Bringing Tanzania Home
We’re almost into our last full week of post production in Austin, and boy has the time flown. As we add finishing touches to photos and written pieces, put together a few more video assemblies and prepare for the wrap party next Sunday, it’s becoming clear to everyone that August came way too soon. In about three weeks we’ll be back in Chapel Hill, sitting in classrooms, picking up part-time jobs and organizing everything that is a fall semester at college. But as we slowly submit ourselves to the back-to-school mentality, we know that our time with Students of the World won’t leave us.
In fact, if all goes according to plan, we might come across our work every day. The event planners have been communicating with their respective university representatives to find outlets for our work to be displayed back home. For UNC, the number of opportunities we have is tremendous, especially with the Gillings School of Global Public Health opening its Water Institute in October. Through the school, plans are in the works to show film vignettes at World AIDS Day, to contribute B-roll to the Water Institute film, and more. We’ve also contacted the Student Union and the FedEx Global Education Center, which have expressed interest in displaying our photos and videos for all to see.
This ties back into SOW’s mission to not only document social issues around the world, but also to educate those at home through the media we produce. We had an incredible experience, and now it’s our job to spread the word. Our work will also serve as a recruiting tool, helping us to find team members for next year’s team. Now Einoti’s story can be everyone’s, and the intersection between clean water and health will become apparent to our fellow students.
So although we’ll be back to the daily routine of school, we can rest easy knowing that we brought our work around full circle, beginning and ending our work in our university. The work will serve to teach, and will hopefully inspire next year’s SOW team to go above and beyond our efforts, doing their best to share stories of progress from around the world.
-Steven
