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2007 > True Life Stories: Girls Speak Out! — 2007

True Life Stories: Girls Speak Out! (04–05/2007)

Student Video Projects

Course Description

“True Life Stories: Girls Speak Out” was a ten-day workshop held in Johannesburg, South Africa in partnership with NOAH, to train caregivers, Kate Radebe and Albert Muyise, to lead a workshop with eight girls, ages 13-17, orphaned by AIDS, and to give them a voice through filmmaking.

Through journaling, photography, storytelling circles, and short videos, the girls personalized messages of hope and hardships overcome, to others like them- undergoing loss and bereavement and questioning traditional gender role that lead to increased HIV/AIDS infection rates in women.

The resulting videos were screened live by the girls, via videoconference on May 7th, World AIDS Orphans Day, to more than sixty policymakers, broadcasters and nongovernmental organizations, at the UN Mission in New York, US State Department in Washington DC, and US Consulate in Johannesburg, to broaden the discussion about how media can be used to strengthen peer education initiatives in communities affected by HIV/AIDS.

The videos will also be entered into a media library that will aid support groups, peer counseling sessions and serve as part of the intake process at NOAH support centers.

Student Comments

“It awakens you...and brings light to you because you came from the dark. It gives you a platform to talk about your feelings. It enlightens you because when you’re making the videos, you don’t realize that what you are doing can actually help other people.... The people in Washington showed that they care. I never thought that they would care about anyone like us who lost our parents.”
— 17-year-old participant Giveness