Actual workshop project reports 2012
Report Filmprojects and Filmworkshop Ayensudo
One important project of African Information Movement is the Movie Workshop. Each year it is organized and done by a German “Weltwärts” Volunteer, this time by Johannes Herden in Ayensudo and Kathrin Adam in Komenda.
Currently there are workshops in Junior High Schools in Komenda and Ayensudo, as well as an workshop to build up an school-independent AIM. – movie group, which should be self sustainable even without any volunteer.
The AIM. movie workshop and projects have various goals:
First of all it is important to mention that film is a powerful media, which is able to have much influence on life. If you have the skills of making a movie on your own it can help you in saying or spreading things in your community as for example social issues.
Therefore the main goal of the workshop is to teach theoretical and above all practical skills about how to shoot a movie on no-budget standard. In workshops twice a week lessons are done in the schools. Most times, theoretical aspects are afterwards practiced with a little video or even a short film.
Furthermore the critical aspects about media are discussed. The students also learn how to deal with the effect of propaganda, that films ore commercial videos can have, and to create a critical view on things coming in TV or watching in the internet.
Since the motto of African Information Movement is “education is our future” we see a lot of potential in the movie projects: Youth projects are great team experiences and a big chance to deal with different important topics on a total special way, because you can express them through video.
You are able to understand a bit of world through looking on it in a different angle, through the camera. The camera allows you to be more free, and look on things from outside and experience reality. Thus the movie projects are not only a chance to learn about video production but above all to learn about yourself, your social importance and the world.
In Ayensudo the students finished their documentary movie about their school. Afterwards theoretical aspects about the power and influence of media in society, politics and culture have been discussed with great enthusiasm of the students. Nowadays a music video is about to be created together with the music workshop. Till the finishing of the recordings the Ayensudo Movie Workshop is doing little short videos about social topics. The last weeks the group walked through Ayensudo with their camera to ask people about the increasing of food prices in the last months and its effect on the business and life of the people. For future times other videos are planned, especially taking topics like the millennium goals of United Nations, to also use video and film as a way to understand social structures and topics, and be part of it. In detail one future project is an international video together with Germany. Ghanaians will ask questions about what they don’t understand about Europe and the Western World into the camera; Germans will answer on these questions.
In Komenda, the students are currently doing with their own stories. They ask themselves the questions: What do I want to deal with in a movie? What are my goals in life? How can I present my life to others? What do I have to say?
Apart from this, two music videos have been shot in Komenda whereby almost al the production work had been done by the youth.
An external movie group has also been formed in Komenda. There we meet with older students in order to discuss the workshops at the schools and to talk about new projects.
The Theater Workshop
In 2011 two volunteers in Komenda and Ayensudo established a Theaterworkshop. The main topic is to get to know the basics about theatre and especially improvisation theatre. Playing theatre is a good possibility to express feelings and by taking different roles, enlarge the points of view and learn a lot about you. In addition, creativity, Spontanität and imagination are abilities, which are learned in the workshop.
The final of the workshop will be a performance, where the youth can show what they learned. In Ayensudo it will be a theatre play and in Komenda, in cooperation with the Musicworkshop, it will be a Musical.
The Environmental Workshop
One of Komenda‘s problems is environmental pollution and the missing of environmental consciousness.There is no waste disposal system, so the waste accumulates or is burnt, which causes toxic smoke. The AIM. Youth Club Environmental Project wants to contribute to solve that problem by strengthening the environmental consciousness in the community and introducing the youth to the importance of recycling. To realize this, there are regularly clean up campaigns, in which the youth dispose the waist in the town or at the beach. Another point of departure to develop environmental consciousness is to recycle plastic by reusing it to manufacture new products in the sewing workshop. In the future the workshop also wants to work together with Cyclos, a Recycling Enterprise which is located close to Komenda.
Another topic is to arrange our environment to make it more enjoyable. The students are taking care of the surrounding of the AIM. Training Centre by doing gardening works. After the ground is prepared, the Environment Workshop will plant grass, trees, flowers and vegetables and arrange it in a way that it will become a place to meet and do activities together.
The Sewing Workshop
Within the AIM. Youth Club Project for environmental consciousness, the idea was built up to start a sewing workshop, where especially polythene bags are used to manufacture new products. So in 2010, a group of Youth started with one sewing machine to sew little animals filled with the black polybags and various kinds of bags by using the pure water sachets.
In Combination with fabric waist donated by the seamstresses in Komenda, the youth produce cell phone bags, school bags, pencil cases/cosmetic bags, wallets, soft toys and hats.
