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May 22, 2009
Samford Student To Serve On Documentary Team In Africa
A team of four college students, including one from Samford, is preparing to partner with Mozambicans to film a documentary on African development this summer. Team members fear that post-colonial Africa is in danger of becoming defined by crises such as AIDS, genocide and poverty, and they aim to show Africa’s images of hope.
The team’s “Kujilana Project” will be a feature-length, broadcast-quality documentary, filmed by Africans and Americans, which investigates the socio-spiritual aspects of African development. The team also will teach video skills and leave behind in Nomba Village, Mozambique, a rudimentary sustainable film library, which will archive local stories, event footage and how-to development videos.
On June 10 the team will depart for Nomba Village, where two American families run a development center called Malo Ga Kujilana (MGK,) meaning “Place of Reconciliation.” MGK acts as a community resource hub that empowers Nomba Village through various projects, including micro-loans, fish farms and child-safe, fuel-efficient stoves.
“We are going to Africa to tell stories, but we are also going to Africa to listen,” said Maribeth Browning, a sophomore journalism major at Samford. “MGK is the perfect place to create this conversation because they, too, believe in creatively responding to the needs of their neighbors in Nomba.”
“The Kujilana Project matters because it’s going to give Africans a voice like they’ve never had before,” said team member Nick Michael, a junior English major at Harding University in Searcy, Ark. “We'll be handing them our cameras and saying ‘Take it. You tell your own story. We’re not qualified to tell it for you.’”
The team members are currently raising awareness for the project and collecting funds for film equipment through their website (follow link below). They plan to edit their footage next fall and submit their work to film festivals beginning in 2010.