Over a period of several months in 2007, James Bernard - our Vice President of Communications - journeyed across the globe to capture the essence of World Learning through the magic of movie-making and a large dose of experiential learning. From Argentina to Vermont to the Kenyan coast and several countries in East Africa, James and a film crew from TEO Creative set out to explore the many textures of World Learning in a way that would visually convey how our work transforms people’s lives.
The 5-minute, 30-second video from those trips has recently been released and we are eager to share it with you. I also had a chance recently to sit down with James and get some behind-the-scenes back story on the making of the movie, that helped him understand, up close, the transformative experiences of those involved with World Learning programs — students, international development staff, local study abroad academic directors and staff, and homestay families.
The video project began in Argentina, where the team filmed students working on their Independent Study Projects on two SIT Study Abroad programs based in Buenos Aires. After nearly four days interviewing students who were exploring social movements, learning about a Catholic organization that works with children, and volunteering with a cooperative group in an impoverished neighborhood, the video team gained a great deal of knowledge about the Argentine people and how World Learning brings this culture alive for our program participants.
Next stop was our Vermont campus, where James and the team met with several SIT Graduate Institute students, faculty, and alumni to explore our graduate programs and understand the vast reach of our global campus and international student body. Through interviews with several people, the notion that “We teach what we practice and we practice what we teach” was echoed by students and faculty.
Finally, James and team spent the last leg of their journey exploring World Learning’s programs in East Africa. In Ethiopia, they met with staff and community members from our international development program in Awassa, where they filmed community discussions of parent-teacher organizations working to keep AIDS orphans in school. (World Learning works with more than 1,500 schools across Ethiopia on projects that help keep orphans and vulnerable children in school).
James, who wasn’t able to make it out to the Ethiopia portion of the trip because of a snowstorm in Vermont (ah, the beauty that is a good Vermont winter!) met up with the crew in Nairobi for a flight to the Kenyan coastal town of Lamu, where they were to catch up with SIT Study Abroad’s Kenya: Swahili Studies and Coastal Cultures program. After a few dodgy moments with the Kenya Airways staff and a debate about transporting seven bags of film equipment and four people on the tiny plane to Lamu, the group (baggage unscathed) managed to find their way to the thatched roof airport and landing strip outside Lamu town. Despite the fact that the camera equipment seemed to have a few hiccups, the crew immediately set to work and had an excellent day of filming, accompanying SIT Study Abroad students on a boat trip – in traditional wooden dhows – through the islands of the Lamu archipelago. The rest of the time in Lamu was spent talking with more than two dozen homestay families and tutors (many of whom had worked with us for over 10 years) and interviewing students, instructors and staff from the program and the Lamu community - including the mayor, a big supporter of experiential education himself.
James describes one of his many “a-ha” moments of the trip during a panel discussion students had with Kenyan Muslim women in Lamu:
Students were really able to get beyond stereotypes of Muslim women, and their questions changed over the course of the interview as they gained a better understanding of the women’s daily lives as smart, independent, and savvy Kenyans.
After another close encounter with Kenya Airways before the flight from Lamu to Arusha (where James provided marketing advice in exchange for getting baggage aboard), the group was met by Reese Matthews, academic director for Tanzania: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. The crew visited the private Endarakwai game reserve, where they saw firsthand how SIT Study Abroad students study the impact of elephants on the ecosystem of East Africa. After completing several interviews with wildlife officials, academics, students, and homestay community members on the slopes of Mount Meru, the crew participated in an overnight camping trip with students, where they went on several game drives and weathered a huge thunderstorm that almost blew the mess tent away!
Back in the states, James and the team marveled over the 50+ hours of video footage they had captured, and began the difficult task of editing the “World Learning story” into a neat, 5-minute package that could be easily shared. Meeting with so many interesting people and seeing so many colorful places made this process challenging, but the unused reels will undoubtedly be used in future World Learning multimedia projects.
James says the entire filming experience helped him see the full spectrum of World Learning and better understand the global impact of the organization and the importance of its deep networks in more than 77 countries. The process also forced him to think about how each piece and each person fits together to form the entirety of the World Learning community, and how we can celebrate the different parts while coming together as a whole. Finally it became clear to him that he - like most of us - had only scratched the surface of a few of our programs, and that there is much opportunity ahead to capture stories from our community.
Tags: worldlearning, internationaldevelopment, sitstudyabroad, sitgraduateinstitute, youtube, experimentininternationlliving
May 9, 2008 at 10:50 am
It’s a beautiful film, and I applaud the efforts that went into it and the contributions from the many included!
