'Shooters'
Young People's Film Project
This film-making project is process-led, the main objectives
being to provide a vehicle for empowerment and self-expression
and to develop self-confidence and opportunities for growth
and work for each of the young people involved. They have
full editorial control of the film/s. Spirit Aid completed
the pilot project in Drumchapel, Glasgow in autumn 2003,
introducing them to video arts communication, producing
5 short videos - written, devised, acted and produced
by the young people themselves and supported by professionals
from the world of TV and film. The films were showcased
during 2003's Festival of Peace and will be used as a
training tool for Glasgow City Council's Youth Services
highlighting the issues they face. Shooters secured funding
for a further two projects, one in Sighthill and the other
in North Glasgow, a fireworks safety tool for schools
has just been completed commissioned by the Fire Service.
A film about home safety is also planned for the near
future. Spirit Aid are at present developing a 3-year
project plan to include a youth film festival and youth
conference as a platform for having their voices heard.
The young people have the choice to get involved in other
areas of work with Spirit Aid.
Kosovo
In partnership with Glasgow the Caring City Charity, Spirit
Aid renovated 2 primary schools, rebuilt a community house
in the Slivovo Valley and took aid into Plemintina Refugee
camp, two orphanages and a children's hospital.
Children
of the Rubble Campaign.
In November 2002, this campaign was launched to provide
humanitarian relief aid to the children of Nahareen, an
area in the northeast of Afghanistan. David Hayman took
medical aid into the mountain villages where they had
received no medical attention for 24 years and the kids
were dying. In 2004,
a Spirit Aid documentary on the plight of these children
was shown on the Community Channel and they hope to get
the film onto terrestrial channels in 2005. David returned
to the country in December 2003 to distribute £15,500
raised since February on clothes, food, medical supplies
etc. The Glasgow Herald featured David's diary after the
trip and Spirit Aid have funded the purchase and upkeep
of two mobile ambulances to sustain the delivery of medical
aid to the area and expect the next trip to take place
at the end of January this year.
Educational
Aid
Part of the mission is to provide educational aid to as
many schools as possible in the Baghlan Province, Afghanistan
where there is a desperate need for even the most basic
tools. Spirit Aid is raising funds to provide them with
computers, stationery, etc. On David's last trip, he bought
250 chairs so that the children do not have to spend their
whole day on the floor in freezing conditions. They were
delighted.
Flourmill
and Well
The refugee processing area in the town of Puli-Khumri,
Afghanistan is set in the compound of a large local flourmill.
The management and work force go in daily, without pay.
Spirit Aid has raised $10,000 needed to repair the mill
and $3,000 to re-bore the fresh water well that was damaged
and poisoned in the war. It will bring welcome, sustainable
revenue to the town and re-boring the well will supply
fresh water to the population of 300,000. Work on these
has started already and David will capture this on camera
on his return visit next.
If
you would like more information on the work of Spirit
Aid or to get involved in some way, please contact the
office.
We
do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow
it from our children. Together we can make a difference.
