Saturday we had a big job ahead of us: Create shot cards for every shot in our video stories. Everyone showed up. For the first time, the Burmese showed up on time! Bringing food for the group! This time it was the African ladies who were later than the others and so were gently ribbed about being eclipsed by the Burmese.
I worked with David on his tale of overcoming his fear of uniforms. Alfonso came for the first time this week and worked with Eduardo, a very good deed, indeed. Alfonso is the videographer at Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university in the neighboring town of Winston-Salem. Alfonso is from Nicaragua, and put in a few Saturdays last winter, working with our students on editing their movies. I had specifically asked him to come this Saturday because I thought it would be good for him to be involved a bit earlier in the process for this course. When he arrived, I knew he would be perfect to work with Eduardo. He's one of the folks in the course who has been the most hesitant about his creative powers.
At first, he told a riveting tale of being deported and left in the middle of the Mexican desert, but then it dawned on him that people he knows and loves would be seeing this video and he wasn't so sure that was the story he wanted to lead with. What story DOES he want to tell...on the theme of My Journey? Alfonso worked with him and, by the end of the class this week, reported that Eduardo is excited again, and glowing. Yes!
By the time we got to 12:30pm, everyone of our ten students had completed their storyboards, done their shot cards and listed the props and tasks they will need for their live-action sequences. The enthusiasm is high; the sense of self-satisfaction is right up there. People know they are learning, and that feels so good.
Oh, and the American Friends Service Committee, our benefactors, came up with a stash of snacks for the classes. I got our partner, Lori, to agree to supply us with dried fruit and nuts. I've never been in a country in the world where people didn't eat dried fruit and nuts...it is the ultimate cross-cultural snack. Cool!
p.s. The Burmese brought vegetable spring rolls. Hmmm...Maybe we can subtly suggest that our Spanish contingent might want to come with some yummy something. And then the African ladies?
Movie-Making is a partnership between FaithAction International House (including its VISTA volunteer--me), the American Friends Service Committee, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Also in the mix is Worlds Touch, the international tech assistance organization that I founded and direct in my spare time.