[english below]

Pig Iron (il ferro dei porci) è un libro fotografico di Giulio Di Meo (vecchio amico e membro di S4C) sulle gravi ingiustizie sociali e ambientali commesse dalla multinazionale Vale negli stati brasiliani del Pará e del Maranhão, tra i più poveri del Paese.

Una pubblicazione indipendente e autoprodotta, per destinare parte del ricavato ad un progetto teatrale portato avanti dai giovani della compagnia “Juventudes pela Paz” di Açailândia nel nordest del Brasile e per cercare di proporlo ad un prezzo accessibile a tutti.

(cliccare per supportare il progetto)

S4C sostiene il progetto perchè conosce bene Giulio Di Meo e ne conosce l’approccio alla fotografia sociale come mezzo di denuncia e di racconto di storie ignorate. E lo sostiene anche perchè non farlo non sarebbe coerento con quanto sosteniamo da tempo: ci sono storie che devono essere raccontate a tutti i costi.

Molti di noi hanno già pre-acquistato il libro e invitiamo anche voi a farlo.

Crediamo molto nelle produzioni dal basso, come sapete. Il non avere committenza editoriale, sponsor, pubblicità, etc, regala quell’indipendenza indispensabile per approfondire serenamente e imparzialmente anche le storie più scottanti e delicate.

Giulio Di Meo lo sa fare come pochi.

AA

————————-

PIG IRON

“Pig Iron” is the name photographer Giulio Di Meo has given to his book documenting the serious social and environmental injustices being committed by the multinational Vale in the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão, among the poorest in the country.

The book is an independent and self-produced publication that ensure maximum freedom of expression. It will be sold at a price that is accessible to all and it aims at supporting a theater project that a group of young people from Açailândia, northeast Brazil, is working on.

Shoot4Change is supporting this independent production because Giulia Di Meo is an old time S4C member and a great documentary photographer who strongly believes in the power of storytelling as a means of bringing social change. He’s doing this on his own without any commercial sponsor. Thus, we call for help and support.

You can support the project here.

Non vedevo Rotex (Fabrizio Marta) dall’inizio dell’avventura di Shoot4Change. Ci siamo conosciuti attraverso i nostri blog di viaggio.

Anche lui viene da una ‘vecchia’ storia di blog di viaggi incredibili. Rotex gira il mondo sulla sedia a rotelle, raccontando storie in un modo tutto suo. Bellissimo.

Ora, Rotex sta rotellando in giro per l’Italia con l’amico, fotografo, Vito Raho e oggi ci siamo incrociati velocemente a Roma.

E’ stata un’occasione per fare due chiacchiere e sapere qualcosa su questo particolarissimo viaggio che potete seguire su Vanity Fair (http://rotellando.vanityfair.it) e su Facebook.

L’ironia è quella di sempre. La coppia di viaggiatori è ben assortita (Fabrizio è di Domodossola e Vito – ribattezzato Reflex – è di Santa Maria di Leuca nel Salento).

Come dicono loro, la loro meta non è mai un luogo ma un nuovo modo di vedere le cose.

E questo a noi piace tanto, no?

AntonioA

 
Non vedevo Rotex (Fabrizio Marta) dall’inizio dell’avventura di Shoot4Change. Ci siamo conosciuti attraverso i nostri blog di viaggio.

Anche lui viene da una ‘vecchia’ storia di blog di viaggi incredibili. Rotex gira il mondo sulla sedia a rotelle, raccontando storie in un modo tutto suo. Bellissimo.

Ora, Rotex sta rotellando in giro per l’Italia con l’amico, fotografo, Vito Raho e oggi ci siamo incrociati velocemente a Roma.

E’ stata un’occasione per fare due chiacchiere e sapere qualcosa su questo particolarissimo viaggio che potete seguire su Vanity Fair (http://rotellando.vanityfair.it) e su Facebook.

L’ironia è quella di sempre. La coppia di viaggiatori è ben assortita (Fabrizio è di Domodossola e Vito – ribattezzato Reflex – è di Santa Maria di Leuca nel Salento).

Come dicono loro, la loro meta non è mai un luogo ma un nuovo modo di vedere le cose.

E questo a noi piace tanto, no?

AntonioA

“The Neglected” street children of Ukraine from David Gillanders.

THE NEGLECTED

We are very happy to present you, today, a striking documentary by Glasgow photographer David Gillanders.

It’s a story about the dramatic situation of street kids in Ukraine, whose strong visual content will keep you thinking for a long time.

We hope to see again David around here soon.

AA

——

About David Gillanders

“The Neglected” street children of Ukraine from David Gillanders.

