* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Stuart Shahid Bamforth produces films for Save the Children, and has recently been on location in India, Afghanistan and Gaza. He is a BAFTA-winning film-maker with many years' experience running film workshops with children and young people.
Questioning ourselves from time to time is probably a healthy thing. I often do this when faced with the prospect of asking difficult questions on camera to people who have faced recent trauma. Why put them through it again? What do they get out of it? This Haiti film-making project was directed by children; hence this dilemma wasn't strictly mine this time. We let them loose with the camera equipment asking them to interview each other on a topic of their choice. Subjects included ice-cream and going to the beach. These are nice easy themes which allowed the children to get to grips with the techniques of interviewing and working as a team director, camera-operator, sound-recordist, interviewer, and interviewee - in a fun and inclusive way. After they shot an interview we'd watch it and give them feedback and then rotate their roles. Before long they were working like a professional (miniature) film crew!
It wasn't long, though, before the children themselves brought up the subject of the earthquake. It is, after all, the most devastating event to have taken place in their young lives. All the kids in our group had lost their homes, and are living with extended families in makeshift tents in a giant campsite. When you think of it like that, it would be pretty perverse not to talk about it. But the important thing here is that it was the children who took the initiative to raise the issue.
Little Jean told us he was a different age on different days; either nine, ten or eleven! Either way, his enthusiasm was limitless. One morning he showed up half an hour early, he immediately seized the camera and tripod and began filming scenes from the neighbourhood. I chatted with him (communicating in my dodgy O'level French, and his Haitian Creole), and asked where he lived. He marched me over to his tent to meet his mother. While I introduced myself to his mum who was washing clothes outside their tent, little Jean was setting up the tripod. Without prompting, he plugged in the microphone, pushed record, and asked his mum how she felt on the day of the earthquake!
For me, these "participatory" film-making workshops work on two levels; they are about both process and product. The products are the amazing, telling and heartfelt films they have produced, and will continue to produce for the duration of the project. With the extra boost of the ITV broadcast, this will provide a more prominent platform for the dissemination of the films. But the process is equally important. For these children articulating their own experiences of the day the earth shook, for them to bear witness to the events in January, to be able to provide testimony and represent the children of Haiti in this way - they can now begin the long healing process that needs to follow this catastrophic experience. I eagerly await their next instalments.
Haiti Earthquake: Jean Welcomes You to Leogane
Leogane was hit badly by the earthquake on January 12, 2010. 80-90 percent of the buildings in the town were destroyed, making almost all of the population homeless. 11 year old Jean shows around the campus where he and his family are now living.
Haiti Earthquake: Sophia's Story
Sophia, 16, and her family have been living in a small tent ever since the earthquake hit. But today is a big day as they are beginning to build their new house. Sophia takes us on a tour, and we meet the family who are all pulling together.
