Final Cut for CGI

Sehgal Foundation Final Video- Clinton Global Initiative Conference from UT 2009 on Vimeo.

Contribution

Contribution from UT 2009 on Vimeo.

Anjali Makhija - Director for IRRAD's Capacity Building touches on how a contribution may alter the lifestyle of the villagers.

Video by Juan Elizondo and John Fitch

seechangenow.org/2009/india

Day 20 - Governance IRRAD

Day 20 - Governance IRRAD from UT 2009 on Vimeo.

A meeting was held with Foundation leaders and delegates from surrounding villages to discuss the process of interventions the foundation has implemented. The meeting was held at the Sehgal Foundation's community center in Mewat. Anjali Makhija - Director for IRRAD's Capacity Building touches on how governance training can alter the lifestyle of the villagers.

Video by Juan Elizondo and John Fitch

seechangenow.org/2009/india

Mubina

Mubina is one of the daughters we have been documenting for the short film. Her highest level of education is that of the standard 10th grade and at the age of 18 she still has hopes of completing her education. She willing stopped going to school so that she may help with the family. Her day starts around 4am and her daily chores are milking the cows, cooking, fetching water, and other random things.

We asked her about the difference in routine between males and females of her age. She stated that most males wake up late, roam the streets and do nothing. In addition, the boys are loved more from their family. Also, her education came to a stop when asked, but males can study to whatever level they please. 

She expressed once the foundation came into the village more families are sending their children off to school and more equality between males and females is progressing. Mubina also talked about a girl who was successful with the education program the foundation has for students so that they may learn how to read and write. For example they have computer programs that teach girls how to read.

Mubina expressed that her friend was able to find a job once she completed the program. 

Mubina stressed the foundation has done many things for her family and that the community has prospered from their interventions. She stressed that their main needs are clean water, improvement of schools and better roads. From what I have witness water management is a big issue and wells have dried up. In a previous post I think I might have mention that school children lack drinking water for the entire day til they return home. 

Students of the World

Photo by Megan Peyton

From left to right starting from the top: 

Juan Elizondo - Videographer and Photographer 

Mia Avramescu - Journalist

Rachel Levi - Producer

Georgia Dealey - Journalist

John Fitch - Videographer 

Megan Peyton - Photographer and Producer

Below is a link to Students of the Worlds website SeeChaneNow.org

http://www.seechangenow.org/

You will be able to read blogs and see photos from other teams across the nation who are currently station in Africa and Asia.

Below is the link to our UT's team page.

http://www.seechangenow.org/2009/india

Missing in Action

Once again I have been missing in action for days. The good news, we are done with production! On our final day of filming  the other videographer fell ill with Delhi Belly which is when you stomach reacts different to the food here in India. Spices must have gotten the best of him and he wasn't able to film for 3 days. This is what happened to our photographer. I am so glad I am Mexican. I grew up with a father who would drown our food in salsa. He used it as a sauce rather then an "add on" to a taco. The spices here are very mild compared to my father's cooking. So as of now Georgia and I stay strong! No sickness! The next day we left for the village at 4:30 am and I did the filming alone, but had help booming from other team members. I didn't get to take photos the final day we left, but got some real good video. I filmed the mother making her daily bread which are like tortillas and filmed other daily activities the average family does. 

We also gave the family gifts such as blankets and cups for the house. For the children of the village we gave them a soccer ball, frisbees, crackers, candy, supplies for the school and much more. It was nice being able to give the children gifts, but we felt bad once there was candy wrappers scattered on the ground.

After a long stay in India, I have experienced a lot. I have done countless comparing and contrasting with my personal life in the united states  and that of my parents' roots. I haven't been to Mexico in a while and have decided I am going to live in Mexico for at least a month or two before I graduate from UT. I want to catch up with my spanish and journey back to a place where I wish I could have spent long summers with my grandparents. My older sisters got to spend summers and even came back not knowing any English. They forgot, lol. I have been thinking of taking photos and making a short documentary consisting of my family's memories about their stay in the little house in Mexico. I might not have my grandparents, but the house still stands and the memories still exist. It is time to converse them.

