Project Revival!

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Hello, if you’re reading this, you are looking at our newly reviving project so thank you very much. We thought we ought to help explain what this project is all about so that you can all be aware of just how awesome you could help us make it!

The overall aim will be to have a fully working website that allows young people the world over to ask any question they can imagine about other people’s cultures. These questions will then be able to be answered by personal video responses from other young people. More than this, we aim to produce a project pack that can be used as a resource in youth groups, schools and organisations to facilitate much needed honest discussions about cultural differences. We want to give honesty a chance and let difficult questions be asked, discussed and responded to by the people they matter to the most – the next generation!

WELCOME TO STAGE ONE: THE PROJECT NAME!

We would like this project to have a name that reflects what it is aimed at doing and something that can attract people to engage with and take part in the project. We would like you to submit any suggestions that you have. Here are a few ideas to start off the discussion:

BREAKING THE BARRIER
CURIOUS ABOUT CULTURE
HONEST ANSWER

We’re Getting Bigger!

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The Global Youth Video Project has been run by volunteers using their own money for the last two years and now we’re pushing to raise funds to make the project bigger and better!

We’ve already raised £130 through a raffle supported by independent and fair trade business’s and now two of the trustees are doing a sponsored Yogathon to get better filming equipment so that we can improve the quality of the videos.

The Global Youth Video Project will be filming in the areas surrounding Leeds and Manchester in December 2013 with the funds we raise. If you are a group of young people or you want to get a group of young people involved in the project contact Kat Louis at kat.louis@btinternet.com.

We’ll keep you updated on our fundraising efforts and hope to bring you new footage soon!

Project update

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The Global Youth Video Project has returned to the UK for an update period. We’ll be processing video’s and developing the voluntary work that has been carried out on the project travels. If you are interested in joining the project then please get in touch. We are looking for group members with useful skills and/or enthusiasm. Whether you’re a regular traveller, film novice or just good at organising we’d like to hear from you!

For more info email: kat.louis@btinternet.com

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year from the Global Youth Video Project.

Thanks to everyone that has taken part in the Global Youth Video Project in the UK, The Gambia, Nigeria and Ghana! You have all been amazing and we are working on new footage for March 2012.

All the best for the New Year!

One Month in Ghana

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The Global Youth Video Project (GYVP) has now been in Ghana for a month. In the last week we have been filming in Ejura in the Ashanti region of Ghana. It takes roughly 10 hours to get from Busua to Ejura through a series of shared taxis, bus and tro-tro’s (tro-tro’s are private minibus vehicles and normally if you can fit in you can get on). It was definitely a worthwhile trip. GYVP partnered up with the Integrated Rural Education for Change (IREC) organisation who helped us to film with two of the local schools. IREC now has a new facebook page to link its volunteers and supporters so please go to facebook, search: Integrated Rural Education for Change, and “like” their page to give them support. We also worked with IREC to help address the sustainability of their projects. IREC is focusing on two main projects, one is a women’s project that works to help women to earn a living wage and the second is a HIV/AIDS peer education project currently running in the local schools. However, they are chronically underfunded. We want to wish them success with the funding that they are hoping to find in the future and we will be continuing to help look for better funding streams.

Weather:

As appose to the colder climates in the world, the Ghanaian climate is hot with temperatures around 37 degrees Celsius during the day. This is in stark contrast to the news stories we keep seeing about sub-zero temperatures elsewhere. In the last week it feels like there has been an influx of holidaymakers to the area as many people are gearing up for a sunny Christmas.

Busua Youth Club raises over ¢350

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IIn the weeks before working with the Integrated Rural Education for Change organisation the Global Youth Video Project (GYVP) was working with Black Star Development Projects in Busua, Ghana. In particular GYVP had been (and is still) working with the Busua Youth Club project to help them improve their sustainability and access to funds. The Busua Youth Club is a self-organised group of local young people who wish to improve their town and have been doing this successfully for a number of months. GYVP worked with the Busua Youth Club to help them put together two proposals for funding and organise a bucket collection at the Asabaako music festival where the whole group organised clean up activities. From the proposals and the bucket collection we have managed to raise over ¢350 and are now working to put in place a sustainable action plan to ensure that the club continues. Here’s more about the Busua Youth Club:

Busua Youth Club Mission

To improve the lives of people living in, and visiting, Busua through improving the environment, community, economic situation and health of local residents.

