Blind musician, Sorie Kondi, from Sierra Leone looks at what's happening…
Life 8 - Moments of Truth
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- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
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In 1984, Charles Stewart shot the first film to alert the world to the terrible famine taking place in Korem, in Ethiopia. It helped trigger the 1985 Live Aid concert, leading in turn to the largest public donation of aid ever seen. Now in his 70s, Charles and his partner, Pat Scott Robson, return to Ethiopia to find the folks he filmed then. Swapping his vintage motorbike for Africa's chaotic buses, they travel across the country to to find out if, under the new government of Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi, they're finally free from danger.
'Moments of Truth is an unusual film, showing not only the lives of people in drought-affected regions of Ethiopia, but their complicated relationship with the journalist who has chronicled their lives for decades. Complicated and affecting.' Dr. Deborah Maine, Professor of International Health, Boston University
'There is a continuous challenge of trying to strike a balance in the film[s]...[The films] can be used successfully in stimulating a discussion amongst the youth about the negative aspects of such a life as well as an exploration of alternatives.' Teboho Moja, Clinical Professor of Higher Education, New York University
'[Moments of Truth] raises questions about sustainable development. While emergency aid is needed in times of famine, only projects emphasizing sustainable development can prevent famine from happening again. The film also touches on the problematic issue that the film maker - representing many who work in international development - benefits from what he documents but the livelihood of the documented is not improved. Witnessing the suffering and dying of thousands did not leave him unscarred but pays his bills, allowing him to live a secure life in England, while those whose lives and suffering he documented are either dead or continue to suffer. The film is valuable for introducing a discussion on the realities and the impact of international aid. [Moments of Truth] highlights the need for emergency aid to be followed up by long-term sustainable development programs.' Dr. Alexander Rodlach, Assistant professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Creighton University
'An unusual, unflinchingly honest film about the relationships between a compassionate British filmmaker and his subjects in Ethiopia. Briton Charles Stewart and his wife return to the scenes of 1980s famines to find the hard-working people whose stories originally helped bring Ethiopian suffering to the world's attention. An excellent resource for teaching about the complexities of international aid and the politics of media representation.' Teresa Barnes, Associate Professor, Departments of History and Gender and Women's Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Citation
Main credits
Stewart, Charles (Director)
Stewart, Charles (Cinematographer)
Bradshaw, Steve (Narrator)
Other credits
Music, Audio Network; Editor, Sotira Kyriacou.
Distributor subjects
African Studies; Anthropology; Developing World; Geography; Globalization; Hunger; Millennium Development Goals; Sociology; Sustainable DevelopmentKeywords
WEBVTT
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Wars, climate change, finance,
and famine dominate the news,
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every day we hear from the heroes, the villains, and the
victims. But people on the edge of the news have stories, too.
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People like filmmaker Charles
Stewart and the friends he’s made
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in difficult times in Ethiopia.
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[music]
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[sil.]
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Meet Charles Stewart, biker and filmmaker.
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It’s a thrill… thrill, not a good feeling at all.
Anyhow I don’t take it to final (inaudible).
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Like filming, I mean, filming is a thrill as well
and you just get behind the lens (inaudible)
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and the composition and the thing working
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and umm… mostly just… There was nothing in a thrilling, that’s
being behind the camera, not even behind, being on a motorcycle.
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And umm… you’re searching for
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moments of truth and
moments of truth are magic
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and only film gets moments of truth.
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[sil.]
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In 1984, something happened
which changed Charles’s life.
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Making a film in the Ethiopian
Highlands about desertification,
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he was filming one morning
in a health clinic.
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And this boy came in and he had a great
open wound on his neck like that.
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He and his father had to walk from Korem
and that was a four-day road from Korem.
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They said they’ve come from Korem
and Korem was a terrible place,
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a place of famine, a place of disaster, there was
thousands of people there and there was no food.
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And they said there is famine up there.
Nobody had mentioned this before.
