female Archives - Jake Lyell

Post Tagged with: "female"

Celebrating International Women’s Day

March 7, 2020

I produced this dance-inducing video for the marking of International Women’s Day by ChildFund at an advocacy event in Washington, DC, promoting the Girls LEAD Act – a bill that recognizes and promotes girls’ civic and political leadership as a priority for U.S. foreign assistance efforts. Following a “call for entries” to ChildFund’s 23 offices around the world, I chose the most thought-provoking soundbites to incorporate with some existing high-intensity dance footage. Herein, also, are some shots celebrating women and girls from recent assignments in Morocco, India, Nepal and Uganda.

Breaking gender barriers in Jordan

April 6, 2017

My latest video for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a US international aid agency , tells the story of Ra’eda, who is one of the first female plumbers in Jordan. Here Ra’eda explains how she went from being ridiculed for her chosen profession to becoming an in-demand professional.

With All of My Passion

January 29, 2015

Passion fruit, that is. Mabel is breaking Uganda’s gender barriers as a small business owner and passion fruit farmer.

Coffee with Atandi

November 17, 2014

Take a tour of the coffee process as it occurs before it reaches your machine. Your guide, Atandi, is a small farmer in Kenya who tells of the lucrativeness of her new cash crop. Above, boys fish at sunset off the shores of Lake Victoria in Kisumu. Other stills from my time among the coffee growers of Western Kenya:

Don’t Forget to Write!

March 7, 2014

I’ve just completed a series of videos for ChildFund, International on how sponsors and sponsored children interact with each other. Sponsorship is about much more than sending money each month. It’s about corresponding and encouraging children in developing countries, as well as learning about those countries and their cultures. This short spot shows how Margaret, from Uganda, and her sponsor’s family in California, keep in touch via snail mail, and how her sponsor’s family shares in the dreams for her future. Of the three videos I created in the series Margaret’s profile was my favorite, though you can see others here on Youtube. Skeptical about sponsorship? I have to admit that I was too. You might find an article by Christianity Today, and the science behind it, surprising. It’s written from a faith-based perspective, but the principles laid out here carry over to secular organizations as well.

Your Daily Dose of Vegetables

November 2, 2013

My latest video piece, which I shot for Lutheran World Relief, has given me premonitions of giving it all up and moving out to the country to be a farmer. That’s easier done than most people seeing as how I already live in Africa. Mina seems to like the idea. She used to only farm rice and corn, allowing her family to scrape by at best. LWR‘s agricultural programs in Bihar, India have allowed hers and hundreds of others’ crops to thrive in an otherwise dry and rocky environment. Hit play above and sway along with the saris and sitars.

Chaos & Calm

October 7, 2013

Whether you’re in a rickshaw or a limousine, in a city of fourteen million no one is immune to the horrors of traffic. India’s third-largest city, Kolkata (otherwise known as Calcutta, or কলকাতা), was my base for the last two weeks during dual video assignments for Lutheran World Relief and ChildFund. During journeys in and out of the city and on not-so-leisurely strolls, I spent a great deal of time in a teeming, chaotic muddle and thought I’d share some of it with you. Hit play below for 28 seconds of the city’s hustle and bustle. While the videos are still on my editing table, I’ll share some select stills from Kolkata’s streets, as well as shots from Lutheran World Relief’s agriculture projects in the State of Bihar, where smiles are plentiful and life goes at a much slower pace. Below I give a sneak preview of footage to LWR‘s[…]

Expressions from Madagascar

September 2, 2013

Expecting lions, lemurs, and baobab trees? In contrast, my recent assignment in Madagascar with CARE was of a human-itarian nature. Madagascar certainly does shatter everyone’s expectations, however, mostly in a good way. This fall, CARE will hold an art exhibit in Atlanta, where the organization is based, as a fundraiser for its programs across the globe. Girls in Vatomandry District, Madagascar were recently invited to participate in the art process, and as you can see in the above video, were thrilled at the opportunity to do so. As part of my assignment in this Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of Africa, I was on hand to document some of the girls’ stories and record their messages. These messages, along with their artwork, will be presented at the Atlanta exhibit. PS. There are NO lions in Madagascar, but there is LOTS of rice.

Dream Bikes

July 29, 2013

In rural India, students must walk long distances just to get to school. These long walks contribute to frequent tardiness, absenteeism, or even dropping out completely, especially for girls. While some of this may be due to social pressures that traditionally assign girls to the role of domestic helper, another major contributing factor is the insecurity and danger of walking these long distances alone. Hirabai is one of the girls completing her education thanks to the gift of a bicycle through ChildFund’s Dream Bikes program.

Recovering from Kony

May 25, 2013

It’s hard to believe that as much hoopla as this guy has stirred up, as much attention as he’s garnered in the media, that the problems he caused are still not yet fixed. Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army plundered Northern Uganda for over a decade. The rebels killed tens of thousands of Ugandan civilians, displaced millions, and turned the peaceful farms across the region into heaps of ashes. The war against Kony’s LRA ended in Uganda in 2006. It’s still ongoing, albeit on a smaller scale, in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the rebellion most families in Northern Uganda were forced to flee their homesteads and livelihoods for the security of crowded refugee camps. Still largely dependent on handouts from government and relief organizations, they’ve returned to their land with nothing. Economic and psychological recovery has yet to be realized. When you’re[…]