Archive | July, 2010

New opportunity!

23 Jul

Great news!  I was referred by the Pan American Development Foundation to work on a video for their affiliate, the Organization of American States (OAS or “OEA” in Spanish) in the Department of Human Development, Education and Culture.

The project is a video to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the OAS scholarship program, which funds a student from an OAS member state to pursue higher education in another OAS member state.  The video will mostly consist of interview testimonials from former scholarship recipients.  Some OAS scholarship recipients are now directors of hospitals, universities, professors, and ambassadors all over the hemisphere.

Since most of the interviewees are in Latin America and the Caribbean, my supervisors have been working to get local student film crews to conduct the interviews on location remotely (at limited to no cost to the OAS!).  Since many of the interviewees have connections with local universities, this was fairly easy to do.  Though as the producer, I will personally film at least two of the interviews myself.  One will be in Washington (the interviewee works at the World Bank, right across the street from the OAS building), and the other will require travel.

I’m so grateful that PADF recommended me to work on such an exciting project!

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Colombia cuts down

22 Jul

The BBC News reported today that Colombia has recalled its ambassador to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. This comes as the latest development in the row between the two nations over accusations that Venezuela not only tolerates Colombian rebels including the FARC, (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) but provides a safe haven for them on its soil.

When I was in Colombia a few weeks ago, I talked with several locals about the problems in their country. Most of the locals that I talked with were very displeased with the way their country is represented to the rest of the world. Most people outside of Colombia consider the country to be a very dangerous place (and in fact, I had to pass a security clearance to travel there for work). When people think of Colombia, they think of drugs and violence, which of course are still problems, but they are not nearly as widespread today as people think they are.

Something that really interested me was an advertisement campaign for Colombian tourism that actually utilized this erroneous sentiment and made light of it. The ad read “Travelers to Colombia are at risk… of having fun!” Whether this ad campaign is really dispelling the fears that people have of traveling to Colombia or whether the campaign is poking fun of a serious issue– I don’t know. But I do want to go back to Colombia!

Holy crap, earthquake in MD!

16 Jul

I was woken up this morning by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake.

At first I thought I was still reeling from happy hour. I was really surprised that it woke me up because 1. I was still a little tipsy and 2. I’ve been know to sleep through fire alarms. It felt like a strong blast of thunder, except it came from below. I live in the basement of a house, and I could feel the ground and the walls shaking and rattling. There was also a lot of noise; it sounded like a plane taking off.

Apparently there have been no reports of significant damage (other than a few picture frames falling off the walls) and no injuries. I know that this was a tiny one, but it was really kind of terrifying. I don’t like it when the ground moves.

This is why I don’t live in California.

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Back in the U.S!

8 Jul

The visit with PADF to Colombia was overall amazing and productive.  I got a lot of great footage and stills.  I feel like my Spanish has definitely improved.  I’ve already become Facebook friends with several people from the PADF Colombia office.  I’m very excited to start postproduction, though I’m definitely going to miss the mountains, the cool weather, and the amazing Colombian food.

One of the video projects I’m working on (a lower priority than the Heroes of the Hemisphere videos) is CAIF (Centro Atencion Integral a la Familia), which is basically a school and family center partly funded by PADF.  I filmed classes with the children, classes with the parents, the playground, even a football game.  Part of CAIF goal is maintaining cultural identity.  Some of the children dressed up in traditional Colombian costumes and performed a traditional song and dance.  This was one of the most challenging parts for me to film only because the kids were so adorable that it was difficult for me to hold the camera steady.

This is a picture from CAIF overlooking the football pitch and the town of Popayan.

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Off to Colombia!

2 Jul

I’m leaving the States again this weekend, this time for Colombia.   I will be there for all of next week.

I’m mostly staying in the capital city of Bogota where my organization, the Pan American Development Foundation has an office.

I will be filming several projects in Colombia, but the main one is conducting a video interview of one of the 2010 recipients of PADF’s Heroes of the Hemisphere awards.  The Colombian “hero” works to preserve the indigenous Guambiano people of Misak by initiating profitable economic development projects.  Misak is considered to be a fairly dangerous place in the country because of the illegal drug trafficking in the area.  I actually had to get a security clearance from the country office before leaving.  I’m traveling with my supervisor this time (I went to the Dominican Republic alone), so that makes me feel a little bit better!

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