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So that was the instant that we realized
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uh… that 10 years after the famine
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of 70 years, early 70s. Ethiopia
was back in the same situation.
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Charles Stewart is the filmmaker
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whose images first alerted the
world, to the famine in Korem.
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It was the biblical famine which caused
hundreds and thousands of deaths.
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[sil.]
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It was the famine which led
to the Live Aid Concerts.
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Some of the worst babies, they’re just rejecting
out of famine because that’s, our babies are dead,
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they will never survive. Too late… too
late… too late… too late, we’ll take that.
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And umm… the most terrible thing,
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terrible, terrible thing. That
poor people making that decisions.
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[sil.]
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Had you felt anything like that before?
No. Nothing like that, no.
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The famine is nothing… There is… there is nothing
like famine. There is nothing like famine.
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Charles did not come out
of the famine, unscathed.
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What effect did it have on… on you?
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Uh… I think it’s a burden you carry all
your life, that arms that damages you.
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I’m damaged.
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What do you mean?
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Well, seeing people only to die and I’ve seen people,
famine people, you’d know would be dead within hours and
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seeing people that will die within days,
and if there was proper medicine,
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if there was, they would live. If
there was food, they would live.
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At time because we don’t
care enough, we don’t care.
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[sil.]
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Over the years, Charles Stewart has
carried on filming in Ethiopia,
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in bad times and good.
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This year, with his partner
Pat, he returned again.
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Now 72, he wanted to revisit the main
characters in his films, if he could find them.
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[sil.]
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So we’re going on a
journey around Ethiopia.
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The idea is to go and find all the people that
we’ve been filming over the last 25 years.
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And to… to summing up of what we’ve
seen during that period of time.
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[music]
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We rent using our own money
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and uh… say, we weren’t looking to hire
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for petrol or even a small
car or even a motorcycle.
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So we went in public transport. When we were
traveling, we did search journeys before today’s,
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uh… and we traveled like
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ordinary Ethiopian travel, on the bus.
And (inaudible), it’s hard,
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the seats are hard, sometimes
they’re very hard, 100% breakdown.
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And you wait for a bus for
a day, you don’t mind.
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In 2007, Charles had filmed an
aid program in the Meket region,
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42,000 hungry people received cash
in return for community work.
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The program was funded by the Dutch
Government and implemented on the ground
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by \"Save the Children.\" Among those who
benefited were Debru and his wife Asamu.
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Their five-year-old son, Behu, was
permanently stunted by malnutrition.
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They hope the scheme would stop, the same thing
happening to eight-month-old Micarey(ph).
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I have entered the cash program this year
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and I got money to buy food,
clothing, and seed to plant.
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From that seed, I’ll have resting and
I’m now eating the food I produced.
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So I can say that I have benefited.
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Charles had learned Dutch Government
had stopped funding the program.
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And he and Pat were anxious to find
out how Debru and Asamu were doing.
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[music]
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Hello.
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I’m so pleased to have you. I’m so
pleased to see you. How are you?
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[non-English narration]
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I’m so pleased to see you. It was
wonderful to see them again.
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[sil.]
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I don’t know what to say. I’m very, very pleased to
see them both again and their children are fine.
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(inaudible) just exactly the
same which she did before
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and she was in the same dress. I mean, she was not
rich enough to have two dresses in two years.
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But now, Asamu was even
less well-off than before.
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[non-English narration]
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We have selling and eating our property.
We have digested it.
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What happened to the \"Save the Children?\"
They don’t come anymore. When did they stop?
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You came in March that year
and they stopped in October.
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[sil.]
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Two years after Charles’s last visit, and Beyu
is improved held by the cash transfer scheme.
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But now the schemes (inaudible), the Dutch Government had
switched its funding to the Ethiopian Government’s program
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to help those without enough food.
Cash from the Ethiopian program
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had yet to reach Asamu and
Debru or their community.