In addition, we found out the other day that a US man was arrested in India. He was trying to board a plane to the US with a loaded gun. Anyways, the point is that he was on the same plane when we flew into india and he had the gun as well. Yikes!

They had a photo up, but below is a link to one of the many stories on the net.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/US-national-with-loaded-gun-held-at-Chennai-airport/articleshow/4646729.cms

The past few days.

I haven't updated for a while because I have been real busy with production. Everybody except John, Georgia and I have been sick. Everybody has either overheated, thrown up or has gotten the runs. I have been taking imodium for the hell of it. Once the crew starts talking about they are feeling sick I bust out with my meds. The last thing I want to do is get sick so I have been taking it for precaution. These past few days I have been taking photos and filming, because the photographer had fell ill. Glad I can depend on John to film.

We finally got to meet the family. We have done a number of interviews for the film as well. We interviewed the leader of the village and he too thought I was indian. We have also interviewed the son and father of the family we will be documenting. Tomorrow we will be filming the daughter and mother. The family is the size of ten. They have a total of nine kids, but one has passed away from cancer. When we first met the family we didn't film, but instead sat with them so that we may get to know each other. When we asked the father if he had any questions for us. He told us he doesn't know what to ask because he doesn't know anything of the place we come from. He said he only knows about where he lives. So instead he asked what kind of work our parents did. 

When interviewing the father we found out some really sad information. For instance, before they didn't have places to use the restroom so they use to have open defecation. However, the women use to have to hold it. They were only allowed to use it in the early mornings before everyone awoke and in the late evenings so that no one may see them. However, now that the foundation has come in and  put in a number of toilets women are now able to use the restroom during the day. 

Below is a photo of one of the daughters getting a cow ready for a bath.

The father also understands that education is the key to everything. He said if people were educated there would be no war and that once people become educated they realize that war and terrorism is the not the answer. The man spoke words of wisdom, but I still found it odd that his wife was out working all day while he sat inside reading the paper and smoking his hookah.

In addition, some stats we found out from the foundation was the 1 in 3 women have some form of STD. However, the foundation is not able to find out what form of STDs are present in the community. The religion does not allow for them to be tested. Instead, the women complain about a "white discharge" and are given medication and are never heard from again. Also, women didn't protect themselves during their cycles.

Here is a little insert about the area we are documenting provided by the foundation.

"Mewat takes its name from the Meos, a Moslem peasant caste that converted from Hinduism to Islam during the 16th century. It is a district in the state of Haryana. it continues to live in a backwardness years after India's independence. The area lags behind the rest of Haryana on almost all development indicators. "

We also visited a village that is in poor condition so that we may contrast it with the Notki village in the film (which is the village our family lives). The village lacks clean water, a proper educational environment, a place for women to give birth, restrooms, clean streets and the list goes on. What amazed me the most  was the amount of trash everywhere. It was really unclean. At one point I saw the skeletal remains of an animal's jaw in the middle of a walkway as well as a number of cow droppings.

Below is a photo of a hospital the government established, but is now forgotten. 

I didn't get to film the village, only interviews. I had to take photos because the photographer fell ill. However, there was noting pleasant in this village. We didn't get what we wanted out of film and photos because the entire village was following us. For instance, every time I tired to take a photo a child will pop out in front of my camera and the same went for John. 

We got some media that will work, but we didn't get what we really wanted such as the natural environment of the village. Also, John almost fell into a well and died. We had to climb and leap on top of a well. As I went first John followed, but I landed on an area where there was much cement and as for John his feet landed right near the rim.

I didn't even look down to take this photo. I was too scared that a child may press against me and push me down the well by accident. They were pretty aggressive, I didn't let them know that I can preview photos in back of my camera as I usually do. There was too many of them.

Til next time!

:  )

Day 6 and 7: Production

So for the past few days we have been focusing on production and the way we want the film to swing. We have decided to focus on a single family and tie the programs the Sehgal Foundation implements such as water management, education and income enhancement. We will meet our family tomorrow in the village, but no photos or video will be taken so that our team and family can get comfortable with each other. 

I want to clarify some things on what type of documentary we will be producing.

