This entry has been reposted from The Fader

Filmmakers Paola Mendoza and Topaz Adizes spent a month volunteering for nonprofit group FilmAid as visiting teaching artists in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya. While there, they got inspired to shoot a video inside the camp, based around Welsh band The Joy Formidable‘s single “A Heavy Abacus.”

The video is a beautifully vivid portrait of young Sudanese refugees, a tribute to the strength and resilience of kids whose lives are in limbo. “So often refugees are forgotten because the problem seems too overwhelming,” the directors have stated. “This is an attempt to shake us out of our complacency and recognize the power that is in every one of us to help make the world better.” Impressively, the video was shot in just three days, using one camera, two light reflectors and an iPhone. It’s FilmAid’s first music video, released in support of World Refugee Day on June 20th.

FilmAid is proud to announce the launch of DADAAB STORIES, a new interactive, multimedia documentary project charting everyday life in the world’s largest refugee camp. The vast majority of the nearly 500,000 refugees living in Dadaab are from Somalia, displaced by armed conflict, natural disaster or persecution.

DADAAB STORIES is now available at: www.dadaabstories.org

Bringing together video, poetry, music, community journalism and personal blogs on a cutting edge, interactive website, DADAAB STORIES is a living, curated collection of personal stories from one of the most challenging environments on the planet. DADAAB STORIES allows visitors to explore the refugee experience and engage with Dadaab camp through information and imagery.

“Our goal with DADAAB STORIES is to help open up a window between global audiences and the extraordinary and inspiring community in Dadaab, people we’re privileged to work with every day. Normally the media only shows up in these far-flung, dusty corners of the globe when headlines are screaming. But it’s important to know that life goes on in Dadaab every day — real, human life in all its colors. Stubborn, confounding, rich, beautiful, comic, messy — often devastating — yet sometimes glorious. These lives — and their stories — are real, they count and they deserve to be known”

— says Liz Manne, Executive Director of FilmAid

About DADAAB STORIES

DADAAB STORIES is an evolving online documentary and ultimately a collaborative community media project. It is a place for refugees to share their stories with the world. It is an initiative of FilmAid, a humanitarian media organization that has been making, teaching and screening films in Dadaab since 2006.

DADAAB STORIES is nonlinear and multimedia. Stories are told through video, photography, poetry, music and journalism. Everyone in the Dadaab refugee camp has a story to tell, and this is the place to share these stories. Just like Dadaab itself, DADAAB STORIES is always changing, and new content is added regularly.

DADAAB STORIES is a groundbreaking web initiative, which utilizes the Tumblr social media platform in ways that have never been seen before. Accessing Tumblr's enormous, vibrant community will ensure these important stories are seen and shared among a diverse audience.

DADAAB STORIES was inspired by the countless untold stories of refugees living in Dadaab and around the globe. Acting as an art piece, oral history archive and advocacy tool, DADAAB STORIES brings the daily realities of refugees closer to a global audience than ever before.

DADAAB STORIES Credits

FilmAid presents DADAAB STORIES -- Producer/Director K. RYAN JONES -- Created by RAFIQ COPELAND, K. RYAN JONES -- Executive Producers RAFIQ COPELAND, LIZ MANNE -- Co-Producers JOHN KILUNGU, VICTOR OMBONYA, CHARLES OTIENO, ELIZA PERCIVAL -- Supervising Producer RAMAH HAWKINS -- Field Producers LIBAN RASHID, ABDI RASHID, AKUNE OBANG ATALE, BASHIR SHEIKH MOHAMMED -- Associate Producers KEPHA KIRAGU, ROBERT WANJOHI -- Web Design & Development RONIK DESIGN

About Dadaab

Located in Kenya, near the Somali border, Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee settlement. Managed by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Dadaab serves a population of nearly 500,000 refugees, the majority Somali. Refugees arrive in the camp fleeing armed conflict, disaster or persecution. Following famine and renewed conflict in the region in 2011, over 100,000 new refugees flooded into the camp. More recently, the region has been hit by a series of major security incidents including kidnappings of aid workers and IED explosions.

FilmAid and The Joy Formidable “A Heavy Abacus”

FilmAid launches DADAAB STORIES, a new multimedia project from the world's largest refugee camp