 2011: reception of Danish film expert Jakob at Bongodox, Bongo Camping in Tukuyu

Recordings for two documentary films have already been made, and the first period of editing has begun at Bongodox. As stated above, in the coming days at this blog we hope to post highlights and examples of what is actually happening when film experts and the participants of Bongodox are exchanging relevant knowledge about film production.

Bongodox interpreter Michae (left) translating for Danish film expert Jakob and the participants of Bongodox