'Despite all the aid that has been sent to Africa, the continent has gone backwards. Why is it that if money can buy the necessities for life, pay for education and infrastructure, aid money has not delivered broad positive changes? Does money simply not work?' ? Sorious Samura
African journalist and Emmy Award winning film maker Sorious Samura has spent his life in search of answers to the many problems of Africa. His approach has sometimes been controversial and his methods extreme, but his reputation for the unflinching pursuit of truth regardless of its inconvenience has earned him respect across Africa and throughout the world. In February 2008 Sorious Samura and Storyhouse Films spent a month with AfriKids and its operations in Ghana investigating the effectiveness and impact of foreign based charities on the lives of African people.
'How to Make a Difference in Africa?' came about out of the desire of AfriKids' supporters to help communicate the organisation's methodology more widely and of Sorious Samura to tell, at last, a good news story from Africa. The film was funded by four of AfriKids' supporters and has been produced to the high independent journalistic standards of Sorious Samura's previous work.
Looking in depth at three of AfriKids' 21 projects and its ground breaking strategy to make AfriKids Ghana independent and the UK fundraising office redundant, the film examines how the bottom up approach can transform the impact of aid and make it truly sustainable. The result is a documentary film that impacts not only on the local area, but on Africa as a whole.
'I have watched the DVD and I found it both interesting and moving. What a wonderful project and how very thought provoking. The point that most surprised me was the fact that Afrikids is proposing to close itself down. Having thought about it however, it is both sensible and inevitable unless it is, by its own actions, to perpetuate the cycle of dependency. This more than anything struck me and you may be aware that I am myself a trustee of a charitable trust that performs a very similar function in Rajasthan with a very similar philosophy in all other respects than that one, and as a result I have challenged my fellow trustees that we should be giving more attention to making our efforts redundant.'
David Marriott, founding trustee of Khandel light
The documentary, which was launched in June 2008 to praise from the press and supporters across the world, can be purchased on DVD for private use only, at a charge of £5.00 for regular givers and £10.00 for everyone else, plus a £1.00 postage and packing charge for addresses in the UK. Postage and packaging for overseas addresses will be checked on a case by case basis.
The DVD can also be purcahsed with an educational licence for public use, at cost of £100.00, plus relevant postage and packing charges.
If you wish to purchase a copy of the DVD please contact Lissa Wallington at lissawallington@afrikids.org or call +44 (0) 20 7443 5113 for further details.
Preview the documentary (Youtube link - opens in new window)
See photos from the launch at Westbourne Studios (PDF - 1502Kb - opens in new window)
Listen to Sorious Samura's interview on the BBC World Service on Monday 16 June 2008
Listen to Sorious Samura's interivew on the Outlook programme on Wednesday 18 June 2008 here.
Read 'My week in Media' by Sorious Samura, The Independant. (PDF - 206Kb - opens in new window)
