After speaking with the guys at WeOwnTV and putting them in touch with Barmmy Boy, they met up in Freetown and decided to enrol Barmmy on the film making course to be ran later in the year in Freetown.

The following clip was produced by WeOwnTV staff during their recent January scouting trip. They interviewed each of the participants as a part of their application process. This is what Barmmy Boy had to say :-

We have been chatting these last few weeks with Banker who is part of the WeOwnTV team currently in Freetown recruiting young people for their 6 week film making programme latrer this year. 

We wish them luck and invite you to take a look at their exciting project.

WeOwnTV is a collaborative media project that promotes self-expression as a way to explore our shared humanity and bridge cultural divides. Our first program uses community based media workshops to teach filmmaking techniques to a group of young Sierra Leonean ex-combatants and survivors of their country’s civil war. WeOwnTV will provide the technical support, encouragement and training that will allow these young adults to creatively produce their own media and share their experiences and ideas with the world.

Hello everyone

I am currently fundraising for my short film SHIMASANI, which was shot back in
June. I currently have a rough cut, but the post production is stalled because
of lack of funds. Currently I’m trying to raise $5,000 to get the ball
rolling at least.

The film is based on one of my grandmothers experiences when she was in her
teens back in the early part of the 20th century. The film is entirely in
Navajo, has fantastic performances and is beautifully shot.

If you go to the link below i’ve opened a fundraising account on fundable.
Any help (cash) you could donate would much appreciated.

https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-09-30.4439760729

Here is a trailer of the film ::

Shimasani

Here is the synopsis.

In the late 1920’s on the Navajo Reservation, teenage Mary Jane spends her
time daydreaming while tending to her flock of sheep and working with her Masani
(maternal grandmother). One day her older sister Anna Mae runs away from
boarding school and brings home with her a book of World Geography that shows
Mary Jane an entirely new world that is “just over the mountain”. In the end
she must decide whether to maintain her traditional life with her grandmother or
go out into the larger world.

Hope you are all healthy and well.

thank you

larry blackhorse lowe

contact :: blackhorse_films@hotmail.com

Pre release music video for Jah Bless Crew – shot & edited by Cafesociety.org.

We hope these guys do really well and wish them all the best,,, thankyou for looking after us in Seychelles.

here are a few images from the recent project trip in the Seychelles.

Sierra Leone’s reggae diva Khady Black performs Mr. Government. Filmed on location in Kingston Upon Hull – UK.

A showreel version of the 3 safe technology films has been produced to aid teachers when showing the films in the classroom.
The 3 films will be used as a teachers learning resource for schools in Seychelles.

We’d also like to add a big thank you to all who were involved in the making of these films. Especially the kids who we felt worked very well and enjoyed the experience.

The films produced will also be used as a larger learning resource to be rolled out to schools by the Seychelles National Council for Children. The 3 adverts will also be screened twice a night on the SBC channel.

Seychelles Safe Technology Group have commissioned this series of short informercials to be screened on TV to raise young peoples awareness to some of the dangers on the internet.

Aerial Seychelles

Originally uploaded by Jon – Cafesociety.org.

Well it was a very enjoyable flight and thanks to Helicopter Seychelles for the donation of the free flight.

Unfortunately the lighting was crap and the weather front which soon moved in prevented us from shooting any decent footage for the university docu.

The Jah Bless Crew – Seychelles

Originally uploaded by Jon – Cafesociety.org.

We are so pleased to have met and spent time with all the Jah Bless Crew… big up to you all…

There is so much music talent here in Seychelles waiting to explode onto the international scene,, and i think Jah Bless Crew maybe the first to make it big outside the islands..

The music video we have shot for them may help to progress their talents a few more steps up the ladder towards an international audience.. we hope they make it – big style

Seychelles 2008

Originally uploaded by Jon – Cafesociety.org.

It’s been a hectic four weeks and now we are almost done with our projects and filming. 1 week left to complete !!

Later today we are taking a 30 minute helicopter flight around Mahe to gather some nice aerial footage for the university film, we also still have several interviews to do and attempt to finish the editing of the safe technology films.

We spent the weekend with the Jah Bless Crew, a local group of very talented musical maestros… They have taken good care of us and in return, we are shooting them their first music video…

Friday night is party night… Morgan Heritage are coming to town to perform a one off gig.. I’m sure the island will rock with the rasta vibe and reggae basslines..

Jah Bless

Seychelles 2008

Originally uploaded by Jon – Cafesociety.org.

Thankfully Chris is back to 100% fitness after suffering a bout of the Hershey squirts for 6 days… pitty we can’t say the same for the toilet in our hotel room…

Mission Lodge – Seychelles

Originally uploaded by Jon – Cafesociety.org.

Well we’ve been here about three weeks now, initially enjoying a short 2 week holiday and taking it easy..

