Hey guys.

I was the last to post an entry about three weeks ago...and I don't hear those voices anymore. 
Are you OK? Or did I scare you...? 

Pliz lets reconnect...

I miss yuh all!

Talent

I have always been a haphazard person, full of escapism. If I worked on a document halfway, I’d quickly switch to another…and so, by day end, I wouldn’t have much to celebrate. I’d have two incomplete pieces of work, and then the next day, my to-do list would look longer. This doesn’t feed one’s soul. In fact it can be quite depressing.

Learnings

One concept (which wasn’t necessarily on the agenda) that I learnt during the workshop is that muilti-skilling doesn’t necessarily increase our efficiency. Of course, as women we were raised to multiskill…to phone the plumber (mobile phone supported by shoulder), & feed the baby while you mind the pot, and also watch over the two toddlers playing in the garden, and your rollers are still on, while the clothes are soaking because in an hour’s time you have to hang them dry, before the visitors arrive for lunch!

And then it was Sally’s gentle reminders, to ‘…work on your movies guys, and only your movie. No goggling and replying to emails in between…or else…(then she laughs)’ that has changed me. 
& Sally if you had not said this... One movie would probably have lasted only 76 seconds - :)

Focus + Discipline. This is a principle that I’ve learnt to abide by, and I think it works better. There is so much joy & satisfaction in focusing on a piece of work (however taxing) and getting through with it, and then ticking your to do list, and giving yourself an incentive of completion, refreshing, and then moving on to the next item.

Yes…I agree with Caren…blogging is quite fun and even interests me more than emailing & Ccing. It is an open space…a free space that is more inclusive. Somehow, I continue to feel everybody’s presence in my life / or is it in my head?  

Talent

I have never experienced the ‘joys’ or ‘sorrows’ of giving birth, but I continuously hear women who have had that opportunity say labour pains can be really excruciating…yet on all the occasions I have visited new mothers either in hospital or at home, I have been met with smiles…and only smiles. 

Such was my experience during and after the Digital Story Telling Workshop. I was extremely exhausted after 4 days of hard work, yet my heart continued to smile…because finally, I  had emptied the anger I had kept bottled for so long (through storytelling & in a safe space). The fact that I came out of the workshop with; something tangible (the DVD), and the skills and knowledge that no one can rob me of… brings so much satisfaction, and I continue to celebrate. Thanks to the facilitation team for the support!!

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Talent

• We look different, sound different, speak different languages, live different lives, but we are all the same. We have the same experience of being media professionals, who are at the same time women who have dealt with violence. We are people. We have one story and it is of the triumph of spirit.
  
• What we are silent about, what we cover up and leave unspoken, festers, like a covered sore. Speaking and telling, in that process, takes the sting away, erupts the volcano beneath, and it has no power left.
  
• I came home freer. Like Bambi said, the heaviness is gone, there is a lightness about no longer keeping the silence.
  
• Technology is a tool - something used for a purpose. It is always about the people, the connection with others, the shared story. People are always at the centre of technology.
  
• Like in life, we must cry a little, dance a little, laugh a lot. Thats what these 5 days have meant to me.
  

Twelve women today completed a five days workshop on “Digital Story Telling” organized by APC-Africa-Women, in partnership with Women'sNet.

 The workshop brought together participants from different countries who develop stories reflecting their past experience on violence.

 The programme created an opportunity for participants to express themselves using picture to tell their stories.

 This has been the first time for many but successful.

 “ We learnt a lot as trainers and it was very impressive seeing the commitment and passion in the participants to tell their story” said Jenny Radloff Coordinator of APC-Africa-Women. Jenny believed this was a good methodology since we cannot have technology without personal and political commitment.  She look forward to seeing participants become trainers.

According to Judith Akelle Waguma a participant, the digital story telling was a new concept that was quiet interesting. Judith who is a TV producer said she never knew how to make a movie with pictures. “It was so exciting” she added.

 Tatiana Well also a participant from Brazil who has never worked on video editing before thought it was very difficult but was surprised to have made a movie from a digital camera instead of a video camera. “I cannot wait to impart the knowledge I gain from this” she said

 Technology can be fascinating but frustrating for Sally a trainer who was very instrumental. She believed everybody should empowered themselves with technology.

 The most important of all this was that everybody got the opportunity to tell a story and learnt how to use the technology.  It was great to have been part of  it.

For centuries across the breast of the earth, man has tried to change things to suit him. From the Stone Age to the middle and now to the computer or information era we all have a role to make the world a better place for us and generations yet unborn.

 
I would not do justice to my goodself if I don’t express in these few lines how the workshop has healed my heart. I have always tried to put my experience of (arranged/forced) marriage behind me but I it continued to hunt my mind and it makes me so depressed. Today I feel so happy, free and different.

 
I never knew technology could be so useful to transform ones life until after the 5days workshop on “Digital Story Telling”. Seriously there was more to this than just telling a story.

 
By Bambi

Its the last stretch to finish our movies. Jan and Jenny are working on the Digital Story about the workshop, Nicolle is finding music, Sylvie is interviewing Assouto and im blogging! Once im done blogging, im going to be re-sizing pics for our Digital Story about the workshop - we are hoping to have this done for everyone to see (at least a draft!) when we do our screening.

I think everyone is eager to go home now, and eager to finish. Some are wrestling with their transitions, others with sound and music levels. We are adding the titles of our movies and ending credits.  I am so looking forward to our screening!

wish us luck!

sally

The pressure is on! Everyone is glued to their computer, focussed and single minded. We putting our movies together today, inserting transitions, music and adding effects. Judy co-opted three actresses to help her take pictures, Tati has been taking pictures of just about everything, it seems.  Ingrid has lovely old pics of her grandmother and mother which she has been working with. Eunice is looking for wild cats, and ive been searching for music (free music is hard to find!)

It's appropriate that it's a full moon - I think it goes nicely with the creative process!

Sally

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. "

Here you can find all the programs you need to do your stories at home and elsewhere

http://www.estudiolivre.org 

Some help: 
To edit your movies KINO and Cinelerra
To edit your images GIMP
To convert your videos FFMPEG
To convert your audios soundKonverter

Enjoy! Be free!!!