It’s mentioned at the end of the post that it’s only scratching the surface of the programs, but why are no grad students interviewed? Between the fieldwork of the SSA and EIL students, we get a lot of activity happening ‘out there’ (which they of course then usually apply to their studies back at home) but the grad students are doing work in these fields less than a after starting their studies….I feel they deserve equal time to the participants in other programs. The grad programs DO make WL unique, they DO bring a lot to the WL portfolio of programs, and their alumni DO make extraordinary contributions to social change. Please remember them in your publicity efforts, as they bring a lot of rich experiences and talent to the organization. Thank you.
May 9, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Hi Jess, thanks for your kind words about the video. Our graduate students do contribute amazing work in the field of social change, and truly make our organization one of the most unique non profits out there. As was mentioned above, we shot 50+ hours of video so a lot needed to be cut to get to 5 minutes, including interviews with SIT graduate students and several folks on our international development staff. There is a longer version, which we’d be happy to send to you, which we are using for broader recruiting. We’re however unable to post it on YouTube due to their restrictions of 10 minutes or shorter. This short video was mainly meant to introduce the organization, and as a recruiting tool for the Experiment in International Living and SIT Study Abroad. From there we can introduce participants to our other programs. We’d also like to, time and budget allowing, cut shorter videos for each of the other programs.
May 9, 2008 at 6:15 pm
Thanks for the reply, Michaela!
I understand the restrictions thing, it can be a pain. But I need to take issue with one thing: you mention it’s meant “mainly to introduce the organization,” and to do recruiting for EIL and SSA. But it’s never positioned as recruiting for EIL and SSA: it’s looks like it’s meant to just introduce WL, with heavy emphasis on those two programs. And trust me, I think they’re fantastic and terribly important and talk them up to everyone with kids in that age bracket, but again, the grad programs come across as a serious afterthought, especially if there were 50+hours of video to choose from, which as you mention included grad students.
Obviously, I have a preference here, and it’s that the grad programs be considered equals in the organization. Period. I understand the constraints that the creative team works under, but I fear this reinforces the feeling that the grad programs are second-class to the youth programs (interviews with 2 SSAs and no grad students). I really do not mean to flame, but the impression is that the youth programs are the darlings of the organization. Thanks for letting me reply and not booting me!
May 13, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Hey Jess, (How’s Boston treating you?)
You make some great points. And, yes, I agree: SIT Grads make extraordinary contributions to social change. The unfortunate down side of working for an org that has 4 program units doing critical work is that we need to find ways to equally support and promote each program given limited (non-profit) resources. As you rightly point out, thats a tough challenge.
However, please check out this months enews (coming soon to an inbox near you.) The focus of the enews is on WL’s work on-the-ground, focusing on development w/ its community-based approach. The Alumni and their Impact section features only SIT Grad alums…alums doing the critical on-the-ground work that makes this organization what it is. SIT Grad alumni are prime examples of WL putting its beliefs into action and making a difference. They do make this org incredibly unique and we need to continue to feature Grad alums and their efforts. No question about it.
May 13, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Hi Jess,
You’re definitely right, this was an oversight on our part and had mostly to do with a fast turnaround editing job by our production company who was focused more on making the 5 minute cut-off, rather than presenting the breadth of our organization. If you noticed, they also didn’t include any coverage of our international development programs, which comprise half of World Learning’s work! We are planning to replace this video with a two-part version of the 15-minute original film, which does include footage from interviews with our graduate students and international development program staff. We definitely view all program areas of World Learning equally, and I think it is the strength and uniqueness of each or our programs that makes this organization such a fascinating place to learn from and work for.
May 19, 2008 at 8:53 am
Thanks for the replies, ladies (Boston’s great, btw)!
I appreciate your comment, Michaela, as the WLID work is broadly recognized as incredibly important and serves as many NGOs’ informational gateway, if you will, into all the organization does to facilitate social change. During my time there we didn’t have enough interaction with that arm of the organization and I especially appreciate the talk of SIT’s (grad students) as a feeder for WLID, absolute common sense. As a grad alum and former employee, I’m heartened to know that this will be replaced with a video that respects all branches of the organization for which I and so many have a fierce, complicated love (especially now). The work of WL will always be important and challenging, yet we have to bear in mind that all branches depends upon one another.
May 22, 2008 at 9:40 am
The project is a great idea, also I dont like the camera focus. I guess is up to the director. However, I also miss the graduate studnets. What makes us unique is no longer the homestay, many other organization have been doing that, too. However, no other organization includes a graduate institue. I still dont understand the name replcaement for what has had an excellent reputation SIT. I would be very interested in seeing the longer version of the video. I would like to use it in a company viewing.