But the clocks now ticking and the films we have been comissioned to make need producing. The first film we have been working on is a short piece to introduce the population of Seychelles to the possability of having a university built here on Mahe.

The government have asked us to come over and produce an awareness raising documercial piece to be aired on local tv and also embeded on the Seychelles University Foundation website.

The heat has been unbearable at times, the food for vege’s not always the greatest, the internet has been like watching paint dry but the Guiness export, weighing in at 7.5% surely makes up for the small difficulties we’ve had to deal with.

Back to work… been a busy summer though…

Our good friend Barmmy Boy returned to Freetown on August 10 so he could be back in time to vote in the elections. Barmmy had a great time here in the UK, worked really hard, made loads of friends, learned a lot. He now intends to work closely with the British Council to help Cafesociety.org develop school partnerships and media training work in Freetown.

Another Salonian friend of ours, Tony Gblah, also returned to Freetown recently after spending a year in Hull as a volunteer with various church social projects. Tony’s having a bit of a tough time at the moment – no money, no job, no fixed abode – we’ll be trying to help him get back on his feet.

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The Mayor of Freetown, Winstanley R. Bankole Johnson payed a short visit to Hull on the 29th August 2007. After a civic lunch with the Lord Mayor of Kingston Upon Hull, Cllr Brenda Petch he had a meeting with Jon Robson and Richard Skog of the Freetown Society, during which he signed the petition supporting the Fight For Freedom Campaign.

Mayor Johnson then launched the opening of Greetings! Wilberforce Women, a photographic project between women in Freetown and women in Hull, a Wilberforce 2007 project.

Lansana Mansaray, aka Barmmy Boy, a rapper from Freetown in Sierra Leone, has been in Hull working with Cafesociety.org for the last four weeks. He has worked with secondary pupils in exploring their creativity through music.

Please click here to listen to the BBC Radio Humberside interview

Article appears in The Hull Daily Mail – 21/07/07

The Hull Daily Mail’s website has been inundated with messages of praise from teenagers for a rapping star from Sierra Leone.

Earlier this week, the Mail ran a story about 19-year-old Lansana Mansaray, known as Barmmy Boy, who has been visiting schools in the city.

As well as teaching youngsters how to rap, he has also been sharing his experiences of growing up in the war-torn country.

Over two months, he will work with children from St Mary’s College in west Hull, Winifred Holtby in Bransholme and Wilberforce College in east Hull.

Among the issues Barmmy Boy raps about are growing up in the country’s capital Freetown, HIV/Aids and the aftermath of the civil war that ravaged the country for a decade.

When the story appeared on the Mail’s website on Wednesday, it initially attracted criticism from one reader calling himself Barmmy Man, claiming rappers encourage young people to join gangs and use guns.

That drew a huge response from teenagers who defended Barmmy Boy and praised his work to educate Hull youngsters about life in Sierra Leone.

A web user called Gerry, from St Mary’s College in north Hull, was among more than 40 youngsters who posted a comment on www.thisishull.co.uk

He said: “I think you lot are talking about him in the wrong way. He isn’t into the shooting and that lot, I know because I have met him.

“His rapping is about peace and stuff like HIV, which is a bad disease in his country. He is not like a kind of gangster rapper, he is great.”

Jordan, from east Hull, said: “He’s ace and shouldn’t be taken as if he’s a gangster shooting people, because his raps are about peace.”

The rapper was brought to the UK by Hull organisation Cafe Society and funded by the British Council and Government arts scheme Creative Partnerships.

Cafe Society organiser Jon Robson said: “Barmmy Boy is an excellent ambassador for Sierra Leone and has made a lasting impression on the young people he has met in Hull.”

Barmmy Boy said: “It’s been great working with young people here.”

08:00 – 18 July 2007 – Hull Dail Mail

A Young rapper from Sierra Leone has been inspiring children across Hull to exchange stories about their lives through music.

Nineteen-year-old Lansana Mansaray, known as Barmmy Boy, is in Hull as part of a project to connect schools here and in Hull’s twin townFreetown, the capital of the west African country.

Over two months, he will work with children from St Mary’s College in west Hull, Winifred Holtby in Bransholme and Wilberforce College in east Hull.

He said: “It’s my first time out of Freetown and it’s really different.

“Everything is more organised, and the schools are all provided by the Government.

“It’s strange, but I am enjoying it.”

Among the issues Barmmy Boy raps about are growing up in Freetown, HIV/Aids and the aftermath of the civil war that ravaged the country for a decade.

He was brought to the UK by Hull-based organisation Cafe Society and funded by the British Council and Government arts programme Creative Partnerships.

Cafe Society organiser Jon Robson said: “We met Barmmy Boy when we went to Sierra Leone.

