Trainings
Soolkaama has partnered with several organisations to design trainings and conduct visual storytelling workshops aimed at empowering communities to tell their own stories.
We have conducted these workshops in multiple countries. We believe that, by learning to read visuals one can overcome language barriers that may otherwise hinder personal growth to break free from a perpetual cycle of exclusion .
Girls Gotta Run
Bekoji, Ethiopia
Bashedu, Burtucan, Deretu, Desta, Fatuma, Lome, Meskeram, Nuria, Tarikwa and Zebaney, all in their early to mid teens, these girls have a single minded devotion to running. They aspire to one day represent Ethiopia internationally. The medals tally in world athletic championships so far is nearly equal amongst the men and women of Bekoji.
Since 2006, Girls Gotta Run Foundation, has worked with girls in Bekoji who use running and education to empower themselves and their communities.
Part of their life skills program, is to promote creative expression as an essential activity for the girls to be able to navigate adolescence. By creating a safe space for girls, this organisation has committed itself to ensure a well rounded upbringing of the girls in the town.
In 2017, Lensational partnered with Girls Gotta Run Foundation to run a visual storytelling workshop for the girl athletes. These girls know very well that the to be the best at something, training has to be an integral part of the process. While they continue to train physically to meet the challenging demands of long distance running, training the eye is equally crucial to see and understand more about the world around us. Only when we critically observe, can we start to understand the problems of our community and work towards finding long term solutions.
A camera, in this respect, is not just a tool to make some pictures, but instead is a powerful weapon that can help highlight the inequities within society and contribute towards bringing a positive change.
The workshop, led by Lensational Ambassador, Sandeep Dhopate, was aimed at letting the girls get behind a camera and look at the world around them critically. Holding a camera is like holding a pen. When one puts these tools to use, they start training the mind to focus on specific elements. We learn to read much before we learn to write and that is the idea behind photography too. We learn to observe much before we are able to create visuals to express our thoughts and ideas.
Introducing the girls to photography was an attempt to encourage them to document life around them as it happens. There have been many articles written and films made about Bekoji and the amazing legacy of its long distance runners. But people of Bekoji remain the subject of the story, never the story tellers. Lensational wants the girls to be the storytellers of their lives and that of the community they cohabit.
Apart from understanding the fundamentals of image making and using the camera, the workshop consisted of simple assignments to help the girls develop essential life skills. Making portraits, for example, has more to it than just holding up a camera and shooting a picture. Talking to strangers is challenging. But the more one does it, the more one develops in self confidence and effective communication. Every rejection makes us hone our language skills to be more effective and convincing so that the next person understands our intention and eventually agrees to have their picture taken. The act of editing through several images to select just 10 odd images in order to tell the whole story in an exercise in critical thinking. A group activity to draft a story that everyone contributes towards and then subsequently attempts to create visuals for, fosters elements of problem solving, teamwork and conflict resolution. These are just some examples, but during the workshop, we took part in several assignments that touched upon skills such as leadership, team work, time management, adaptability, visualisation, patience, perseverance, planning, conflict resolution, problem solving and critical thinking.
Images created by the girls were featured in the first crowdfunded Lensational book and were very well received the world over. Some of the images were also sold on stock image site such as Getty and part of the proceeds were given to the photographers who made those images.
Vijana Amana Pamoja
Nairobi, Kenya
At VAP, the programme aims to encourage a healthy, active lifestyle through football for young people and support them with future skills for life. The girls come from vulnerable backgrounds and VAP provides a safe shelter for them. The organisation supports them to continue education and learn new vocational skills that could help them generate a sustainable livelihood in the future. The workshop was conducted in association with Standard Chartered Bank.
Rescue Foundation
Mumbai, India
Soolkaama was approached by volunteers working for Rescue Foundation to conduct a vocational training course in photography for the women in the shelter home. The course participants were victims of sex-trafficking and were sheltered with Rescue Foundation until their legal cases were settled.
During their time at the shelter home, they are encouraged to take up vocational training courses that can help them be independent once they leave the home. As part of the course, I invited various female photographers and other women working in creative arts to talk to the participants about career options available given their lack of formal qualifications. Soolkaama also secured an additional grant of Rs. 2,00,000/- from Lensational to conduct photography trainings for interested participants in their shelter home in Boisar, Palghar, MH.
British Council
Storytelling/ Editing Workshop – Khartoum, Sudan
In Khartoum, Sudan, Soolkaama worked with a local videography team and taught character development in a story along with editing lessons in building authentic character curves from raw recorded footage.
The team was then involved in making documentary videos of work done by the British Council in Sudan
Brave Hearts and Ethio-Skate
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Soolkaama was contacted by Dulma Clark, the MD of the company to help produce marketing collateral for the brand. Apart from documenting the work she required, we also conducted workshops in the charities supported by Clarks shoes. We taught product photography to young students so that they could continue to produce the content for the company and also earn revenue while doing that. Photography is a difficult business, but when product companies are willing to support local talent it can become a source of sustenance and also an exciting vocation for young minds.
Art Ichol
Storytelling/ Filmmaking Workshop, Ichol, MP
Soolkaama conducted a workshop with the youth of a tiny hamlet called Ichol in Madhya Pradesh to educate them to use the camera as a powerful device to enact change. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with The Green Hub, Tezpur, Assam and Dusty Foot Productions, Delhi
The aim of the workshop was to teach the kids to use a camera with a purpose and also to help them observe social behaviour from behind a camera and be critical of issues that yearned for a change in mindset.
The participants made video documentaries, including composing original soundtracks for stories found within the village that touched upon important topics such as recent river floods and its causes, challenges the villagers face with farming and the story of village women up-cycling gutka packets to make rugs!
When circumstances have stifled educational growth of children coming from less privileged backgrounds, alternative vocations such as filmmaking and photography can prove to a great option towards sustainability. The children love the mobile phone and to teach its use to affect change is a win-win, both economically and also socially.
