Archive for 'Documentary'
What is Project Inspire?
It’s full name “Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World“ is a “joint initiative by the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard to help young changemakers create a better world of opportunities for women and girls in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.”
Project Inspire was launched in 2011 and gives 18-35 year olds a 5 minute platform to pitch their ideas and have a chance at winning a $25,000 grant for their project.
If you have read previous blog posts here, then you’ll know that I was over in Tanzania for a month working with a wonderful women’s organisation who are working with the Maasai community, The Pastoral Women’s Council.
I documented various projects of theirs during my time with them, including their livestock projects.
Their livestock projects empower women by providing them goats. In Maasai culture, goats and livestock are very valuable currency, but women do not traditionally own them or have any sort of economic power. By providing women goats, their quality of life increases in various ways:
The goat’s milk and meat are consumed which provides nutritional benefits to the whole family.
Opportunities to generate income are increased.
Because of this income there are increased opportunities for the children of the beneficiaries to receive a primary education.
Owning goats gives the women more economic status which helps to shift attitudes within the Maasai culture about women’s roles and property ownership.
The benefits of this project are so numerous, and having been on the ground there speaking to the women who have already benefitted from this project I can tell you that the changes have been absolutely monumental for them and their children.
The Pastoral Women’s Council is doing all they can with what they have, but a $25,000 grant towards this Livestock project would mean many lives changed, many women empowered, many more children educated, many more families well fed, and many more steps forward for the progress of women in the world!
Fingers crossed for PWC and here’s to hoping they are $25,000 up in a few weeks!
Have a look at the video I made for their proposal:
-Annie
I have just returned from six weeks on the road with The Pastoral Women’s Council in Northern Tanzania.
The days were long and the continuous car journeys across the immense landscape were even longer. Village to village, week by week, I think we must have covered every inch of Maasai country. It was tiring, the roads dangerous at times, physically demanding, mentally exhausting, and absolutely bloody brilliant.
Working with The PWC were some of the most motivating and inspiring hours I have probably ever spent doing anything. The team are a collection of indescribably dedicated people who embody the phrase “giving back.” They are educated, they are optimistic, they are motivated, and they are committed to giving back to their communities in a way I could have hardly comprehended unless I had seen it for myself. Spending days, weeks, and months on the road at a time they leave their families to visit remote villages where women and children need their help. They are working tirelessly to change things for their communities and seeing them in action was quite a humbling experience.
It was a privilege to meet them, to learn more from them about the plight of Maasai women and children, and the Maasai culture in general, and the work that I did simply would not have been possible without them. Like literally, it would not have been even close to possible as I do not speak the dialect and I had no other means of transport! They are a fun and lively bunch as well and that never hurts now does it?
Unfortunately I was not able to write as many blog posts as I would have liked to while over there, but I simply did not have the access to internet that I would have needed, and so I tried to keep up with behind the scenes images and info on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@realeyesannie). Hopefully some of you followed along and didn’t mind too much my hijacking of your news feeds.
The majority of the trip was spent travelling to the various projects of PWC in most of the areas in which they work. From Song and Dance Projects, to Women’s Right’s Committees, to Sponsored Girls, to Women’s Livestock Projects, we visited, and I documented.
The girls that I met at the various schools were so dedicated. They just simply wanted to be in school, and were thrilled that they had the chance. They had such a burning desire to learn, and to be educated, and they spoke of it as if it was the absolute ONLY thing standing between them and a life of premature marriage, early motherhood, and a future they don’t want. Probably because education IS the only thing standing between them and that life they don’t want.
They cling on to education like a fly to honey because they know it is the only way forward for them. What stands in their way sometimes is an inability to pay for the schooling, and the girls who are lucky enough to be sponsored know they are the lucky ones. Like families all around the world many Maasai parents simply do not have the means to put them through school. Sponsorship is so important for them….
…and so the girls spoke to me spiritedly (in impeccable English might I add) of their educational experiences, of their home villages, and of their lives at the school…. and then the quality of their voices change when I ask them what would happen if their sponsorship ended.
” I want to be a doctor so I can help my community, so I NEED to be in school. This is my dream. If I don’t have sponsorship, then none of this is possible. How can I help my community then? What help am I to anyone then?”
