Fall 2014 Newsletter
It has been several weeks since we've given you an update on what we have been up to. Locally and abroad, much is moving forward and we are excited to share this newsletter with you!
Watch a brief video overview of this newsletter:
Philippines
As usual, there is much activity and progress in the Philippines. Access to safe drinking water continues to be a priority for our Global Associate Dr. Susana Anayatin as she and her team install safe water wells in the Mindanao region. We are excited about their progress and would like to share with you our new interactive map which illustrates completed and planned projects. Click on each completed project to get a snapshot of the many individuals who now have access to safe-water. This map dynamically changes as Susana and her team update the data and make plans to service new schools.
As in many countries, one step forward can be met with many challenges to our progress. Recently, Cotabato City and the Maguindanao Province experienced severe storms that resulted in flooding. Over 15 villages are under-water and schools are faced with adversity as books, classrooms and facilities are damaged. Despite the flooding and difficult learning environment, students are motivated to learn and teachers are able to work around the challenges and teach strategically. To help provide direct support to the flooded region, please click here. All donations in the month of September will be dedicated to flood relief and are fully tax-deductible.
On Sept. 12, 2014, J. Marquez Elementary School in partnership with the Department of Education, the Philippine Army and the Goldin Institute Philippines launched the Peace Consciousness Month and International Day of Peace with the theme "Nagkakaisang Bayan para sa Kapayapaan," translated to United People for Peace. The activity symbolically paralleled the recent peace process occurring between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine Government. The activity promoted peace amidst a diverse student population and the Mindanao community. Students were instilled with the value of peace by engaging in various activities such as a peace poster contest and a peace jingle contest.
Go Grassroots!
Goldin Institute is excited to announce GoGrassroots, a Tumblr site created as an online forum for those working at the grassroots level. The site supports grassroots movements across the globe. Regardless of their involvement with the Goldin Institute, organizations are able to share ideas, peer review each other's work and learn from each other as grassroots movements continue to positively impact communities in need. Take a look at the site to learn about innovative grassroots work and the skilled leaders who are directing the initiatives.
One innovative leader you may have recently seen on GoGrassroots is Brian Concannon, Executive Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. The Goldin Institute partnered with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to host a discussion featuring Brian and Fran Quigley, author of the new book How Human Rights Can Build Haiti. A key message Brian conveyed during the event was that effective change in Haiti begins with the work of those struggling within the country.
[quote]Invest from the bottom-up; those experiencing Haiti on the ground are the voices that know what is needed to help themselves and the country."[/quote]
- Brian Concannon, human rights attorney
GoGrassroots was the brainchild of our intern Alexis Smyser. Alexis has recently completed her 10-month internship with the Goldin Institute. Please join us in congratulating her on a successful completion of her internship. We thank Alexis for all the good work she has done for the Goldin Institute and wish her well on her next endeavor!
Next Newsletter
Keep an eye out for our next newsletter where we will highlight the continued work of the National Platform in Uganda.
As always, if you have suggestions of individuals who may want to receive this e-newsletter or stories you think we should tell, contact us at news@goldininstitute.org.
Haiti Update: Digital Storytelling Project
The Goldin Institute was excited to expand the Digital Storytelling Project by conducting an intensive week-long workshop in Port au Prince, Haiti in August 2011. In this workshop, Goldin Institute associates teamed with Professor Lisa Dush from DePaul University and her graduate assistant Heather Eidson to train seven local women in Port au Prince to complete their own stories from start to finish and share them with their peers on the final day of the workshop.
A consortium of women's groups in Haiti each selected participants for the workshop who were examples of courageous and thoughtful grassroots leaders tackling gender-based violence issues in Port au Prince. The stories were as unique as each individual participant but shared common themes of strength, perservarance and commitment.
The workshop followed the same principles as those taught at Chicago's DePaul University by Professor Dush. Three primary goals were met during the week in Haiti:
- To teach the participants how to draft, storyboard, write and produce their own digital story using their photographs and recorded voice.
