Community Testimonies, 2009 (Indonesia – Honduras – Togo)
In 2008, Friends of the Earth International hosted three commmunity testimonies from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Read here about the experiences of our three interns.
Community testimonies: building capacityEkue Assem from FoE Togo spent the period between February and April 2008 in the International Secretariat as a community testimonies project intern. Read what he has to say about his experience:
“I acquired video capturing, editing and subtitling skills and also I learned how to edit and upload information onto the web site. These skills will be very useful back home as they will allow me to develop a new communication channel on our website. FoE Togo can now produce its own CDs and DVDs regarding our activities and share them with other groups.”
“Despite the fact that Friends of the Earth groups are far away from the International Secretariat, there is a very good coordination of the network’s activities thanks to its powerful communication network. I am very happy because I met enthusiastic people working hard for a better world, always available to help. The International Secretariat is the greatest place in the world to work because it is a place where people really care about poor communities. Being the first African who worked at the International Secretariat can only make me happy and proud.”
Ekue’s follow up project for 2009: Filming climate affected people on the coast of Ghana
Francisco Javier Molina from FoE Honduras was the second community testimonies project intern, from May through July 2008. His feedback about the training period is as follows:
“I deeply appreciated the opportunity and all the lessons learned during my stay in Amsterdam. For me it was very important to return to Honduras with new skills and to replicate these in my local area, with the participation of our communities. I will continue filming testimonies about their problems and their lives, and hope in this way to inspire people to continue working for a fair, just and sustainable world.”
“In the future, I would like to participate in workshops with members of the federation in order to share my experience and knowledge about community testimonies. I want to develop a manual for video editing using free software, and teach people how to use this software. Also, I want to do some workshops with young people so that they can make testimonies about their local issues.”
Francisco’s follow-up project: filming and editing testimonies about the resistance of the Garifuna people to the “Bay of Tela” mega-tourism project.
Tatang Wibowo from FoE Indonesia had his training in the International Secretariat between October and November 2008. He describes his experience as follows:
“Some of skills I acquired were interviewing, editing and filming. The training was very important in enabling me to make good community testimonies. This will also be very useful back home. I met with groups such as Amnesty International, as well as FoE Europe, FoE Netherlands and other FoE members.”
“In the future, I recommend that video exercises be discussed in more detail so that a participant’s progress can be better monitored. I could also have benefited from more technical materials about editing. Finally, it would be ideal if the international secretariat could have a special unit for documentary movie making.”
Tatang’s follow up project for 2009: Training Indonesian youth in filming and interview techniques.
Project together with Friends of the Earth International
Vrije Keyser: working with footage from non-professional filmmakers, camera, script, editing, interviews, concept, training for non-experienced trainees