“He had so much energy and creativity, we thought he’d be fantastic with children here and they could really learn from each other. We got him some funding to buy him a laptop so he could start producing music and videos in Freetown and he could learn the skills to pass on to other youngsters there.”

Yesterday, Barmmy Boy took part in a performance at St Mary’s College, Cranbrook Avenue, with teenagers participating in a special week to coincide with Hull’s Wilberforce year.

This year is the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, which followed a campaign against slavery led by Hull MP William Wilberforce.

Barmmy Boy said: “It’s been great working with people here.

“They have made up their own lyrics about the issues that affect them, and we’ve been editing videos to accompany them.

“I want to take the skills I’ve learned here back to Sierra Leone.

“Many teenagers in Freetown are disillusioned. They move out of Sierra Leone and never bring the skills they have learned back to their country. I believe there is a lot more to do in Freetown. It doesn’t help the country when the youth leave and never come back.”

Barbara Veloso, 13, of Massey Close, west Hull, who has been working with Barmmy Boy, described the experience as “amazing”.

She said: “I’ve never rapped before, but I have been this week.

“Some of the stories Barmmy Boy told us about through his music are surprising.

“I had no idea many of the soldiers in Sierra Leone during the war were children.”

Andy Rendell, 14, of Malpas Close, in north Hull, said: “I was really shy about singing and it’s been great doing it as a group.

“All of us who took part have discovered hidden talents.”

A collaborative, creative learning programme developed in partnership between Cafesociety.org, Creative Partnerships – Hull & iEARN – Sierra Leone.

On May 5, film-makers Jon Robson and Murray Clark, together with writer Matt Stephenson, will be visiting Freetown to work in schools on a major digital media project, developing children’s skills and helping them to tell their stories; building real, lasting links between a remote city in the east of England and another in the west of Africa.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Jon Robson
Hull based film-maker Jon Robson has been involved in many projects working with young people in Hull and East Yorkshire, The Seychelles, Ethiopia and The Navajo & Hopi reservations in the US, using film and new media to develop ICT and communication skills.

Matt Stephenson
Writer and journalist Matt Stephenson has many years of experience as a feature writer, columnist, editor and publisher and has also performed readings of his own creative work at Hull, Huddersfield and Ilkley literature festivals.

Murray Clark
Media / film specialist Murray Clarke has had 18 years involvement in media education and the arts. He has a wide range of skills and experience in the research, development and production of audio & visual projects.

PROJECT CONTEXT

Pupil voice :

At the core of this programme is the commitment to support pupils to articulate their voice and to develop their own stance, creative expression and personal identities through cross-cultural learning opportunities.

International links :

This learning programme is geared to forge informative, enriching and sustainable links between Hull and Freetown schools, building on the 25 year old twinning relationship between the two cities. It links closely in with the 2007 William Wilberforce Bicentennial of the abolition of slavery.

Curriculum relevance :

This program of work is set to draw on the power of new media technologies to capture the creative viewpoint of young people. In tandem with this, the scheme is geared to support young people, from Freetown and Hull, to engage with and respond to the themes of global citizenship issues. This is with particular reference to the ongoing issues surrounding human rights in the modern world.

Vital themes of social and moral responsibility, community involvement and political literacy are at the heart of the project. Students from both communities will continually develop their skills of (a) enquiry and communication and (b) participation and responsible action, central to citizenship programmes of study.

PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Aims – ‘Why are we doing this?’

• To give young people, from Freetown and Hull, a creative platform on which they can respond to the theme of global citizenship and human rights.

• To increase participating young people’s ability to express their thoughts and ideas through the vehicles of film and writing.

• To raise participating young people’s awareness about each other’s worlds and viewpoints.

• To engage teaching staff / parents, from Freetown and Hull, to share in the creative learning journey, with a view to developing their own skill sets.

Objectives ‘ What do we want to achieve?’

• To establish creative learning links between selected Hull and Freetown schools.

• To increase the learning engagement of young people, from Freetown and Hull, in the subjects of citizenship and literacy, through the introduction of film and writing techniques.

• To increase young people’s awareness of each other’s worlds and ideas.

• To increase young people’s confidence, within both communities, to articulate their world-view through film and writing.

• To broaden the range of skills and ability of young people, from Freetown and Hull, this is around the specific ability to author their own films and written work.

• To increase teaching staff / parents ability to support the further development of this work in both, Freetown and Hull, school settings.
PROJECT SCHEDULE – FREETOWN

Dates: 5/5/06 – 19/05/06

Initial Links :

A creative practitioner team is being supported by Creative Partnerships, Hull to make an initial visit to Freetown, during the above period.

The team’s practitioner lead, Jon Robson, has established productive links with the British Council and iLEARN organisations in Freetown – SL, which have given their support to act as brokers and facilitators during this time period.

At the start of this working period, a preview of film work coming out of Hull is to be shown to school representatives at the British Council Headquarters in Freetown.