Hearing them and the desperation in their voices made me hate myself for every half-assed school assignment I ever turned in, every day that I pretended to be ill so that I could skip out on a day of class. How much I just took it all for granted. How much we all took it for granted. Perspective change to say the least.
The women that I met village after village were so open with me once they learned that I was working with PWC, and they really understood the importance and potential of sharing their stories in front of the lens. These women wanted their stories and their voices to be heard, and I as a photographer was extremely grateful for their openness.
Day after day I heard stories from women whose lives were changing for the better because of PWC’s projects. If you have read any of my other blog posts about PWC then you may have read a bit about Maasai culture and about some of the projects and how they are helping change norms. Livestock projects are giving women economic power, and a voice, something not typical in Maasai society, and once they find this voice, they really are starting to use it!!! (Many times much to the dismay of the men)
The various other PWC projects from Women’s Rights Committees to My Rights My Voice are working to help educate the Maasai about their rights, and give them a platform for sharing their stories, and voicing their opinions.
PWC is working on the ground 27 hours a day, 8 days a week, beyond their means, to help raise women up. But change and progress can take a long time, and unfortunately takes a lot of funding as well.
The current struggles the Maasai people are facing with Land rights is another very serious issue they face at the moment and while I did not personally document this, they are up against monumental threats, and you can read much more about their land struggles here and here. They are facing what most unfortunate groups of people in history have had to face when their land has suddenly become valuable to outside groups, and the Maasai of Northern Tanzania have the real misfortune of living in some of the most coveted Safari territory in all the world. It is a very serious thing they are facing right now, up against big government, and big foreign money, and they are trying to garner as much international attention about it as possible. It is the only chance they have really to ensure the survival of their indigenous culture. International pressure and media interest seems to be their only fight.
My time with PWC was obviously very personally rewarding, but was also incredibly fruitful work-wise. As I now begin to process all of the content that I returned with and the editing process commences, I hope to have much more content and shareable material to present to you in the coming weeks. Perhaps all I ask is that you do just that, share. I will do my best to create some video and content in the coming weeks that is deliciously shareable and cool, and maybe if I can get Bieber to see some of this stuff his trillions of followers will do all of the work for me. Ideal!
Hopefully we can all find a way to relate to these stories, and see these as universal issues. The world is getting so small, we are all becoming so interconnected, and we can do so much more to contribute now that we couldn’t have done before.
In the words of one of the Maasai women who so eloquently summed it all up for me:
“The progress of the Maasai and the progress of women is the progress of all people.”
Won’t argue with that.
-Anne
For the Maasai women of Northern Tanzania, there are not very many opportunities for them to challenge the status quo and influence any community decisions which affect them. They are amongst the poorest and most marginalised groups in Tanzania. They are second-class citizens here.
But things are changing. Women are rising up. They are getting their daughters educated. They are seeking knowledge and trying to gain control over their own fate…and The Pastoral Women’s Council is helping them to change this fate and the fate of their daughters and future generations of Maasai girls.
The Pastoral Women’s Council has many projects going on that help to empower these marginalised women from Girl’s Education and Sponsorship to Women’s Economic Programs such as Microcredit Groups and Livestock Projects. Read more here.
The Maasai Society is very patriarchal and women do not usually own cattle outright, but owning cattle can help women generate income and can mean improved quality of life for themselves and their children. These Livestock projects promote property ownership, generate opportunities for income, and help women gain community respect by demonstrating their abilities.
Just one goat can make all the difference.
Yesterday I visited a Maasai village where each woman of the Village had been given a goat by PWC. I was there to document them and create images of them and their livestock, the livestock which have changed their lives for the better. They were so grateful and their happiness was immediately apparent. This one goat had made all the difference. Their lives were changed they told me, and their children’s lives were as well.
Just one goat.
If you are looking for ways to help, donating money for a goat can make a significant difference for a woman.
A goat is roughly the equivalent of $40 USD.
$40 USD can mean a changed life… an empowered woman… and everyone knows an empowered woman is an empowered family and an empowered community. Multiply this by thousands of goats donated and entire populations have progressed.
Just one goat.
Give if you can at the bottom of the page here, and please share!
-Annie
I will be headed to Northern Tanzania for several weeks where I will be working with the women of the Pastoral Women’s Council.
Laramie, Wyoming.
Where tumbleweed isn’t just folklore, hunting for dinner is status quo and the local pumpkin brew on tap was harvested by your best mate.