 This is some info I pulled from the website and added in:

Students of the World (SOW) sends university teams to developing areas, where they study organizations affecting change and document this change through film, writing, and photography. We are working with the Clinton Global Initiative. Together with CGI, we select NGO partners who have made a CGI commitment to provide practical and innovative solutions to the world's most pressing problems. Returning home, they use this work to educate their university communities and support their partnered organizations. Our ultimate purpose  is to create media that spotlights our NGO partners and leverage that media to raise awareness and funds. Our final product will be a concise 5 minute documentary that shows our foundation's CGI commitment. In addition, if possible John and I we will make a longer documentary that is around 12 minutes.

Day 5: Temples

Today we visited the Chattarpur Temple and it was beautiful. I could not take photos while in the temple, only outside. The temples are really detailed. The entire place was like a city of temples as if you were somewhere else. My roommate John describes it as a heaven and it really was a heaven, it was really wonderful. 

We had to take off our shoes and while walking inside the city of temples are feet became hot from the sun's rays hitting the floor. So we were rushing to enter the temples. Inside there were life size Hindu gods with the skin of gold. It was awesome. The thrones had extravagant  details and the gods were dressed beautifully.  Too bad I couldn't take photos to show you.  : (

There was a huge monkey godlike figure named Hanuman in the middle of the city. It was awesome. The mother god also had a detailed bedroom. It was as if the gods sit in their throne waiting to become alive. I really felt calm and peace in the city of temples. The contrast to the crazy city life is amazing that is just a few feet away. 

We also visited  another site which was Qutb Minar and it was an area that was in ruins. I love walking in the past. I love to imagine the past and how wonderful and peaceful it must have been during the time when the civilization was in its prime. The site is notable for being one of the earliest and most prominent examples if indo-Islamic architecture. The site was destroyed and the stones used to build other sites.  The tower has so much details, it's amazing. 

We also visited a  Sai Baba Temple who was a holy man in India. Below are photos from the temple. Our driver took us to the temple because he likes Baba and Baba has helped him through his hardships. Our driver is a very nice man who is always joyful and makes our stay so pleasant. 

Day 4: India

On the way to the village we saw the remains of a crash. These trucks are jam packed with people and I hope no one was hurt. I feel bad for the person who owned this vehicle. Especially, if it was a source of income. 

It turns out that the villagers get paid once a month. My first thought was how would they buy the things they want or need. Americans buy things all the time. Getting paid once a month I would assume that would make the villagers more conservative and less materialistic. Americans can't wait for "pay day."  

Today we visited a community center the foundation established. Jay the Executive Director met with group leaders appointed by villages to represent their community. The foundation touches around 17 villages with a number of resources such as water management, income enhancement, alternative energy and education for women. Mawat is the area the foundation works in and there is 503 villages. The organization works with 17 villages that are spread throughout Mawat for a period of four years in hopes to create a ripple of effect throughout the area. After the four years they move to the next and leave the village with the responsibility to manage and continue with what the foundation has implemented for them. The idea is that it is their responsibility not the foundation and if they want to succeed they cannot rely on outsiders to come in and fix things, it is up to them to work together. This is the main philosophy of the foundation with the programs they implement throughout the villages. They are not a charity, but rather someone they can work together with to better their community. 

The group talked about a number of things they are facing with their villages. They talked about leadership skills and how to improve the communication among themselves so that they may improve their communities. For instance they were encourage to listen to concerns and to encourage others when they fail rather blame.

The leaders also shared success stories of people from their villages such as a young girl who could not read, write or even spell her own name. She learned through the foundation's program and is now able to spell her name, write poems and short stories.

We also found a potential subject for our documentary and the team is excited.

After the meeting we headed to  Delhi for some shopping. We also got to ride some elephants. It cost 100 rupees, so two American dollars. They tried to get 35 American dollars out of us for each person, but we told them no and we both split our ways. However, they called us back to ride. At first, I didn't want to ride an elephant because I have seen a number of documentaries about elephants losing it and killing people. So I was nervous. However, I manage to get on the elephant. To get on you have to step on the animal.  As I step on the elephant I felt that it was wrong. The ride was not enjoyable, I just didn't feel right. I am not a PITA freak, I eat meat. I just didn't feel it was right. Anyways, to make it even worse one of the elephants had some kind of skin infection. 