THE NEGLECTED

We are very happy to present you, today, a striking documentary by Glasgow photographer David Gillanders.

It’s a story about the dramatic situation of street kids in Ukraine, whose strong visual content will keep you thinking for a long time.

We hope to see again David around here soon.

AA

——

About David Gillanders

I lately met Josué Azor in Rome at the Haiti Embassy. He’s a smart guy and very talented photographer. I’m extremely happy to introduce him to you today with a work on Vodoo in Haiti, his Country. Much has been seen and said about Haiti lately.

Josué agreed to launch a S4C group there and will gather young photographers who’ll tell stories from within their Country. After all, S4C claim is “Shoot Local, Change Global”, right?

Josué was born and lives in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. About three years ago he began developing his passion for photography. Since then he visits his country, Haiti and shares his passion with great pleasure.

(click to see the photo gallery)

In August 2010, he went to Brazil. From this trip was created his first exhibit: “Clin d’oeil: Haiti-Bresil” that took place in Haiti in January 2011.

In February 2011 he presented in Rome, the exhibit “Clin d’oeil sur Haiti.”

In November 2011, the exhibit “Le Sacré en Haiti” ( Sacred in Haiti) was presented in Port-au-Prince, Montreal and Rome.

(click to see the photo gallery)

“Sacred in Haiti” is the result of a journey and the discovery of the traditional vodoo ceremonies in Lakou Soukri and Seau d’eau, two very sacred and mystical religious sites in Haiti.

Lakou Soukri, where most of the pictures were taken, is located near the historic city of Gonaives where Haiti’s Independance was declared on January 1804. In these sites religious as well as cultural and artistic traditions from African origin are preserved. Lakou Soukri is even pre existant to Haiti’s independance. As most religions, vodoo ceremonies are caracterized by rituals: songs, dances, offerings and prayors.

Vodoo practices a holistic relationship with the elements and all living beings. The human body, in trance, in movement is portrayed in this serie of photographs as the center of communication and invocation of the sacred.

This is what Josué has meant to present in this project.

Antonio Amendola/S4C

[iframe http://www.s4c.it/slides/voodoohaiti 100% 800px]

“Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communication, offers an infinite variety of perception, interperation and execution.” Ansel Adams.

Today we bring a story of how a one New York City Photographer is making an impact in this world.

(from "Life in Balance"/Ashok Sinha) click to see a photogallery

Ashok Sinha worked in corporate America for a decade, before he decided to pursue his passion in photography.  Mr. Sinha is a self taught photographer, and has spent quite a considerable amount of time traveling around the world on editorial and commercial assignments as well as covering reportage stories such as “Life in Balance” about Uyghurs living in China’s northwestern corner.  His work has won him numerous awards and has appeared in a variety of magazines and publications.

I met Mr. Sinha a few months ago when had just returned from a media trip to Sri Lanka.  A  visit to Sri Lanka’s northeast region (where a 30 year civil war has recently ended) was a stark contrast to the unparalleled beauty of the rest of the island nation, and was soon to become a life-changing experience for him.  For the first time, Mr. Sinha felt he was in a position to make a difference as a photographer and artist by enabling the children affected by war express themselves through art.   It was just an idea … a dream.

Fast forward a couple of months and  ”The cARTwheel Initiative” was in full force. The goal of the program is to collaborate with local organizations in countries that have been affected by war or natural disaster.  This year, the inaugural trip is to the country where the idea was conceived – Sri Lanka.   A team of artists will conduct workshops in photography, visual art and music  with children in  psychosocial centers that have been established in several schools of the northeastern regions.

(from "the cARTwheel Initiative"/Ashok Sinha) click to see a photogallery

Here is a mission statement from Mr. Sinha and his team.

“The cARTwheel Initiative aims to bring the therapeutic and transformative power of the arts to children living in the aftermath of conflict and disaster in order to support them in healing, comprehension, acceptance and transcendence.

Each year, our team of talented artists will partner with an international organization to share their artistic expertise and work alongside children who live in a community recently impacted by war, natural or manmade disasters. Children will learn a variety of creative forms of expression that will give them insight into themselves, their cultures, and their experiences.”

(from "the cARTwheel Initiative"/Ashok Sinha) click here to see a photogallery

We, at Shoot4Change, support Mr. Sinha and his team in their mission and want to bring attention to their important work.

