No Place Like Home: A Youth Video Exchange Project:
According to FEMA, over 362,000 people were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Over a year and a half after the hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast, over 60,000 temporary housing units are still being occupied. The trauma of the hurricanes and the subsequent stress experienced by the youth and their families is taking a toll. Scattered or broken families, tension in over-crowded classrooms and uncertainty about their future continues to weigh heavily on these youth.
To aid in the relief of emotional trauma and resulting behavioral problems afflicting youth in the Gulf Coast region of the United States, FilmAid, in collaboration with local partners and Barefoot Workshops, offered young people displaced by the hurricanes a unique opportunity to reflect on their experiences through a therapeutic and empowering process of visual storytelling. FilmAid provided basic video and photography training as a means for youth to share their experiences and reflect on their fears, frustrations, hopes, and dreams.
Background & Objectives
In June, 2006, FilmAid partner Barefoot Workshops held a video and photography workshop for 21 students at Bay High in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in which displaced teens learned how to document and tell their stories, exploring what happened to them during Katrina and how they coped with the devastation.
The students at Bay High then met with youth from our New Orleans-based partner Students at the Center (SAC) in a groundbreaking brainstorming session during which the youth’s videos, and those created by FilmAid’s refugee students in Kenya, were screened and discussed. A dynamic and engaging dialogue emerged around the surprising commonalities that the students felt they shared with these youth half a world away.
FilmAid brought together local Baton Rouge youth with high school-age evacuees from Renaissance Village – the largest of the FEMA parks - where almost 600 trailers are housing 3,000 people. The youth received training in video and digital storytelling and to participate in this video exchange program. All youth had the opportunity to explore their own and their peers’ experiences of displacement, in a supportive and safe environment, by creating visual media that is easily shared. The program offered evacuee and host community youth a unique chance to collectively address some of the tensions that have arisen between the two communities.
The objectives of this project are to:
- Provide Katrina-affected teens in Mississippi and Louisiana with a rare and much-needed opportunity to tell their stories of displacement through a therapeutic creative process, and have their voices be heard
- Link displaced youth in the United States and Kenya in a cross-cultural exchange so that teens have the chance to share their experiences of displacement and cultivate understanding
- Raise awareness of the plight of displaced youth and the broader issues of displacement and forced migration among local, national and international communities
To learn more about this project and see some of the youth’s work: click here
Watch three Bay High School students speak about their thoughts and experiences 20 months after Hurricane Katrina. The Scars of Katrina - Featured on MSNBC.com.
Special Thanks
Partners:
- Students at the Center (SAC)
- Barefoot Workshops
- Bay High School, Bay St. Louis, MS
- Avid
- Southern University
- Baton Rouge Film Commision
courtesy of Barefoot Workshops
courtesy of Barefoot Workshops
courtesy of Barefoot Workshops
