Serdar Ferit and Paulina Tervo are two Co?founders of Lyfta, a digital storytelling platform. In this blog they introduce the Ethiopian village of Awra Amba and show how its story can be used to teach about human rights.
Awra Amba is a village in Northern Ethiopia that was founded in 1972 by a small group of idealistic farmers. While none of the founders had gone to school, they had strong ideas about the way society should be. The group spent a long time discussing and co-creating a manifesto for their new village, which included principles such as women and men living as equals, all children having access to education, and religion and tradition not dictating every aspect of life. These ideas were seen as radical at the time, and the village was attacked as a result. But the group remained united and after many years of hardship, their perseverance started to pay off.
Awra Amba, now a thriving village of around 500 people, has 83 university graduates, several successful businesses, a kindergarten, a primary and secondary school, and even a health centre with its own lab.
We came across the village in 2004, and were struck by how fascinating their story was. Our first instinct, as film-makers, was to make a documentary to share their story – but we soon realised that this wasn’t enough. We wanted to take people to Awra Amba, so they could explore the village and experience it like we had. This drove us to learn new ways of storytelling, and we worked closely with the village to re-build the experience in a digital platform. Earlier this year, we released the beta version of The Awra Amba Experience – an immersive interactive documentary that invites the audience to Awra Amba. We have also worked with a team of teachers from Finland, the UK and the US, to develop a teacher’s guide and a series of lesson plans that helps connect the Awra Amba Experience to modern curricula.
About a month ago, we received a lovely email from Elizabeth Sanchez and Devorah Sasha, who run International Solidarity for Human Rights – an organisation that works with schools in America and Spain, using art and storytelling to educate children about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). They had seen an article about Awra Amba in Upworthy, and wanted to use the interactive resource as part of their “Human Rights in a Box” classes. After a couple of meetings over Skype, we made an agreement and ISHR began using the resource in their sessions.
We caught up with Elizabeth and Devorah yesterday, to find out how it has gone over the last month. They have used the resource in various schools in Florida. Below is a transcript of our short interview.
About a month ago, we received a lovely email from Elizabeth Sanchez and Devorah Sasha, who run International Solidarity for Human Rights – an organisation that works with schools in America and Spain, using art and storytelling to educate children about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). They had seen an article about Awra Amba in Upworthy, and wanted to use the interactive resource as part of their “Human Rights in a Box” classes. After a couple of meetings over Skype, we made an agreement and ISHR began using the resource in their sessions.
We caught up with Elizabeth and Devorah yesterday, to find out how it has gone over the last month. They have used the resource in various schools in Florida. Below is a transcript of our short interview.