“We loved his story and thought it would be of inspiration for those many of our members and reader who ask us what they can do with their photography. How to bring about social change at local level…” Antonio Amendola

Bringing about social change often begins at a grassroots level and in local communities, much like Ashok did during his visit to Sri Lanka

To find more information or to make a donation visit  cARTwheel Initiative:  http://cartwheelinitiative.org/

Text by: Yelena Futeran,  Ashok Sinha

[iframe http://www.s4c.it/slides/ashoksinha 100% 800px]

“Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communication, offers an infinite variety of perception, interperation and execution.” Ansel Adams.

Today we bring a story of how a one New York City Photographer is making an impact in this world.

(from "Life in Balance"/Ashok Sinha) click to see a photogallery

Ashok Sinha worked in corporate America for a decade, before he decided to pursue his passion in photography.  Mr. Sinha is a self taught photographer, and has spent quite a considerable amount of time traveling around the world on editorial and commercial assignments as well as covering reportage stories such as “Life in Balance” about Uyghurs living in China’s northwestern corner.  His work has won him numerous awards and has appeared in a variety of magazines and publications.

I met Mr. Sinha a few months ago when had just returned from a media trip to Sri Lanka.  A  visit to Sri Lanka’s northeast region (where a 30 year civil war has recently ended) was a stark contrast to the unparalleled beauty of the rest of the island nation, and was soon to become a life-changing experience for him.  For the first time, Mr. Sinha felt he was in a position to make a difference as a photographer and artist by enabling the children affected by war express themselves through art.   It was just an idea … a dream.

Fast forward a couple of months and “The cARTwheel Initiative” was in full force.  The goal of the program is to collaborate with local organizations in countries that have been affected by war or natural disaster.  This year, the inaugural trip is to the country where the idea was conceived – Sri Lanka.   A team of artists will conduct workshops in photography, visual art and music  with children in  psychosocial centers that have been established in several schools of the northeastern regions.

(from "the cARTwheel Initiative"/Ashok Sinha) click to see a photogallery

Here is a mission statement from Mr. Sinha and his team.

“The cARTwheel Initiative aims to bring the therapeutic and transformative power of the arts to children living in the aftermath of conflict and disaster in order to support them in healing, comprehension, acceptance and transcendence.

Each year, our team of talented artists will partner with an international organization to share their artistic expertise and work alongside children who live in a community recently impacted by war, natural or manmade disasters. Children will learn a variety of creative forms of expression that will give them insight into themselves, their cultures, and their experiences.”

(from "the cARTwheel Initiative"/Ashok Sinha) click here to see a photogallery

We, at Shoot4Change, support Mr. Sinha and his team in their mission and want to bring attention to their important work.

“We loved his story and thought it would be of inspiration for those many of our members and reader who ask us what they can do with their photography. How to bring about social change at local level…” Antonio Amendola

Bringing about social change often begins at a grassroots level and in local communities, much like Ashok did during his visit to Sri Lanka.

To find more information or to make a donation visit cARTwheel Initiative: http://cartwheelinitiative.org/

Text by: Yelena Futeran & Ashok Sinha

[iframe http://www.s4c.it/slides/ashoksinha 100% 800px]

OWS keeps hitting the News. The Wave keeps spreading and what most People see on the Media, Worldwide, are either scenes of collective protest and demonstration or clashes with Police.  “Zuccotti”  is now more a collective identity rather than a physical place.

As well as OWS is kinda forgotten to be made of individuals.

Today we are extremely excited to present new S4C member August Bradley project “99 FACES”.

August is a commercial and fine art photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles.  As a Hasselblad Master, he received numerous Graphis Gold Awards, has been chosen for the PDN Photo Annual and received several IPA “Photographer of the Year Awards” (click here to know more about August)

Our Paths crossed on The New York Times LENS and decided to join forces to keep giving faces and voices to those that are seldom heard and seen (have a look at the brand new S4C project on the Low Resolution Generation and join).

August 99 FACES project is outstanding.

(click to the see a selection of Portraits)

“I pursued this project because the OWS movement seemed like this big mystery. There are no front people, there are no personalities widely identified with it. It’s as if the entire movement was behind a mask. Obviously there are specific people involved, and I was curious about who they were. I don’t ever remember seeing a movement that did not have clearly identifiable personalities associated with it, the mystery of it was intriguing to me.”

“I’m also fascinated with faces, they are endlessly interesting to me. And the idea of telling a story through a series of faces is particularly exciting to me.

(click to the see a selection of Portraits)

Most of my work has been with models and actors that I have transformed to communicate ideas in my head. I have increasingly become excited about discovering unique people, and revealing aspects of people not typically seen. So I have committed to doing more portrait work, hopefully in a penetrating, revealing way — a different kind of look into the eyes.”

You can read more about August Project (and the individual stories) here: http://www.99facesofoccupywallst.org

Bear his words and remember these Faces.