Objectives

  1. To improve the cleanliness of the town by removing rubbish and educating local residents on managing their waste.
  2. To train local residents to bring skills back to the community to develop tourism in Busua and promote economic growth.
  3. To support vulnerable people in the community including people who are sick, orphaned or unable to find work.
  4. To provide a voice for young people in the community.

Current Activities of BYC

  • Organizing regular clean ups of the town
  • Running keep fit session in the community for young people
  • Helping to build the Busua Tourism Center
  • Planning environmental activities for the yearly Busua festival – Asabaako
  • Regular meetings of young people to forward the aims of the BYC

If you are looking for a conscientious volunteer placement that has a focus on sustainability and eco-tourism, as well as good opportunities to socialise, this is most definitely the place for you. There are not many people in Busua that don’t extend their stay!

Integrated Rural Education for Change

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This week, in a change of programme, the Global Youth Video Project is working with Integrated Rural Education for Change in Kumasi, Ghana. We will be joining a rural HIV/AIDS project to volunteer and to continue the making of new films to answer your cultural questions. Videos from Nigeria are still being edited and will be uploaded Jan/Feb.

If you have more questions to ask click here to go to the questions page or to see some of the videos done already go to the videos section.

Nigeria to Ghana

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The flight may only take 45 minutes but I feel like I’m a world away. Lagos, Nigeria thrives on a hectic energy, everything is fast and you live fast or die. However, life expectancy in the city is substantially less than the surrounding rural areas and this reflects the toll that this lifestyle takes. Lagos is developing but it is being held back by its infrastructure. Lack of electrical power and drivable roads make starting a business hard and the few that do make it seem to give little back in the way of taxes or assistance to their communities. Whilst there are many parallels to this in Europe there are few places where you can see such poverty contrasted against such wealth. The gap between the classes of society in Nigeria is ever present especially when you can see the shantytowns from the hotels that charge a basic rate of £240 per night. Corruption also plays such a pivotal roll in society that it will take many years before the money given to the government actually gets to the communities that need it. However, most of the people I met in Nigeria are proud of their country and I heard many times that Nigeria is a land where you can make it if you try.

I’ve not been in Ghana long enough to even begin to form an idea about the infrastructure here but I can already see some stark differences. When I arrived in the city of Accra, which has a central airport, I was instantly hit by a better quality of air. When travelling along the roads I found myself relaxing as the cars followed the road markings and drove safely as appose to the highly reckless driving that is prevalent in Lagos. Whilst most of the Ghanaian’s I have met complain about the Accra traffic the roads still resemble the quieter days of Lagos driving.

From Accra the project travelled west to Busua to link with the Black Star Development Projects Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). After sitting for hours in the Tro-Tro’s (local shared transport) Busua is a welcome relief. Busua sits in a wonderful location, it has a constant sea breeze and an open and relaxed atmosphere. Upon arrival Ebenezer the Volunteer Coordinator in training met the Global Youth Video Project. From the office we headed straight to the surf shop on the beach where I met Tabitha the Senior Volunteer Coordinator. If you plan on volunteering with Black Star you can be assured of a fantastic welcome. All of the staff here are brilliant and have a strong commitment to ensuring that responsible tourism and sustainability is central to their role. After Tabitha and Ebenezer ran through some of the volunteering induction I was taken to my accommodation so I could freshen up and return to learn more about the Black Star NGO. When I returned the power was still off so we continued to talk about the role of the NGO and the local customs and acceptable behaviours for tourists and visitors.

Paulo, Ebenezer and Tabitha

Paulo, Ebenezer and Tabitha outside the Black Star Development NGO