Well, I'm amazed! I thought no one would be coming up with stories for the
360 site over the Christmas period but more than a dozen stories landed in
my in-box or in-tray in the last week.

One of the reasons why is that when we select the projects we think look the
most photogenic, we want researchers to go out and photograph or film them
for us so we can have footage on site. We already have people who are
involved in projects in Mongolia, Russia, South America and Uzbekistan
champing at the bit!

Not that Europe is any less important... in fact it's stories from Europe
which are a bit short on the ground so far.

The proper site itself is going to be up in mid-January under the URL
www.bbc.co.uk/360 when people can join it independently of h2g2. Currently a
lot of people out there can't cope with the complications of registering on
h2g2 before they post on 360. I think quite a few of them just get
distracted and head off into the fascinations of h2g2-land.

However, some of this week's fascinating people include Tara Gruber, who
teaches yoga to Black and Latino children in a run-down part of Los Angeles.
The children's school allows three teachers access to the children - and are
reporting happier children, better behaviour, leadership skills and more
concentration on work. As Zaphod would say 'I feel very relaxed about that.'

Then there's Caroline Baron, an American movie producer (her latest is
Monsoon Wedding, which is currently out in the UK). She organises 'Film Aid'
which takes movies to refugee camps to entertain people who live there. She
raised $80,000 in the US to fund the first two-month event, in 1999, which
entertained hundreds of thousands of refugees before they were able to
return to Kosovo.

Film Aid has the support of Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg,
Julia Ormond and Liv Ullmann.

They show movies which bridge the language gap - including silent movies, Tom and Jerry and films such as ET and include educational films on AIDS,
sexual violence and land mines.

Some people say this is a 'let them eat cake' approach - refugees are dying
so why spend money on films? But, Gerry Martone, Director of emergency
response for the International Rescue Committee which has adopted Film Aid
as an official project, says collecting donations for food and shelter is
fairly easy - what is more difficult is finding money for 'soft
interventions' such as education, therapy or entertainment... things that
address the emotional needs of refugees who can spend up to ten years in a
camp with nothing whatsoever to do but think about their troubles.

Please keep the stories coming! And here's to a peaceful, healthy and
prosperous 2002.

MaggyW

Changing The World By Degrees Archive

27.12.01. Front Page

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