AA

[iframe http://www.s4c.it/slides/99faces 100% 800px]OWS keeps hitting the News. The Wave keeps spreading and what most People see on the Media, Worldwide, are either scenes of collective protest and demonstration or clashes with Police. “Zuccotti” is now more a collective identity rather than a physical place.

As well as OWS is kinda forgotten to be made of individuals.

Today we are extremely excited to present new S4C member August Bradley project “99 FACES”.

August is a commercial and fine art photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. As a Hasselblad Master, he received numerous Graphis Gold Awards, has been chosen for the PDN Photo Annual and received several IPA “Photographer of the Year Awards” (click here to know more about August)

Our Paths crossed on The New York Times LENS and decided to join forces to keep giving faces and voices to those that are seldom heard and seen (have a look at the brand new S4C project on the Low Resolution Generation and join).

August 99 FACES project is outstanding.

(click to the see a selection of Portraits)

“I pursued this project because the OWS movement seemed like this big mystery. There are no front people, there are no personalities widely identified with it. It’s as if the entire movement was behind a mask. Obviously there are specific people involved, and I was curious about who they were. I don’t ever remember seeing a movement that did not have clearly identifiable personalities associated with it, the mystery of it was intriguing to me.”

“I’m also fascinated with faces, they are endlessly interesting to me. And the idea of telling a story through a series of faces is particularly exciting to me.

(click to the see a selection of Portraits)

Most of my work has been with models and actors that I have transformed to communicate ideas in my head. I have increasingly become excited about discovering unique people, and revealing aspects of people not typically seen. So I have committed to doing more portrait work, hopefully in a penetrating, revealing way — a different kind of look into the eyes.”

You can read more about August Project (and the individual stories) here: http://www.99facesofoccupywallst.org

Bear his words and remember these Faces.

AA

[iframe http://www.s4c.it/slides/99faces 100% 800px]

[english below]

Il fotografo Enzo Dal Verme, ci presenta tre donne.

Tre bellissime donne calve: Fury, Marina e Sharon. Chi calva per scelta, chi per alopecia, chi per i postumi di una chemioterapia. “Bold is Beautiful” è un progetto ambizioso che mira a dimostrare che la bellezza prescinde dai pregiudizi e dai luoghi comuni e che i suoi canoni sono tanto flessibili quanto vari.

—

(three stories by Enzo Dal Verme) – read the complete story on Enzo’s Blog -

A group of American women got together with the idea of redefining the concept of beauty. Men can be blond, brown, red, white and… bald. Why not women? I photographed them in New York as they were that day and I collected their stories too. Some of them have alopecia, some have been through chemotherapy, others simply like being bald.

When I showed the pictures to my clients, every single magazine  that saw the story (about twenty) refused to publish it for the very same reason: those pictures might clash with the feminine ideal supported by advertisers. Well, actually one of them had a different problem…

Time passed and I kept trying with other magazines. No way to publish the story. Mainstream magazines have a preference for the Barbie-fication of women, we know that. Anyway, now I am publishing everything on my blog. Meeting those women has been a privilege for me, I want other people to be inspired by them too. After all, their point is not just about bald women. Having the courage to be oneself is a topic that concerns everyone.

Enzo Dal Verme

Fury, event organizer

Fury, Event Organiser

I used to hate the hours spent at the hairdressers grooming my hair and so seven years
ago I made a decision and cut it all off. Here I am, I am bald and I want to stay bald my
whole life. I see it as a statement: I can express my femininity even without hair.

And then I must say it is convenient: I shave quickly every morning and am ready. Before,
if I didn’t have time to fix my hair I was anxious. Now I am free of worry, my head is
always perfect even on windy days.

People are generally surprised to see me without hair and often ask a bunch of questions
as if it were the most bizarre thing on earth, and it’s true that there aren’t a lot of
us. If I go to a restaurant, for example, everyone notes me right away. And so when I
don’t feel like attracting so much attention I wear a hat or a turban and mix in with the
rest of the people.

Being bald has made me understand how much importance we give to a woman’s hair. Without
a do that frames my face or a curl to play with, in a certain sense I am more vulnerable.
But it’s not a serious problem, actually it’s stimulating and I would dare say it is
something like the way blind people heighten their other senses.

I had not originally thought about women who have become bald as a result of
chemotherapy. Now many of them are my friends and I am even happier to shave my head and
help spread a fashion that will help them feel normal with their round heads.

–

Marina, police clerk

Marina, Police Clerk

My husband shaves his head every morning to feel closer to me. He is a policeman and I
work at the station. Our daughter is seven years old and for her it is perfectly normal
to have two bald parents.