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They’re much better, looking much better. Looking much
better fed, but there was… there were lots of worry on
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umm… particularly Debru looked
(inaudible) looked a worried man.
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[non-English narration]
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We borrowed 935 Birr. To repay
it, I had to sell six sheep
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and we have used what we
saved, but that isn’t enough.
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When the cash stopped, we weren’t
able to buy clothes or food.
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With no seed or ox, we gave
our land for crop share.
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So now we struggle for survival.
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The family had… were in debt, grove,
gravely in debt to the tune of a…
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It doesn’t mean anything, but to a
tune of a… They are in debt of about
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three quarters of an ox, uh… and
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that’s a serious debt. And you could say,
well, how will they ever pay, repay it?
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I couldn’t see how they would repay it.
How they got into debt?
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Borrowing for buy food.
Going to buy, buy food.
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That’s how most people get into debt.
We said, we need to pay that debt
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or buy them an ox. And
they said they like an ox.
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So we brought them an ox.
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Asamu is now pregnant with her third child. They’ll
need children to run the farm in the future,
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but it’s a future that’s still uncertain.
00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:19.999
These kids of mine, they are very small.
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Kids are (inaudible), but it’s not wise
to suppose, these two will survive.
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Safe Aid pulled out,
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so these people were all disfranchised. They didn’t know
what was happening. Today just for them stopped by that.
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The Ethiopian Government aims to cover
all Meket with its safety net program
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and some areas are receiving
emergency food aid from abroad.
00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:49.999
But Charles left Asamu and
Debru with serious concerns.
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The scheme had done a lot of good and
it has kept them going for three years,
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three and a half years, maybe. Umm… But uh…
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What happens to those people now?
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Back on the bus,
00:11:10.000 --> 00:11:14.999
our travelers are off to see one of the leaders
they had interviewed in the 84 famine.
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Their destination (inaudible) under
70 kilometer ride (inaudible).
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:24.999
[music]
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Charles has been filming here for 25 years.
(inaudible) has changed,
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:34.999
more houses, twice as many people.
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:39.999
In 1984,
00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.999
(inaudible) shared the farmers association
in (inaudible). (inaudible) was at the edge
00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:49.999
of a famine area.
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And not social adjustment. He
was responsible for the people.
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I got some credit from (inaudible) for
00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:04.999
umm… the fact that I got food.
00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:09.999
At Sunday worship (inaudible) breaks bread for his
congregation. Now 73, a year older than Charles,
00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:14.999
he’s a senior priest. After the service,
00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.999
he tells Charles, 1984 could
be about to happen again.
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:24.999
[non-English narration]
00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:29.999
We are used to good times
and are used to bad times,
00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:34.999
but today, for me, as
(inaudible) that’s a bad time.
00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:39.999
This year, the drought is at its worse.
00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:48.000
[sil.]
00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.999
This same as in 1984, that crops dried up,
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some have food unto July, some
have already used all their food.
00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:04.999
[non-English narration]
00:13:05.000 --> 00:13:09.999
Charles had known (inaudible) and his seven
children for a quarter of a century.
00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:14.999
He had lived in his house, shared his food, played
with his children, and gone to church with him.
00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.999
In 1994, he came and asked
me what was happening
00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.999
and I explained that people were dying,
people didn’t have food or seed.
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We shouted an Aid Camp,
for you, who intervened
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and told the authorities and
that is how we survived.
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Ethiopian officials told Charles,
they believed aid would come again.
00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:44.999
But the stakes are high.
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Every one’s still fears crop
failures like those of 84.
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Yes, but they said the rains have partially
failed, that the crop was very poor,
00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:59.999
so they get half a crop or
three-fourth of the crop.
00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.999
And what matter but, now (inaudible) 1984,
00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:09.999
what they are absolutely relying on
is the rains sort of coming in July.
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:14.999
And if these are not good,
then there will be a disaster,
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:19.999
another disaster.
