PREMIERE | Support Our Sudan Mosaic Interactive Media Project on Kickstarter!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 05:24PM 
SUDAN | HELO Magazine, featured on Kickstarter, Apr 6 - Jun 1, 2011
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Go here to support HELO's new Sudan Mosaic Interactive Media Project! Last night HELO Media's creative team gathered in Brooklyn to celebrate the launch of this new media project which glides on the frontier of what technology can do to help people around the world contribute direct action to prevent violence in a volatile country. Special thank you to the great musicians alSarah.com, StephanSaid.com, and Stefan Zeniuk of GatoLocoMusica.com for joining us to talk about this project and others over champagne and ice cream. Thanks also to Sam Saverance, Melanie Griot, Michelle N Warner for energy. And of course thanks to the amazing people who contributed to the project so far: Ruslan Shukurov, AlaKheir.com, BrendanBannon.com, Lindsay Stark, Noon Sharif, Mykolas Gudelis, and many more. The powerful song "Flying Stories" is by alSarah.com.
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WELCOME TO HELO MEDIA'S NEW CAMPAIGN!
We at HELO Media are raising funds to cover travel and production costs for two teams going to Sudan to produce stories for an innovative film project documenting local violence prevention initiatives along the north-south border and in Darfur. Rather than producing the footage into a conventional feature film, we are weaving each story line into an action-oriented online sensory experience we call the "virtual" Sudan Mosaic. Help us bring "virtual documentary" to crisis journalism and genocide prevention. We aim to release the final Sudan Mosaic website in September 2011. Until then, follow us at HELO's Sudan media page.
WHAT MAKES THIS PROJECT UNIQUE?
War continues to kill in Sudan, not only in Darfur but also in five disputed regions of the south despite the successful referendum on independence. Media coverage has focused much attention to presidents, armed groups, and the dead. Why not produce stronger, more creative stories about local peacemakers proposing solutions?
All politics are local, goes the saying. We believe this is no more true than in the politics of genocide and mass killing. That's why we are, as media producers with frontline peacebuilding and humanitarian experience, not only telling more creative stories about local reconciliation and violence prevention. We're also describing what actions concerned global citizens can take to support local peacemakers and presenting them in an entertaining platform which can encourage participation all over the world.
HOW DOES THE SUDAN MOSAIC WORK?
You find yourself on a savannah crossroads in the African town of Kadugli. You thought you had arrived to a website, but here women pass by carrying laundry bags balanced on their heads. Across the road, men wrestle an ox that battles them on the way to the market. Suddenly, a herder in a white robe riding high astride a camel begs your pardon as he passes. A wooden sign planted in the foreground reads:
"Welcome to the Sudan Mosaic. Take a look around! In each town, you will find a local peacemaker, watch a short film, and choose how to take action to support peace." Below the sign are two arrows.
"To Khartoum, Abyei, and Darfur," reads the first arrow. It points down a sun-baked, dusty road to the left toward a desert. Below it, another arrow reads, "To Bor, Malakal, and Juba." That one points right toward a skyline of verdant mountains. With your cursor, you can move through the site. Where would you like to go?
You choose to follow the dusty, sun-baked road and arrive at a nomadic settlement outside the poor, oil field town of Abyei. Camel herders graze their animals against the skyline. The figure of a man with a mustache and button-down shirt, carrying a small note pad, emerges from the shade of an acacia tree. It is Salim. He greets you, extends his hand, and freezes. Here, a video platform appears with a menu of options below it.
HOW DO I TAKE ACTION TO PREVENT VIOLENCE IN SUDAN?
If you push PLAY, the website screens a documentary short film in which Salim, a real-life Darfuri war survivor, describes how his family escaped war and fled to the capitol, Khartoum. He describes the fear he overcame returning home to rally people to create a reconciliation project aimed at rebuilding relations between southern-based Dinka Ngok and Darfur-based Arab-Meseriya herders.
Salim introduces local leaders who have been caught up in a fight over the drawing of the north-south border. And he describes his proposal for transforming the dispute. When the film finishes, the menu offers options for action you can take from whereever you live in the world. You can:
- VOTE on whether you recommend or dislike Salim's proposal for reconciling the fighting herders...
- LEARN MORE by clicking on a link to Salim's project page...
- DEBATE by following a link to the discussion forum...
- DONATE by following a link to the project page...
- INTERACT with the peacemaker and his project by following a link to a direct discussion page used only by him, his assistants, and people writing directly to him. Depending on security and Salim's internet access, the producers reserve the right to screen direct correspondence...
- SHARE the video story and Mosaic on your favorite social media platform, or...
As you journey through the Sudan Mosaic, you'll find at least ten storytellers proposing local violence prevention initiatives through their own video and action menu. Each will represent different geographic, class, and gender cross-sections of Sudan. Adventurers who look around will also find musicians performing pre-recorded concerts in some locations in the virtual Sudan.
WHO'S PRODUCING THIS PROJECT?
HELO Media, pronounced "heal-o," a slang term for helicopters in crisis zones, connects frontline crisis responders around the world with the creative arts. After the success of our pilot project, HELOmagazine.org, a platform for sharing creative humanitarian media online, we built a team of professional media producers and human rights advocates to focus on this central Africa project.
The Sudan Mosaic Interactive Media project was created by HELO FounderDaniel J Gerstle with the early advice of Suliman Giddo, a leading reconciliation expert and founder of the Darfur Peace and Development Organization. Daniel has served as a humanitarian aid worker, transitional justice researcher, and journalist in war zones including Sudan, Somalia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and Iraq. In 2008, he consulted for the heads of UN agencies on measures to prevent famine in Sudan.
The Sudan Mosaic team benefits from the tremendous talents of filmmaker Lucas Gath (Sins of My Father), filmmaker Seth Chase (Bang for Your Buck), photographer Brendan Bannon (Daily Dispatches), photographer Ala Kheir, development specialist Noon Sharif (Ahfad University), business developer Sam Saverance, editor Melanie Griot, and many more. Music is performed on the site by alSarah & the Nubatones. We also benefit from the advice of Columbia University's Humanitarian Affairs Working Group; Oxfam International's media and advocacy team; and ShootingPoverty.org.
HOW DO I LEARN MORE?
Contact us at: Sudan Mosaic c/o HELO Media, 402 Graham Avenue, PMB 205, Brooklyn, NY 11211 USA. Confidential and business contact: HELObazaar@gmail.com. General inquiries: HELOmagazine@gmail.com. HELOmagazine.org.
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Go here to support HELO's new Sudan Mosaic Interactive Media Project!