I lost my hair when I was three years old (alopecia) and I felt really isolated, but not
from the other children. They didn’t see my baldness as anything strange, but adults did.
They were all afraid that I might give their kids some terrible disease, or else they
looked at me compassionately and said “poor thing!”

There were a lot of times when I asked myself “Why me? Why can’t I have hair like
everybody else?” Then I made peace with my life, but it took a long time.

In the end, my head never really caused me any serious obstacles, although being
“strange” did create some unease. For many years I covered my head with a scarf, a hat or
a wig to avoid unwelcome comments. Then I began to stop hiding myself, and naturally I
experienced a number of episodes that wounded me. Once at the bank, a man tried to let me
go to the front of the line because he thought I was seriously ill. I was offended, but I
have to admit that he had the best of intentions. So, at times you are vulnerable in
unexpected ways.

It’s only in the past few years that I feel more comfortable, and I owe it to my
daughter. I used to worry that in a moment of distraction or play she might pull off my
wig when I held her in my arms. How would I have reacted? How would I have felt? And then
when it actually happened it was not so horribly dramatic. Actually, experiencing the
thing I had feared brought my fears into perspective.

Then I met many other women like me and I didn’t feel so alone any more. The
unconditional love of my daughter and my husband and the closeness of my new friends have
given me the strength to feel more and more at peace with myself.

—

Sharon, model and actress

Sharon, Model and actress

I had really long hair that I lost after going through chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.
It grew back but I shave it off because I feel more comfortable bald.

This is how it went: I worked for a record label and was so involved in my career that I
forgot about … myself! When I realized what was going on, I left my job and took a year
off. I did a lot of traveling and thinking. Before I went back to work I went to visit my
parents. I was only going to stay a few days but instead I found out that I had cancer
while I was there and that was the beginning of my adventure. I met a lot of women who
were sick like me. Some were really depressed, while others said things to me like,
“cancer saved my life”, or “it was a blessing for me”. You can’t understand these words
unless you’ve been through it. When you find out you have that disease you are always
thinking about death and you appreciate life much more. You especially realize what it is
that is really important for you. I understood that I had to let go of a lot of stupid
things and learn things that I had never given any importance to, such as eating well,
getting exercise… In other words, cancer taught me to take care of my body, listen to its
needs and love myself.

And now that I have survived, I feel the growing need to communicate to as many people as
possible that it is important to love oneself. It isn’t easy. For someone like me it
really took such a powerful experience to wake me up. But I am determined. I decided to
use my image as a bald woman to get people to think and so far things are going very
well. I have acted in a few television series, including Sex and the City, and I present
myself as an actress with a story, not just with a particular look.

[Da S4C New York, la nostra Yelena Posniak ci racconta un'iniziativa che coniuga impegno sociale ed imprenditorialità in maniera molto interessante. Nomi Network, infatti, lega (o meglio, collega) iniziative private, pubbliche e non governative finalizzate ad intervenire a favore delle vittime del traffico e sfruttamento di esseri umani. Yelena, comincia a raccontarla attraverso le parole della fondatrice e la storia del progetto "Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body®". Assolutamente da leggere e da rifletterci su.... AA]

- A story told by Yelena Posniak/S4C New York City –

I recently had the honor to interview Supei Liu and Diana Mao, the co-founding members of the Nomi Network based in New York City. By utilizing their knowledge of  fashion design, marketing, business and with great creativity, Nomi Network is making a tremendous difference in the lives of women and children who were victims of sexual slavery in Cambodia.   YP

YELENA: What is Nomi Network?

DIANA: Nomi Network is a not for profit social enterprise that design and distributes products that are made by survivors of human trafficking and at-risk women. We are based in New York City and create job and career opportunities for women.

(at the facility) click to visit Nomineatwork website

YELENA: What inspired you to start this organization?

DIANA: Our future will be determined by our ability to innovate in the face of social challenge. I was working with Egyptian garbage collectors in Cairo and was amazed by their ability to innovate in the midst of trash. They sorted through 1/3 of Cairo’s trash and recovery of 80% of the materials disposed by city dwellers. Piles of recoverable items such as plastic or rags are sold and made into products and some sold in the Western market. I worked with an organization that produced greeting cards out of recycled paper and noticed that the laborers were unskilled with little real market knowledge and would never advance past their humble greeting card shop. I knew that I could fix this by combining western market expertise with third world resourcefulness and innovation. A few years later, I saw an opportunity to do so help survivors of trafficking and at risk women create their own sovereign futures by producing eco-friendly tote bags. I believe that “Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body®” has the potential to reach millions of consumers, making them aware of modern-day slavery and allowing them to leverage their purchasing power to combat trafficking and empower survivors.

