See What’s Out There

We’re in India. Actually, I’m not. But our Executive Producer, Danny Alpert, is there with our top camera/sound crew. The trip is for the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and they will be traveling all around India to document AJWS’s work on the ground. This is the first of several trips that will also take us to Africa and Central America.

In India, almost two years after the tsunami hit, there is still rebuilding to do. Not just rebuilding of property, but social and community building as well. And while AJWS has responded to the tsunami through support of long-term rebuilding efforts, their mission is much broader than disaster response. AJWS works in other parts of India, helping empower women and fighting poverty. They make grants to support grassroots programs and they have a well-developed volunteer corp that places senior professionals in NGOs for 3-12 months. The combination of money and skill multiplies the impact of either alone. AJWS also knows that advocacy and education are important for social change – there is only so much you can do with only so much grant money. AJWS is advocating for action both in the US and abroad to address the kinds of structural or legal issues only government action can solve. (For example, they are leading the way to pressure the UN and US on Darfur.)

So, our office has been abuzz with activity in preparation for the trip and now we are waiting for the first reports from the team on the ground. I hope we will be able to upload some short raw footage to the blog here while they are still in India.

Here’s some samples from the itinerary. Go to the AJWS site to learn more about their work in these places.

Tamil Nadu
25th
Late night arrival in Chennai. Stay at airport hotel

26th
Morning: Fly to Tiruvananthapuram,
Afternoon: drive to Nagercoil

27th
Location: Nagercoil

Setting: teaching tribal nursing students.
Classroom setting teaching English
Film interview with volunteers at end of day

28th
Morning: Drive to Thirukadayur (5-6 hours) Arrive @ 1pm

General Notes about work in Thirukadayur
- Peak of Monsoon season, it is going to be raining for the majority of the time we are in the Tamil region.

29th
Morning: ROSE – disaster response drill #1
- Actual Drill takes 30- 45 min
- 5 groups to follow (warning group, evacuation group, first aid group)

Setting: Oceanside, 50-60 people. Lots of motion, chaos – people carrying stretchers, running back and forth from the ocean, sitting in first aid section, etc.

30th
Morning: ROSE
Afternoon: Drive to Chennai (5hrs.)

1st
Early morning – drive to Chennai airport
Fly to Bombay
Arrive in Bombay at 11pm

Maharashtra at 2pm
Full sun 7-10am - 5pm

Morning: Udaan (10-3)
Setting: Discussion with support group members, interview about HIV status…
Late Afternoon: Fly to Vadodara leave at 3:30 flight at 5pm arrive 7pm
- World Aids Day

This entry was posted on Monday, November 27th, 2006 at 9:53 am and is filed under Video, Nonprofits, ajws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.