Filming Wild

Category: appeals | Date: May 28 2008 | By: filmingwild

We’ve had such a great response to our Appeal for DVD prizes for the kids in the environmental awareness competition, from our supporters both here on Wildlife Direct and on the SafariTalk forum. I know many of you visit both sites, and some are supporting us here and some there - a big THANK YOU to you all, as well as to those of you who made contributions directly via our main AEFF website.

Thanks to the earlier contributions made in April and the excellent response over the last 24 hours since our last post, we are now just $50 short of our target, in order to provide prizes for all the kids.

• Read the full story about the competition and our appeal for prizes here.

Tags: africa, animal, award, children, conservation, DVD, education, environment, film, kenya, wildlife

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Category: appeals | Date: May 27 2008 | By: filmingwild

I thought it was time for a quick update on the Appeal we launched for funding to cover the 150 educational DVDs to be used as prizes for the kids participating in the Environmental Awareness Competition. Several of you have already kindly sponsored a number of DVDs. We have also received support via our own website and from members of the Safaritalk forum.

We are now just $200 short of raising the total amount we need. Although this is not a huge amount of money, it is something we have to find over and above our regular annual budget. When the Giraffe Centre came to us requesting the donation of prizes, we knew it was important to help, because the Giraffe Center does such an amazing job, hosting thousands of children each year who not only get to see the giraffes close up but are exposed to a comprehensive conservation education program (which includes our films).

By the way, you can see some great photos taken at the Giraffe Center on Iregi Mwenja’s Bushmeat East Africa blog, right here on Wildlife Direct. This is the kind of experience the Giraffe Center gives to thousands of kids (and adults) each year - you can imagine, after experiencing this, how receptive people are to the conservation message! That is why we are happy to be able to work with the Giraffe Center to reinforce this message and bolster the amount of conservation education material available by making sure they have copies of all our films which they use as part of their conservation education program.

We’ll be there ourselves at the prize giving on June 6th, and will be sure to post some photos and a report about the event here…

If anyone is able to help us with the final $200 required to ensure all the kids receive their DVD prizes, we would be very grateful.

The 150 DVD prizes will comprise plus/minus 12 copies each of the 12 films AEFF currently has available.

Tags: africa, animal, award, children, conservation, DVD, education, environment, film, kenya, wildlife

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Category: completed films, distribution partners, film showings | Date: May 26 2008 | By: filmingwild

The effects of education are difficult to measure in specific terms, for in many ways the results of education are intangible - and yet we all know of its importance.

So where do we find proof that our educational films about diverse wildlife and environmental issues really do have resonance with our audiences, really do touch adults and children alike, really do make a lasting impression? Yes, there are surveys that confirm this statistically… But you really get a palpable sense of this when you watch our audiences as they watch our films. You can see it in their eyes and faces as they sit mesmerized by the images on screen, you can feel it in their excited discussions, based on their newfound knowledge, as the final shot fades into darkness…this is living proof of what our films can do.

Recently, we sent two sets of films to southern Tanzania; one set to the Iringa International School, the other to a conservation organization called Friends of Ruaha (FORS), who do an amazing job in and around the Ruaha ecosystem.

FORS use our films as educational tools which complement their own work. This is a good example of how our films can help other conservation organizations, by laying a foundation of knowledge and understanding amongst a wide range of people (both children and adults), which by enabling greater understanding of the issues and illustrating how people can benefit by adopting conservation initiatives, garners greater support for conservation projects.

But, enough from me - I would like to direct you to an account written by Alexander Klose in his blog. Alexander is a teacher at the Iringa International School, and his wife Anette works with Friends of Ruaha. Alexander’s account paints a vivid picture of the scene during a film showing to 300 people in a very remote rural corner of Tanzania, where there is no electricity, no TV, and where many of the people, though living close to the Ruaha National Park, have never seen a lion or an elephant…

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If you don’t have time to read the whole account, please just take a look at these few paragraphs, quoted from Alexander’s blog, which I think, speak for themselves:

The projector, laptop and speakers were hooked up to the battery of the FORS Land Rover, and the screen was the side of a whitewashed, thatch-roofed building. Three hundred or so people encircled the screen, children sitting on the ground in front, an elderly man in a white robe and white kofia [hat] given a chair of honor at the front of the crowd, the rest standing.

Our Tanzanian colleague stood up in front of the crowd to say “karibuni” [welcome] and to explain that the film shows are a part of FORS’ environmental education program - more than just an evening of entertainment. We showed two films in Kiswahili produced by the African Environmental Film Foundation, the first about the elephants of Kenya’s Tsavo National Park and the second about the recent drying of the Great Ruaha River. For people who’ve grown up without electricity, TV and movies, it was a spellbinding two hours, and for us, it was a joy to stand there with them and share in their reactions to the films.

“EEH, EEH, EEH!” uttered the villagers each time they saw a lion, hyena, buffalo, hippo or crocodile. “TSSSCH” a collective sucking of teeth signaled their disapproval whenever slain elephants appeared on the screen. “EEEEEEH!” a cry of amazement upon seeing the thousands of tusks collected by park rangers.

One of our teacher friends asked me, “Is there still poaching in Ruaha National Park?” Another asked me, “Do you have elephants in America?” A little girl in front of us exclaimed, “All the fish are DEAD…no good.” A man to our left saw the river sweep away earth and grass from the banks and said, “Erosion. Hmm.”

Contagious bursts of laughter accompanied scenes of a baby elephant being covered with a blanket by its keeper, an orange-headed agama lizard hopping bravely across rocks in the river, storks and herons stealing fish from the crocodiles. In such moments, the power of these film shows was evident.

Although these people live on the border of Ruaha, many of them have never had a chance to visit the park and see these animals. Whenever the smallest children saw a lion on the screen, they grabbed each other and pointed at the screen while saying excitedly, “Simba, Simba!”

• Read more Testimonials about the usefulness, effects and impact of AEFF’s educational films…

Tags: adults, africa, animal, audience, children, conservation, DVD, education, environment, film, rural, tanzania, wildlife

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