SUPEI:  “As I have shared with you, my first experienced that inspired me to connect the market place with local was in Africa in 2005. And as I found out more about the trafficking issue and met those survivors in person in 2008. I know something has to be done and the development of bags started as our desire to provide sustainable jobs. “

YELENA: How does Nomi Network empower girls who were victims of sexual slavery?

DIANA: Local nonprofits offer a range of services to survivors. These nonprofits often create manufacturing jobs for survivors. Nomi has existing partnerships with social service based non-profits. These nonprofits are skilled at providing rehabilitation services, but struggle to adapt to the global marketplace. Goods produced are often low quality, homogenous, low margin commodities. These products fail to gain traction, leaving survivors unemployed & at risk of re-trafficking. Nomi steps in with an innovative model that focuses on the consumers who purchase the products that will create jobs for survivors. We mobilize design & marketing talent to help them overcome the status quo & barriers to the global marketplace. We assist with production, quality control, & marketing, and position goods in stores & online stores. Nomi ensures that profits are reinvested back into the survivor community. We will train local women to become designers & fashion industry leaders.

(at the facility) CLICK TO VISIT THE WEBSITE

YELENA: Do you work with the local NGOs and factories in Cambodia? and how do the girls get work with your factories?

DIANA: We work with existing NGOs and social enterprises in Cambodia. They recruit women rom shelters or through their referral network.

YELENA: What products do they make?

DIANA: Hand bags and accessories.

YELENA:  What is BUY HER BAG NOT HER BODY?

DIANA: There are 27 million slaves today. In Cambodia, 1 in 40 children are trafficked into bondage. Poverty is a root cause of trafficking. 70% of those living on less than $1 per day are women & children. Lured from desolate villages by traffickers peddling false promises of urban riches, they end up in the brothels. Sadly, some escape & are ensnared in a vicious cycle and re-trafficked because they are rejected by their communities & lack the necessary skills obtain jobs. Nomi breaks this cycle and gives survivors hope for a better future. This message says that women and children are NOT FOR SALE.

YELENA: How do citizens of the western countries understand and determine where their products are developed and the importance of understanding the label behind the product?

DIANA: Despite the economic recession, the volume of cause-related product sales in the US is growing. Our target consumers are interested in certified fair-trade products and cause-related products, a market worth approximately $2.2 billion in 2009 (Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International). According to the 2010 Cone Cause Evolution Study, the consumers of many cause-related products consists mainly of young professionals, students (“millenials” age 18-20), adult women and mothers. 81% of these consumers felt that buying a product was the best way to support a company’s cause.

YELENA: What are the specific trades you teach the girls?

DIANA: Quality control, advanced production techniques, fashion design, sourcing materials and marketing.

YELENA: In the time since you have started Nominetwork, how many girls do you think were employed and taught by your organization?

DIANA: We help employ 53. Train approximately 40 and 40 basic workshops

(at the facility) CLICK TO VISIT THE WEBSITE

YELENA: Why did you chose Cambodia to start your mission? and do you have other countries that you will be working with?

DIANA: Low education level, low literacy, war-torn country. All three founders have visited. Trafficking is a major issue there – in particular minors.

YELENA: If a purchase is made through Nominetwork, how does this directly impact and benefit the girls who are creating these products?

DIANA: Two layers- 1) Help create jobs with a wage nearly 45% higher than the local average, healthcare, and childcare. 2) Profit from selling bags are reinvested into education and training.

YELENA: You are returning to Cambodia next week, what will you be working on during this trip?

DIANA: This trip is very exciting because we are having a team of 8 ppl. We will be recruiting new program participants – a train the trainer model. Individuals will come from different organizations. We will document the stories of the women and children we work with. We will also be creating new designs and products.

YELENA:  Thank you both for your time,  your work helps so many victims and you are truly an inspiration as to how a few individuals can make a difference in this world.

[vsw id="2WWO4GvPAJQ" source="youtube" width="525" height="444" autoplay="no"]

(click to see the gallery)

We are particularly glad, today, to present you Last Stand on the Island, a project by Evan Abramson and Carmen Elsa Lopez.

Evan and Carmen have traveled the world covering stories about hunger, aids,  humanity and environment issues.   Their work is compelling, inspiring and brings attention to issues that we would have never known existed.   Which is why we are bringing to your attention their most recent project “Last Stand on the Island”.

Yelena Posniak/S4C New York

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Last Stand on the Island is a story about the last generations of French-speaking Native Americans who live on an island that’s disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico.

