The Payoff
Last night we had our first official village screening. In fact, it's the only one that Lindsay and I will attend, as we are leaving on an overnight train for Bombay this evening.

We traveled in the ANANDI jeep with our students to a nearby, and extremely poor, shepherd community of 500 people, where we screened the first official production of our students, who, just short of three months since this project began, I can now proudly call filmmakers.

At 11PM, over 100 villagers gathered at one of the few houses with electricity to watch "Umang Video Magazine, Volume #1." The issue was Food Security. The purpose of this video magazine was to:

1) Define Food Security (or rather, Food Insecurity)

2) Make people aware of what they need to have in order to define the situation of their families as "good." This means not only a healthy diet, but also a good community with proper educational facilities.

3) Inform them of their rights as Indian citizens. Nearly all those in this community are illiterate, which leaves them most vulnerable to corrupt government officials. For example, if you are poor, you, by law, must be issued a BPL (Below Poverty Level) card. With a BPL card, one can go to a government-owned Fair Price Shop where they can buy grains and cooking kerosene at lower costs. This shop, also by law, is required to remain open for 26 days out of the month.

4) Encourage them to speak out and demand their rights if they see that they are being mistreated by those who, by law, are supposed to help and protect them.

The group of villagers sat in silence as we played the 25-minute video. The screening was followed by a heated discussion. People were outraged to find out that their Fair Price Shop was required to stay open for 26 days a month--it turns out that the one closest to their village is usually only open 3-5 days per month! (Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon story.) If times are tough, and one doesn't happen to have money during those 3-5 days, they are simply out of luck. Their family goes hungry for the month.

The post-screening discussion went on for nearly two hours. Some people seemed inspired to action. Others had too much pride to admit that they were poor and hungry. "This is not our situation," some said. This is simply not true. Our NGO knows, for a fact, that nearly everyone in this community is malnourished. It's just too difficult for some people to admit that they need help.

This is the end. Tonight Lindsay and I leave Gujarat and the another video magazine will begin production almost immediately. The next issue is "Domestic Violence," and it is due to come out in four months. In the meantime, our current Food Security Video Magazine will be shown in villages across the region. I see so much potential for this to inspire people to speak out for their rights. I hope and believe that it will work.

If you are interested in helping sustain this video magazine,
you can donate money or your used digital still or video camera equipment to:

www.anandiindia.org

(P.S. Thanks to those who have already donated. It's made a huge impact already.)

-Jenny Jo-