Building trust to make a difference

How to tell a story about the deep impact of HIV in Tanzania? It is not an easy task, but none the less it is what the Bongodox group is trying to figure out these days. After weeks of research they have chosen three important characters/families for their film: An orphan who lost her parents to HIV, a HIV-affected family and a not affected family. Unfortunately the HIV-affected family just bailed out, but the group works hard to find another affected family, who is willing to take part in the film. We are definitely not in lack of HIV-affected families in the area, but it is troublesome to make people talk openly about their life with HIV. It is a process of building trust and making these people realize that they can make a difference by telling us their stories.

The next couple of weeks the group will follow the three families and learn the basics of filmediting. At the same time the local mucicgroup, "Kisamakibo", will be working hard on getting ready for recording the song "In the village" for our film.

Ready for the next step

The last couple of weeks the group has been doing research and interviews about HIV in the nearby HTA’s (High Transmitted Areas). The members have been on their own, getting familiar with the video cameras and meeting people in the streets and at the local bars. We have had several screenings (at our fantastic new tv!) and there is no doubt that we are ready to move on to the next step of the filmmaking process. Everybody is confident with the video cameras, so now we can go on to choose our main characters and plan the most important elements of our film. Hopefully we will be able to start recording next week.

Bongodox party
After spending my Easter at the beautiful beaches of Zanzibar with my mother, I returned to Kibisi to have a great party at the campsite for the members of Bongodox and their families. It was African slow cooking from the early afternoon, preparing delicious local dishes at the fireplace, and enough food to leave even the most hungry men full for days. Some said it was the

best meal they have had for years.

And of course, no party without dancing! As soon as people finished eating, everybody was at the dance floor. Fifty people, old and young, dancing as if this was

the most important thing in their lives. An incredible and wonderful experience!

This was definitely not the last Bongodox party.

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.

Video footage from Bongo Camping

We are together in this

I met Maulid for the first time few weeks ago on the main road between Kibisi and Tukuyu. It was a late afternoon and I was on my way home from the market with my bag full of mangoes and avocados. I was caught up by the beautiful sight of the green mountains, when a guy on a bike suddenly came right at me. He sent me a huge smile and jumped of the bike. I wondered if I had seen this guy before. By this time I had already met so many people and I still couldn’t distinguish all of them. After the usual Tanzanian handshaking and greetings, he introduced himself as Maulid and said: “Dada (sister) Katherine, Bongodox is my dream. It will change people’s way of thinking. We are together in this, the fight against HIV/AIDS”. From that very moment I knew that Bongodox was going to make a difference, a difference which is deeply needed in this area. People feel the consequences of HIV/AIDS everyday; family, friends, colleagues, the disease is everywhere and funerals seem to be part of the daily life. It is the killer that everyone knows, but no one wants to talk about. Fortunately the last couple of weeks have convinced me that there is a will to change this. Maulid is just one out of many, who wants to take action and make a difference.