They are the Isle Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaws, descendants of French settlers who took Indian wives and moved to a twenty-four square mile strip of marshland in the mid-1800s.

Once a self-sufficient community of 350 people, who grew their own food, raised cattle, fished, shrimped and hunted, since the exploration of the area by oil companies began in the 1950s, the island has washed away to a mere a quarter-mile wide and half-mile long, its thick forests, gardens and wildlife long gone. After five hurricanes in the last six years, 24 families remain, stubbornly refusing to abandon their ancestral land.

Off the coast of Southern Louisiana lives a man of the sea. Edison Dardar was born on a fisherman’s boat near Isle de Jean Charles, were he has lived his entire 74 years. Each morning, a mixture of howling winds and salty air wakes him up. Half asleep, he climbs on his much-too-small bicycle and starts his journey.

As he pedals down the island, visions of lush, merrier days follow him along skeletons of oak and cypress trees, weathered toys and sofas, exposed bathrooms and deserted driveways that belonged to members of his tribe that are now gone. He follows the flooded Island Road that links his community to the mainland, passing the eroding and expanding canals of the oil and gas industry, into the disappearing marsh, where he climbs off the bike and gracefully casts his net into the water. This is the life he cherishes and he is prepared to shoot you if you get in the way.

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And Chief Albert is getting in the way.

Chief Albert lives in a 3-bedroom brick home with a golf cart and a flat screen TV in suburban Montegut. As the Chief of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe he is fighting for what is best for his community. At 63, he is tired of repairing the destroyed homes of tribal members year after year. The hurricanes will keep coming; the isle will keep sinking. He is fighting to get his tribe out of the isle and into a safer place on the mainland: a fenced-in piece of property with one hundred homes only for members of the tribe.

(click to see the complete gallery)

For Dardar, it’s very much like prison. “What am I going to do every morning when I wake up?  Stare at the road?” A fisherman alien to driving, shopping malls and the more civil suburban life, this forced transformation is worth fighting against. In front of his patched home raised two stories off the ground, Dardar arms himself with $200 worth of ammunition, 4 guns and a hatchet. “I’m fixing on getting my hands on a machine gun,” he says with a twinkle in his eye, adding under his breath, “My land is beautiful, really beautiful. That’s why they all want it.”

(click to see the gallery)

Strangers have been invading Isle Jean Charles since the road was built in 1951. Oil and gas companies started digging canals to transport workers and equipment, which has opened the way to salt water erosion. Dardar’s neighbor and tribal elder Mr. Billiot remembers, “They started digging and digging and it kept on getting worse and worse.” Forests of oak trees used to cover the now barren land around his house. He had vegetable gardens, horses and cows. Now, sitting in front of his porch he stares at the barren landscape and water beyond.  But he and his wife still won’t follow Chief Albert and like Dardar, they’re prepared to fight and to die for the island they love.

by: Carmen Elsa Lopez & Evan Abramson

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You can see a first video here but first let us tell you how YOU can help the project.

Evan and Carmen need to complete the film. They have the story, the contacts and some of the filming in place; they just don’t have the money to finalize this shoot. They turned to Shoot4Change for getting help in spreading the word and see if it’s possible to gather attention on the project.

Please, have a look at the video (and click here to see the page where you can actually donate) and remember that any amount that you’re willing to give will put them one step closer to their goal. Quoting from their website:

“Your money will go towards travel, car rental, hiring a second editor, post-production (sound mixing, color correction, festival submissions, DVD printing) as well as a donation to the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaws for future hurricane relief. We have been collaborating with hurricane chasers, tribal chiefs, musicians, sound engineers, animation artists, environmental lawyers, cartographers, historians, students and activists to produce a film that will do justice to Edison’s story. We believe this tribe has been wronged for centuries. Through a combination of your assistance and the facilities we have available to us, we’re confident we can bring awareness to the issue of coastal erosion due to industry negligence. We hope the tribe will get Federal recognition and a greater chance to be included in the Morganza-to-the-Gulf Hurricane Protection Project. The island was excluded because it’s too costly to include within the levee walls.”

S4C likes this project and the model of crowdfunding of its costs. Documentary films and photography has a high cost. Discovering forgotten stories has a cost and, often, one cannot make it alone.

This is wher WE and YOU fit in.

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Con questo reportage diamo il benvenuto nel network S4C a Thomas Cristofoletti, nato 30 anni fa a Riva del Garda (TN), fotografo freelance.