As the AIM. Training Center will be opened soon, the sewing workshop will move there, what gives a higher number of Youth the possibility to take part. The products, manufactured by the Youth, will be sold in Komenda.
One aim of the sewing workshop project is to contribute to the development of environmental consciousness of the members and the community and to contribute to solve the waste problem.
san kimono’s music projekt
My project at two different schools ist he musikworkshop. In addition tot hat i have a theater workshop. We have fix dates during which we meet at the schools the members attend to where we have a workshop for about 1 hour.
In Komenda the workshop is at the following point:
The music- and theatre workshop are both joining forces for a musical. This musical will contain a lot of dances (because it seems that the members are having a lot of fun dancing). The main storyline is already written, but there is a lot of room for improvisation and new ideas of the actors, because we have done a lot of improvisational tasks beforehand and it worked out very nicely.
At the moment the theatre group is learning the salsa after we have done a lot of exercises to improvisation, speaking and acting and doing both in front of an audience, etc.
The music group had been doing singing practises, because they shall underline certain scenes with motional sounds or characterising tunes, etc. Now they have started with a sort of a crossover dance with a colourful mix of steps.
In Ayensudo the workshop is at the following point:
In Ayensudo the musik- and the movieworkshop have joined forces for a musicvideo. The story has been written by the members themselves and is now complete. The song has been composed and recorded (produced) in fanworksstudios.
The singing and the rap parts shall be performed (recorded) by the members. We will soon start to record some melodies to put it to the song. As soon as everything has been recorded, we will start shooting the movie (talkting about the locations, camera angles, choreographies, and so on).
In fanworks-studios (homestudio, which I founded, where people can record their tracks and get the produced or get tracks modified and renewed. This all is for free …)
On the long terms, alongside all the clients that are coming already, it shall be expanded in order to get more possibilities for more people. In the End, people shall be able to learn how to produce their own songs and more people shall have the opportunity of producing their tracks.
In addition to that, it coulb be possible to give motivated children guitar lessons and to create a band for those who are really motivated.
Alongside all that, I teach Salsa at Sacrobosco. It is also free of charge and open for everyone.
Report of Pilot First Aid Courses for JHS in KEEA in Komenda and Ayensudo
On Wednesday, 14th March, and Friday, 16th March 2012, two First Aid Courses have been organised by African Information Movement in cooperation with Ghana Health Service and Ghana Education Service for JHS in Ayensudo and Komenda. They were supposed to be pilot courses to find out about the feedback and the effect on this first aid knowledge. The final aim is to organise first aid courses in whole KEEA.
One of our volunteers, Johannes Herden, has worked in hospital in Germany for two years before coming to Ghana. Especially after the Maths and Sience JHS Inter School competition, where a lack of first aid knowledge has been recognized, the idea of organizing first aid courses for JHS in KEEA was raised.
A concept was developed, after that a “schoolambulance” – a group of first aid trained students – should be formed, which will be able to handle sicknesses, injuries and emergencies before sending the person to hospital.
A budget about 1000 GhanaCedis was raised by donators from Germany till now.
The program was scheduled from 9am in the morning to around 2pm in the afternoon. Five students and one teacher from each school have been invited to the workshop. Following Junior High Schools have attended the workshop so far:
– Ayensudo M/A
– Ayensudo Zion
– Ayensudo Islamic
– Komenda Aldersgate
– Komenda D/C A
– Komenda D/C B
– Komenda College Practice Primary ‘A’ & ‘B’
– Komenda Anglican JHS
Madame Mariato Seidu, the district chief nurse of KEEA, and Johannes Herden, volunteer of AIM, have done the teaching during the workshop. Following topics have been taught theoretically as well as practically:
– Importance of First Aid and its general rules
– Emergency action plans
o Unconsciousness / Recovery position
o Resuscitation
o Heart Attack
o Shock
o Bleedings
o Bone fractures
o Head injuries (only Komenda)
o Appendix infection
According to feedback from the students the workshop has been succesfull. A great interest has been shown by the students and they also performed well in practicing what they have just learned.
We, African Information Movement, see it as very important to spread first aid knowledge since it improves health conditions not only in the schools, but also outside in all day life, as for example car accidents or heart attacks. In case of emergency everyone can serve first aid. The person doesn’t need to be a doctor or a nurse, only little first aid knowledge is sufficient to preserve life and pretend death or worse effects of accidents or sicknesses. Finally this would also improve the general health situation in communities.
Therefore it is planed to continue with additional first aid courses in KEEA, so that finally the whole district and – if the budget allows it – also Komenda College of Education is served with first aid courses.
A healthy community can do more !!!
