In Their Own Words

Handmade Activist, Peru

Susana knows that violence is happening to women around her. She also knows most people won’t talk about it. “Sometimes people don’t know that others will help them, because no one has taken the time to offer,” she says. In this mini-doc, discover how Susana is breaking the silence. Believe it or not, it starts with throwing a great party.

Useaking’s Journey, Bangladesh

When Useaking was 16, she met a young man, and together a year later, they ran away and married. She thought it would bring her freedom. It didn’t. In our first ever mini-doc filmed in Cox’s Bazar, discover how she’s ensuring that other girls keep their options open, with help from our LEAP project. “[Girls who study and work] can live freely and go wherever they want,” Useaking says. “If I had known, I might have made different choices.”

Second Acts, Sierra Leone

When Eunice left school, she was living out a story that’s common for many young women in Sierra Leone, where 75% of girls don’t continue their education after primary school. “When you become a [school] dropout, you feel isolated,” she says. Leaving school might have been the norm, but this short film follows the unusual opportunity that allowed Eunice to take a very different path – and to offer a different example for other young girls.

Eunice is one of 200 young female trainees in our Teacher Training for Inclusive Girls’ Education project.

School offers a safe haven for girls fleeing violence

Diary of a Maasai Girl, Kenya

Poria attends a school in Kenya where many of the Maasai girls have escaped early marriage and/or female genital mutilation. In this short film she explains how the unexpected offer of a kind neighbour set her on a course to transform herself, her classmates and her community. “[We will be] great women in society: ladies of substance, ladies of integrity and ladies who [can] depend upon themselves… and be great leaders of tomorrow,” says Poria.

No Shame,
Zimbabwe

Most young people have things they don’t talk about with their parents. But for Sandengomusa and Thembinkosi, the taboo around talking periods with their fathers was putting their futures at risk. So they decided to make new norms with their dads and open the lines of communication about their periods, their bodies and their health.

Lesson Plan,
Zimbabwe

First, Tanyaradzwa faced a risky seven-kilometre walk to school. People came out of their homes to mock her and tell her that her education would amount to nothing. Then, she was forced to drop out altogether. So how did she end up studying at the University of Zimbabwe? Find out what it took in this mini-doc about Tanyaradzwa, who took part in our DREAMS HIV-prevention project.

Going Door to Door,
Zimbabwe

A warehouse sits filled with life-saving mosquito nets. But many of the families who needed them had to walk up to nine kilometres to get there. These communities in rural Zimbabwe came up with a creative solution to get the nets directly into people’s homes. Watch the mini-doc to find out how these nets are getting around.

The Power of Faith, Guinea

Changing norms doesn’t happen by trying to alter a community’s belief system. It happens by finding a way to shift people’s thinking without undermining the values they hold dear. That’s the challenge that religious leader Bangoura Moustapha faces when he works to raise awareness about HIV and STI prevention in a region where many people consider it taboo to talk about sex.

Bangoura Moustapha received training as part of our Eradicate TB & HIV in Guinea project.