(clicca qui per la gallery a schermo intero)

Dopo aver lavorato per 6 anni come art director in alcune agenzie pubblicitarie milanesi e a Madrid decide di assecondare la sua passione e dedicarsi al 100% alla fotografia e ai viaggi. Lascia il lavoro e fonda con un amico Punto14. Un tentativo di dare forma al sogno di due persone di poter viaggiare il mondo realizzando reportage (in video e in foto) di ambito sociale.
Un esempio che molti S4Cers vorrebbero seguire.

In questi mesi infatti, i due amici di Punto14 sono in viaggio per ll sud est asiatico collaborando con una ONG spagnola in 2 progetti (uno in Cambogia e l’altro nelle Filippine) e con altre realtá piú piccole che hanno avuto modo di incontrare lungo il nostro cammino. L’attuale crisi finanziaria e la cronica mancanza di fondi per finanziare progetti di reportage li ha spinti a cercare soluzioni alternative alle produzione classiche (foto + video) e stanno quindi cominciando a produrre progetti multimediali e interattivi (sfruttando il nostro background professionale) che vedono in internet e, soprattutto, nelle reti sociali il loro perfetto ambiente di diffusione.

Thomas ha viaggiato e realizzato materiale fotografico in: Usa, Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, Perú, Turchia, Marocco, Giappone, Thailandia, Vietnam, Filippine, Laos, Taiwan, Cambogia e in molti paesi europei, pubblicando in varie testate in Italia, Spagna, Russia e Francia e esponendo in Italia, Spagna e Inghilterra.

Paolo Fusco/S4C

www.jeriko1kenobi.net
www.punto14.net

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Il lago Boeung Kak (di Thomas Cristofoletti/S4C)

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La Cambogia è un paese ricco di storia, tradizioni, sorrisi e di incredibili e tragici avvenimenti che avvengono nella assoluta indifferenza degli stessi cambogiani e della comunitá internazionale.

Questa è la storia del lago Boeung Kak, uno specchio d’acqua che sorgeva nel cuore della capitale Phnom Penh a due passi dal celebre Wat Phnom e un tempo famoso in tutto il sud est asiatico come oasi per backpackers e per le centinaia di famiglie che vivevano intorno alle sue rive. L’ennesima storia di un paese che si modernizza a scapito dei piú deboli ed indifesi.

Veniamo ai fatti.

Nel 2007, in pieno boom edilizio, il governo decide di vendere la superficie del lago all’impresa cambogiana Shukako Inc. del senatore Lao Meng Khin, ma si è scoperto poche settimane fa che quest’ultimo ha deciso poi di legarsi commercialmente con una compagnia cinese (la Inner Mongolia Erdos Hung Jun Investment Co) con il fine di costruire un quartiere residenziale e commerciale.

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Nel agosto 2008 iniziano cosí i lavori e con una gigantesca pompa si comincia a drenare sabbia dal vicino Tonle Sap (un affluente del Mekong) riversandola nel lago al ritmo di 25 metri quadrati all’ora. Le autoritá cittadine riferivano, ad inizio progetto, che sarebbero state affette dal piano edilizio solamente 600 persone. Purtroppo al giorno d’oggi si calcola che tra sfratti forzati, abbattimenti abusivi e violenze, la cifra realistica si aggiri intorno alle 4000 famiglie – circa 30.000 persone. A queste, non tutte come ho avuto modo di scoprire, per abbandonare le proprie case vengono offerte in cambio 2 possibilitá: un indennizzo di circa 8000$ (ben al di sotto del valore reale di mercato di buona parte delle case) o l’opzione di spostarsi in edifici che si stanno costruendo nella periferia di Phnom Penh, lontani da scuole e, al momento, senza acqua corrente e elettricitá.

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Le proteste dei cittadini si susseguono inascoltate da mesi, soprattutto da quando molte case si sono ritrovate semi sommerse dall’acqua spinta dalla sabbia e molte famiglie sfrattate all’improvviso con la forza e con le case ridotte a macerie.

Nel Boeung Kak peró non si sta prosciugando solamente il lago. Il turismo, un’importante risorsa per l’economia della comunitá locale, sta sparendo e molti proprietari di ostelli (solo in zona se ne trovavano 17), ristoranti e tuk tuk drivers si trovano impossibilitati nel ricostruire la propria attivitá in altre parti della cittá.

Sulle rive del lago si respira un clima molto teso e la gente è spaventata per le continue minacce e violenze a cui è sottoposta. Molti, oramai rassegnati, semplicemente aspettano la prossima ondata di abbattimenti con un mezzo sorriso e sperano in una qualche aiuto che non arriverá.

Thomas ringrazia Sara e Reach per l’aiuto nella realizzazione del progetto.

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