Also, they are a number of people working the main strip. Once we got out of the car people were trying to sell us postcards, and hustle a monkey dancing as well as charming a snake. It was neat, but not enjoyable because people just surrounded us. It wasn't as if I was walking down the strip to witness the attractions. The photos above is of the Rashtrapati Bhavan which is the official residence of the President of India and the photos of the elephants is also on the same strip.

We got to stop at a number of shops and bargain for prices. I took some money out of the ATM, but what I found odd was that the ATM gives you 30 secs to get your money or it will take it back. As I was reading that for 10 secs, I didn't notice my money was already extended out of the machine for me to get. If I waited a bit longer, it would have taken it.

Also, during the market I was asked to buy a map of India. I wasn't interested and told the guy no. After I told him no for about a second time he asked me in a creepy India raspy voice, "do you want some marijuana, do you want some hash?" I looked at him and he then looks at Megan the photographer and says again in a creepy tone, "buy some for your friend." I just ignored him. In India you get put in jail for smoking marijuana. The guy, was just creepy.

Day 3: Schools

Today we visited two schools. There were a number of small children who were excited to have us. Once we started taking photos they began playing with us. 

The first school we visited had 327 students which 150 are young girls. They learn reading, writing, the English alphabet, math and other subjects in standard education. The administrators hope that one day they will have all of the young girls in the village enrolled.  

The cost the government pays for the students to attend school is 225 rupees per student which is about 5 dollars each. I really was surprised how cheap it was, but as well as how many still don't have an education. The school has a shortage of teachers and textbooks. 

The second school we visited  I was surprised that they were reading about Abraham Lincoln. I wonder what they would think if they were told that the US education really doesn't have a lesson plain about Indian leaders. I can't really remember studying any.

The foundation has helped better the physical appearance of the school such as fresh paint, restrooms, and they have added to the structure of the school so that the students may have a better learning environment such as a water tank.

When comparing and contrasting the education of the US urban poor 

(well at least from my personal experience) with the rural poor in India I thought of it to be funny that there is laws in the US that make children attend school and many rather not attend. However, in India their education is something their parents value the most. Two countries with poverty, but both have different values. I know from experience the issue is complex and many urban poor do care about their education, but some do not. This is also one of the reasons why I go back to my old high school to talk to students about seeking an education. The other day in the village a man asked if the states had programs that will send poor people from our country to visit their village because only rich people seem to visit. I think that is a wise decision.

Day 2: Ghagas

Production:

For the first week of our stay we are getting a feel of the locals and of the foundation. No actual documentary work will take place this week. As a team we find it very disrespectful to go into these villages full blast with cameras and start documenting without knowing the individuals who we will be working with. Also, many of the villagers see us as outsiders. If we are not paired up with someone with the foundation they find it unwise to talk to us. 

On the road to Ghagas:

When we were heading to Ghagas I saw a number of things. There is so much trash on the streets that it piles up. Many children dig through the garbage as well as dogs. Children bath in unclean water and many run around with no clothes. Some children even use the restroom a few feet away from traffic. The area is developing and there is a lot of construction that adds to the piles of garbage. 

There are many little shops that sit next to the road.

In Ghagas:

We visited the village Ghagas to witness training on rural governance. The Sehgal Foundation trains villagers on government policies so that they may become active citizens in the government. It was a great learning experience. Tough it may seem like common sense to us Americans that in order for our government to work we must become active, but many of us can care less. The villagers here are deprive on information on how to impact their government. What the foundation does is train a number of people from different villages on polices and then those who have learned spread the word.

Also, the foundation pushes for women to become more active as well. For instance, in order for a village representative to attend these training sessions the village must first nominate a equal number of men and women or their application will be declined. One women said that the foundation gives her "hope" and that before many of them never left their home.

Now, they are more educated and able to do more things such as going to the market alone, before only men did such task. They also learn how to use their postal system and other government institutions which many of us Americans use in our daily lives. However, like I said before these villagers are not aware of what is outside their village and are deprive of their rights. A lot of this stuff may seem like common sense and stuff you read about, but actually seeing it in front of my eyes has shaped my understanding of life. Another women said that they are fighting for their rights so that they can better their lives for their children who may prosper. One said, "they are not only working for themselves, but for the community."