I am really honored that so many people – colleagues, friends, and total strangers – around the world have taken the time to vote for this project…
To vote, go to
http://nameyourdreamassignment.com/the-ideas/BarakaPhotos/shooting-without-guns/
This is the full project description
Summary:
Children in rural Afghanistan know what guns are – but most haven’t held a camera. I want to work with them to photograph life in the village and give the world a new view of Afghanistan. I chose a village where I’ve worked and know people.
Detailed description:
From an airplane, Afghanistan’s rugged mountains look uninhabitable. And from the viewpoint of news media from across the globe, images of violence and poverty dominate.
But tucked in the folds of Afghan mountains are thousands of villages, where people work, eat, play, and pray. Where children are coming to school as never before.
Although war has dominated Afghan life for three decades, the children today have a chance to live a stable life. Communication is a fundamental tool in bringing about peace and justice.
Story-telling is a traditional way of passing on information, and images are an immediate and powerful way to tell stories. “Shooting Without Guns” takes aim at conflict by putting photography tools in the hands of children. The project would help ordinary Afghans tell their own story through their own visual perspective.
In learning to use cameras, children will learn technology and connect to the larger world. Their images can allow us to see what our families have in common with their families – and through the blog, Afghan children can gain a personal connection with children in other places.
Although I would be taking photographs as part of the project, my photos would chiefly be instructional materials as I teach the children to take their own photographs. Together, all our photos would become documentation of the project, and I would act as a trainer, editor and mentor.
The children have a perspective on their homes, fields and streets that an outsider can never have. I choose to work with children so that they can grow up with an alternative meaning for the word “shoot” – so that they can all become shooters who add to life rather than take it away. Because most learning is shared within the household, the children can teach their older siblings and their parents as well.
A large portion of the project money would go to buying inexpensive digital cameras, computers, and a portable receiver for internet connection, and (since the village does not have regular electricity) a solar-power battery system to run them. I would train children and their teachers to use and maintain this equipment, so that the project would carry on after I leave.
The project is based in Mohammad Agha village in Logar province, southeast of Kabul, a strategic area both politically and militarily. I am confident that I can accomplish this project because of my experience in living and working in Afghanistan, and my personal contacts in this particular village.
As a journalist since 1980 and overseas trainer since 1996, I have worked with Afghans and people in 17 other countries so that they can tell their own stories. I have designed, managed and carried out extended projects for non-profit organizations.
My husband and I lived in Afghanistan from November 2002 to November 2004, and worked on several national projects to train Afghan journalists. We helped build the first independent national news agency, Pajhwok Afghan News (which in 2008 won the International Press Freedom Award), and I started an organization of Afghan journalism trainers. After leaving Afghanistan, we continued to work with Pajhwok and the trainers as they became fully Afghan organizations. We still advise and support them.
I also raise money for a girls’ school in Logar. The original school was attacked in 2003, and I covered the story with a group of journalists in training. I was very moved by the strong determination of people in the village, especially the little girls. So my family assisted them as they built a new school, and since I returned to the US in 2007 I’ve had fundraising sales and given talks about Afghanistan to help them.
“Shooting Without Guns” would, I hope, be a pilot project that could be replicated in other parts of Afghanistan and other countries as well. I would design and implement it with the idea of creating a model that others could use, complete with teaching materials and examples from this village.