School Networks :

In the first instance, the aim of this delivery period will be to work with Freetown schools that are already connected to Hull Schools. This will be in particular reference to St Charles and Kelvin Hall partners. In the second instance the team will be working with representatives from the British Council and IEARN to access new schools which might want to forge a link with the remaining Hull school’s participating in the programme.

Delivery Model :

The Creative team will work with young people to enable them to express themselves using film, photography and the written and spoken word through creative, biographical and documentary styles.

The delivery model is set to consist of a series of creative workshops for young people and adults with a view to embedding new skills, whist generating a collection of films, documenting their world-view.

This work will then be brought back to Hull and shown to young people to stimulate their own unique responses to their Freetown peers.
PROJECT SCHEDULE – HULL

Model of Delivery :

Post Freetown trip, contact with each of the Hull schools might take the form of a workshop day, to engage Hull pupils and teachers with the work coming out of their Freetown partner school. This would be in advance to the actual creative delivery phase expected to start from mid-June onwards. Initially, this delivery phase is likely to be limited to a few days in summer 06, across Hull partner schools.

As in Freetown, the Creative team will work with young people to enable them to express themselves using film, photography and the written and spoken word through creative, biographical and documentary styles.

As before, the delivery model is set to consist of a series of creative workshops for young people and adults with a view to embedding new skills, whist generating a collection of films, documenting their world-view.

Curriculum Relevance :

Through film and writing workshops, Hull young people will be encouraged to respond to the work of their counterparts in Freetown, comparing and contrasting their lives, looking at some of the emotional, political and economic factors which affect life in Hull and in Freetown.

The project will generate a greater understanding of each others culture by using film making workshops and new media technology as an ongoing dialogue and communication platform between students. Ultimately, the project aims to raise young people’s awareness of global development issues and equip them with the skills and knowledge to become active global citizens.

Freetown links :

The early stage of this project will provide a foundation for schools in Hull to build lasting relationships with partner schools in Freetown using the UK government Department for International Development (DfID) ‘Global School Partnership’ funding, enabling pupil and teacher exchanges between the cities which will bring Global Citizenship into many different aspects of the curriculum.

Cafesociety.org and The Afro Carribean Centre are holding a mid summers night of riddims beats and ryhmes in support of the schools in Shashemene. All money raised will go direct to the JRDC  school in Shashemene – Ethiopia. We are hoping to purchasea 2  laptop computers for video editing and 2 digital video cameras to enable the shooting of film.

All the films which were made by students from The International School and National College for the Arts were shown yesterday at the School as a mini end of project film festival.

It’s always a good buzz to see the kids reactions while they’re watching their films on a large screen in front of an audience. I think every single student felt proud of what they had achieved in such a short space of time.

We think the content is tremendous and by the end of the week we should have uploaded all the short films to our Cafesociety.org gallery

click here to view the videos on youtube.com

It’s not stopped raining for almost three days. Paradise is beautiful but when you can’t even leave the hotel beacuse of the mass downpour it gets a little upsetting.

I just heard back from friends in the UK today saying how nice the blue skies were. Please can we have some in the Seychelles..

So just to remind you of how nice these islands can look in the right weather, please click the link below and enjoy a true paradise :-

Enjoy the pictures..

We are currently preparing the final edits with the kids from The International School & National College For The Arts.
The project is coming to a close now and we have the film screenings for parents, students and invited guests on Tuesday 7th June @ 4pm at The International School.

The TV station is coming down as well as the newspaper and a selection of invited guests who have been instrumental in organising and funding this project.

The kids have produced 10 short films in total over a period of 14 days. They range in themes from environmental, political and cultural to healthy eating & beach life. The quality of work produced has really impressed us. The committment from the kids at the very start of the project led us to believe the end content would be something very special, and it is…

We arrive back in the UK late Thursday 9th June and as soon as we have a stable internet connection we will upload the kids films to Cafesociety.org website for all to see.

I hade a great time on the past 3 days we spent with John and Murray, working on the project. I learnt a lot especially on editing the movies we made. We used a program called Adobe Premiere. The program is great to use and it is very experiencing. It was great fun that I won’t mind doing it again. Actually I’d love to do it again because I learnt a lot.

Carlos

Before the visit of Jon and Murray, I hadn’t got the slightest clue of how to operate such equipment, so this has really been an experience.
I had expected it to be very difficult and complicated, but to my fortunate surprise the equipment and we had good, devoted instructors to do the filming, especially to witness the reaction of people to a film crew and a professional camera, and also to hear some of the answers people gave. I think we also made many acquaintances with the people we interviewed and talked to along the way.

I am delighted to have participated in the workshop as it has proved knowledge for something I knew nothing about, and it was great fun. I hope I, or something like it happens again.

Peter Purvis