00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.999
Many people in the drought
prone highlands have resettled
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:29.999
over the last two decades.
Time to catch up.
00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:34.999
So we left (inaudible) where
we’ve been filming since 1984.
00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:39.999
One of the people we’ve started filming in 1984
left and went to resettle. His name is Atlook.
00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:44.999
Charles had filmed Atlook at the height
of the famine and Atlook was 18.
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Atlook left his home in Gayint, looking
for a better life elsewhere in Ethiopia.
00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.999
Seventeen years later in 2002,
Charles try to track him down.
00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:59.999
I can see somebody. (inaudible).
00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.999
We went on another journey, a major journey to find Atlook.
We had no idea where he was and we were hunting for him.
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.999
We had some clues just to where
he was and it took us uh…
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:14.999
around, all over, round upset in
part of Ethiopia, in the south.
00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:19.999
I mean, eventually we found him.
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.999
And when we walked out to him, he couldn’t
believe it. He thought I was dead
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because he thought I was ill and he
thought I was dead. So he… he felt huh…
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Charles.
00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.999
[non-English narration]
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.999
But where is famine survivor Atlook now?
Armed with camera and bus fares,
00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:49.999
Charles and Pat are back on the hunt again.
So we’re first on.
00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:54.999
We’re the very first on,
we’ve chosen our seats.
00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:59.999
A full day’s travel? Hopefully, without
a two and a half hour breakdown.
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:04.999
It’s just three days in the bus.
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:09.999
Now we went down the (inaudible)
uh… and up the other side
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:14.999
umm… of course, the bus has
taken a terrible (inaudible).
00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:19.999
So there were people in them.
00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:24.999
[music]
00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.999
Charles and Pat found Atlook faming the
land he’d cleared seven years back.
00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.999
Last time they had met, Charles and
Pat have given him some money,
00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:40.000
but he used it all up and
not in the way intended.
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.999
Yes, he gave me money to buy an
ox, farm tools, and some seeds.
00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:54.999
I bought an ox and a donkey with the money,
00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.999
also seeds and tools. But after
he left, we were told that
00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:04.999
we had illegally cut down
the forest for land.
00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:09.999
The court sentenced me to up to
18 months imprisonment or a fine.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:14.999
In fact, I spent two months
in prison and paid a fine.
00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:19.999
So all you gave me was
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.999
sold to pay the fine, then I was free.
00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.999
[sil.]
00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:34.999
Free farming and still clearing the
land to feed his growing family.
00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.999
It’s a struggle. Poor nutrition has left his wife
for the goiter and there’s continuing conflict
00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.999
with the locals, the Gumuz people.
00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:49.999
Yes, (inaudible) they say that in the past,
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:54.999
they used to get honey from the forest.
They say, the forest is becoming dry,
00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:59.999
unless you go our way, there
will not be any forest.
00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.999
They say, we are ploughing (inaudible),
they don’t like us ploughing.
00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:09.999
So they start trouble. They
want the forest and the honey,
00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.999
but because my old home is dried up,
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.999
we have no other place. We want farm here.
00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.999
You see, if you can’t
plough, we can’t survive.
00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.999
So we are very afraid of this
people and we keep quiet.
00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:34.999
I was very, very angry
00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
because Atlook wants to get the hell
out of that place as quickly as he can
00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
because he fears for his life and he
fears for the life of his children.
00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
In February, Charles donated his filming
rushes to the Ethiopian Government.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
So he told Atlook, he had the honor
of being in the national archive.
00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
Charles didn’t get the
reaction he expected.
00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
(inaudible), in fact, he was incensed,
he was really angry, he was (inaudible),
00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
feeling at risk for his life
and the life of the family,
00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
living on, absolutely on the edge of
existence, thinking uh… we will be killed.
00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
And then it’s my image and my
life in the national archive,
00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
it’s intolerable. And then he started…
00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:29.999
and then he swung into (inaudible) and you have
been living on me as well and here I am nothing.
