(below in Spanish)

Last June, the Shoot4Change team formed by the photographer Davide Camesasca, the filmmaker Nicoló Bruna and the journalist Judit Figueras, spent 13 days in Namibia. The aim of their trip was to document the situation of children living in a village in the southeast of the country, Gochas.

 

During their stay, Davide, Nicoló and Judit carried out an audiovisual workshop addressed to the primary school students of Gochas. Throughout the day, the Shoot4Change team briefed the children on the basic concepts of photography and video, showing them examples of professional audiovisual and photographic samples.

 

Lastly, they conducted a practical exercise with the multiple digital cameras that had been collected before the trip. In this last assignment, different small groups were set up so that the students could learn how the camera works and how to use it properly. Once the practice was over, the children were given a photographic task about their day-to-day life in the community and they had to deliver it within three days.

 

The images that the kids portrayed reflected a harsh reality and difficult living conditions. Most of the children in Gochas live in an area called 'the location'. In this marginalized zone, the houses are shacks made of rubbish, plastics, wood and asbestos. These shanties have neither a tap nor access to electricity.

 

Like most Namibian villages, Gochas is split into two and sometimes three parts. The white population and the Basters (descendants of Dutch and indigenous people) live in the more wealthy sectors and in the 'location' resides the majority of the Nama ethnic population, which is the black community.

 

In Gochas, the Nama people still drag on a colonial and historical legacy marked by marginalization and racial separation. After Germany's defeat in World War I, the League of Nations handed over Namibia, then known as the German South West Africa and controlled by the Germans since 1840, for the benefit of the South African Union, which is now South Africa.

In 1948, the Afrikaners, an ethnic group of Dutch descent that arrived in Namibia after the country fell under South African hegemony, imposed an Apartheid system in South Africa and, therefore, also in the region of South-West Africa, the current Namibia. Apartheid, which means "separation" in Afrikaans, implanted a segregation system between different racial groups for the political benefit of the white population. Despite the fact that in 1966 the South West African People's Organization (Swapo), an insurgent guerrilla group, declared war on the South African regime and in 1990 proclaimed the country's independence, Namibia's black population remains economically disadvantaged in comparison to whites. In fact, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Namibia is the second most unequal country in the world in terms of its population’s wealth, only surpassed by its neighbour South Africa. 

Some of the child cases that Shoot4change team was able to screen had either dropped out of school or were at risk of doing so. Most of them are orphans and live with a family member who, in almost all cases, is addicted to alcohol. Alcoholism, due to a very high unemployment rate and the aftermath of colonialism, is the main problem affecting the Nama population and, consequently, the minors. The adults in charge of these children are no longer responsible under the effects of this substance and, in many cases, the kids do not have food, clean clothes and a minimum of hygiene.

 

Theopauline Goliath, the former principal of the primary school in Gochas, showed the situation of the children who were in a more critical situation. She is the one who invited Shoot4Change to travel to Gochas and asked them help in the construction of a shelter that would give the children a safe home with a healthy environment.

 

One of the most worrying stories was Flora's, a 10-year-old girl who lost her parents, both affected by AIDS, and now lives with an adult couple (59 and 60 years old) who do not work and spend most of their time drinking in a shack that brews beer. Flora also lives with her younger sister, Michelle, and the two grandchildren of the couple she lives with, whom she cares for, feeds and cleans. On weekends, she feeds the other children living in the district. With other children, she organizes groups to hunt birds, pluck them and roast them on the fire. According to Flora, she helps other children because she feels sorry for them. In addition, the child admits that she doesn't like living with her adoptive grandmother because when she drinks too much, she punishes her, beats her and insults her.

After the fieldwork, the three members of Shoot4Change now start their photographic, audiovisual and journalistic projects, in which they will capture the reality of the children who live in this Namibian village.

 

Shoot4Change does not forget its social mission and, therefore, the result of their efforts will be used to carry out a fundraising campaign aimed at improving the lives of these children. 

[catalan version below]

"Barcelona, The Other Side" is a collective work always in progress - of Team Shoot4Change Barcelona. This  multimedia, then, is just one example of this work.

Barcelona is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world. Each year, crowds come to visit the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's building, Picasso Museum, Camp Nou ... ramble down the Rambla, buy on Passeig de Gràcia, spend days sunbathing on the beaches and in the evening at any of the 10,000 bars and restaurants of the city. It is, in the words of the writer Eduardo Mendoza, a city of wonders.
But there is another side of Barcelona, dark, hidden to tourists.
It's time to visiting the other side of Barcelona. (Stephen Burgen/S4C Spain)

Voice over: Sarah Davison

Texts: Stephen Burgen, Elena Fernández, Eva Parey, Mingo Venero, Marco Ansaloni, Joan Alvado, Xavi Piera i David Suñol

Soundtrack is licensed under Creative Commons (www.freemusicarchive.org): Kai Engel, Dave Depper, Mascaras, Podington Bear

Video screen shots, timelapses and video editing: David Suñol

(spanish version below)

A team of photographers from Shoot 4 Change NGO reported a few months ago the work of the NGO Pallapupas, an organization of social performing arts that contributes to the humanization of hospital processes through humor and laughter.

The aim of the photographic project is to edit a charity calendar for 2016 including the photos showing the work of Pallapupas in hospitals.

During the 8th, 9th and 10th of September, Shoot 4 Change team went with Pallapupas actors to their performances at different health areas of the Parc Tauli Hospital in Sabadell: they took photographs during a visit of a child in the pediatric floor, also during the Blood draws and finally during a magnetic resonance imaging.

In each case, “the seriousness of the white coats” disappeared to become laughter and smiles.

Photographers from Shoot 4 Change also reported the preparation process of a child before entering the operating room, a pioneering service in Catalunya started by Pallapupas which the NGO is also offering in other Catalan hospitals. In fact, in Parc Tauli Hospital, health staff have claimed this service for a long time.

Editing a charity calendar has two main objectives, getting funding for the performing arts NGO and also expanding to a second day a week the work of Pallapupas in Parc Taulí Hospital.

Shoot 4 Change, as in other campaigns, donates its time and work for the cause of an NGO, in this case for Pallapupas.

This Christmas the calendar is available on the charity online shop of Pallapupas (the website is www.pallapupas.org) and also in El Corte Inglés and Parc Tauli hospital in Sabadell.

 

What does NGO Pallapupas do?

Pallapupas is a non-profit care association, composed by professional actors and actresses. It works to breathe life into people who need it, through humor and social performing arts. The organization works with hospitalized children and their families, with old people and people with mental illnesses (hospitalized or not) to increase their physical and emotional aspect. In hospitals,

Pallapupas contributes to the humanization of the hospital processes and also to empower the hospitalized people (as subjects) beyond their diseases.

 

Mar Carrera / S4C Barcelona