- To bring together like-minded women who share an active voice in organizing against gender-based violence in and around the temporary camps that arose in post earthquake Haiti.
- To familiarize the participants with the basic computer hardware and software used during the workshop so that they could in turn teach the method to others or create new stories of their own.
Thanks to the generousity of many donors, the Institute was able to leave behind the equipment to produce future digital stories. The equipment included a computer preloaded with the software needed to produce a completed digital story, along with several cameras, a compact digital scanner and the recording equipment to supply the audio tracks for newly created stories.
Workshop attendees expressed an interest in sharing their new experiences and skills with others who might benefit from digital storytelling. We are confident that through our ongoing partnership with the women's groups, our colleagues now have a powerful tool for educating and raising awareness to the issue of gender-based violence.
[quote]The Goldin Institute team showed us how to construct a personal story with photographs–a work that we would not have been able to do without GI. I can say that the week will remain etched in my mind because I felt I learned many things and I am ready to go on to teach other women how to construct their own personal stories ... thank you very much for this work."[/quote]
- Workshop participant Getchine Lima
A special thank you to our partners at KOFAVIV and the IJDH/BAI, whose partnership made the week successful and meaningful. We continue to work with both organizations on the RAPP Project. The Goldin Institute Global Associate based in Port au Prince, Rose Getchine Lima was a participant in the workshop as well and her digital story will become part of her biography and posted at our website.
We were pleased to have a Chicago-based documetarian, Renato Velarde accompany us on the trip. Renato has started post-production work on the hours of footage he filmed of interviews with many of our associates involved with the ongoing security project (RAPP), as well as those working tirelessly behind the scenes at our partner organization KOFAVIV. Renato also filmed a brief overview of the women's workshop during this time - please continue to visit our site for updates and clips to view of Velarde's work.
We owe a great amount of gratitude to those who supported this project from its planning stages to its successful launch. Together we can continue to make a difference to those still jeopardized by the violence that plagues the makeshift communities that were meant to only be temporary shelters to women and their children. To find out more about how you can become further involved, please follow this link.
[slide] [img path="images/lisa_juliette.jpg"]Professor Lisa Dush (standing left) gives overview of digital storytelling to participants through a translator.[/img] [img path="images/writing_drafts.jpg"]Participants begin work on writing their individual stories or 'scripts' on the first day of the digistory workshop.[/img] [img path="images/workingjoemike.jpg"]Goldin Institute associates Joseph Genslak, Gia Biagi and Michael Di Maria offer instruction to workshop participants.[/img] [img path="images/lisa_standing.jpg"]Program Coordinator Lisa Dush checks in on the progress of workshop attendee.[/img] [img path="images/trav_lisa.jpg"]GI Executive Director Travis Rejman and Professor Dush listen to participant feedback, along with translator.[/img] [img path="images/audiorecording.jpg"]Digital story 'rough cuts' come together with audio tracks being checked for alignment with pictures.[/img] [img path="images/mikejoegia.jpg"]The team from GI and four of the Haitian participants pose for a photo sometime early in the workshop.[/img] [img path="images/joe_olguine.jpg"]GI Associate Joseph Genslak reviews a story in progress.[/img] [img path="images/ren_adjusting.jpg"]Filmmaker Renato Valerde checks the frame of his shot while documenting the workshop proceedings.[/img] [img path="images/renwithgetchine.jpg"]Renato and Travis (far right) interview participant Getchine about her work in curbing gender-based violence.[/img] [img path="images/kids_kofaviv.jpg"]Young women pose for a picture outside the KOFAVIV facilities.[/img] [img path="images/groupfeedback.jpg"]Back at the workshop, comments are exchanged about the value of participating in the digital storytelling workshop.[/img] [img path="images/postcelebration.jpg"]A post-production celebration is shared amongst participants and instructors on the last day of review.[/img] [/slide]