00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:34.999
And of course, he’s perfectly
right, but perfectly correct.
00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
[sil.]
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
So we’ve set up filming in the morning
00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
and we’re trying to hold on that
anger that he had, but it had gone,
00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
he was sorry and we got sound pitted,
we didn’t got that anger, the anger
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
he blown the anger out of himself.
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
As Mr. Charles say last night,
I worked for the archive,
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
the money is finished, but it is a
privilege to work with the foreigners
00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
and the people see this
even if I have no money.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
I have this honor and it is my pride and
the honor will last into the future.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
[non-English narration]
00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
Life is very hard. Loneliness,
the situation today, the money,
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
without support, a man cannot
hung onto life and grow,
00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
but I don’t expect change. Life is becoming
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
hard and incredibly terrifying.
00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
I… I felt very humbled by what Atlook said.
I agreed with him.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
We had no right to… to benefit in
this way without him benefiting.
00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
[sil.]
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
Out of the(inaudible) I’ve given him five ox and did
some help, but it’s not enough how to transform him.
00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
The problem with the documentary
filmmaker, like me as you don’t
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
you… you need to help people and
it’s only rightly help people,
00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
you give people substantial help, but you
don’t grab them and change their lives.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:28.000
[sil.]
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
So how did you feel about the whole trip in the end?
You comeback… Very sad, very chasing, very humble
00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
and umm… It seems to me
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
that Ethiopia has got poorer. But
(inaudible) all the towns are blustering.
00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
So there’s an explosion in the place and
there’s energy, you could feel the energy,
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
but there isn’t in the countryside, it’s been just
left behind and suffering… suffering… suffering.
00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
So this… this explosion
and energy and wealth
00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
are not touching the people in
the country as far as I can see.
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
Ten million of them are still needing
aid, food. Ten million people in Ethiopia
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
are not producing enough
food to feed themselves.
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
Back in Briton, time to visit
\"Save the Children\" in London.
00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
Charles wanted to know about the cash transfer
scheme in Meket and why it had stopped.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
I remember that this
program was working with
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
uh… 42,000 beneficiaries
spread across our district.
00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
The challenge in this particular program
was to support via cash benefits
00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
to families to help them
improve their livelihoods.
00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
We tried to secure additional funding from donors,
uh… to continue our work in this community.
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
We were unsuccessful in getting that additional
funding. As a charity, we rely on donors
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
to provide that assistance uh… and so
that… that program came to an end.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
Uh… We did during the course of five years,
worked with the government of Ethiopia and
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
helping them set up their uh…
their social protection program,
00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
uh… but again, that’s… there were not
enough resources to each every family.
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
Charles is now back home
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
in Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean.
00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
What gives you a kick is the speed
and the road that’s just there.
00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
The road is just passing you by and
00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
you’re very vulnerable, and
we’re vulnerable in Ethiopia.
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
We managed back those people that allow
us and accept us and don’t hurt us.
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
But we must (inaudible) seem like
millionaires to people in Ethiopia
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
who come there, (inaudible) can’t go away.
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
Go to our own food and own soft easy lives.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
Come back to Gloucestershire?
00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
Come back to Gloucestershire where
it’s green. Great (inaudible).
00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
It’s an easy life,
00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
whereas the people in Ethiopia
have a very, very hard life.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
When your children are going to bed
hungry, that must be a terrible thing.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
And when you see your children stunted and running nose and
eyes washing because they have not got proper nutrition.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
That’s bad. That is terrible.
That is on the edge.
00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
That is on the edge.
00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
[sil.]
00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
I’m Charles Stewart, I’m a filmmaker.
I’ve been making films since 1965.
00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
I’ve been filming in Ethiopia since 1984,
00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
but accident, I happened to be there where
was a famine and I happened to record it.
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.000
[sil.]
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 25 minutes
Date: 2011
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 10-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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