I heard about echolite media through a friend of a friend of a friend…on a radio show. Echolite provides low cost media solutions for foreign missionaries and missions based organizations. I shot them an email last week with a copy of the brochure and got some really positive feedback.
“Looks super cool. I dig it. You guys are doin it right. I’m interested. I want to hear more about it for sure. I forwarded your pamphlet to another guy who works with me and his response was: “I want to be their friends.” I’m trying to get you guys hooked up with a guy named Seth Haines, who has been out to MGK before and started a project called the Mother Letter Project. (http://motherletter.blogspot.com/). I really do want to hear more about how you all got connected and the whole story behind it.”
-Bobby Neptune, International President of Echolite Media
So, I gave Bobby a call and told him our story. He was extremely encouraging and gave me some great advice. In this phase of fundraising, PR and marketing it was really humbling to slow down my pen, put away my calculator and listen to a guy who really just wanted to share his heart for Africa.
Bobby emphasized the importance of sharing the process (blogs, episodes along the way, websites, letters, etc), making fundraising about building relationships, overcoming the “flies on eyes” media that dominates the Western view of Africa and remembering to set the camera down and join in the experience.
Feeling inspired? Check out echolite’s newest project.
Tonight, perhaps for the first time, I saw the project outside of myself. I saw it as someone who might be passing by and see the images and, as I did, stop and want to invest. Seeing the next-to-final brochure and the first streaming edits of the trailer (thanks to Zac) made me want to listen. Made me want to go.
I’m uploading an email from the Caldwells which includes their new MGK site, check it out.
Hello everybody. I know it’s a rare occasion to hear from us and I’m sorry it comes in the form of a mass email. But we’ve just finished designing a new website that will explain in detail the work of Malo Ga Kujilana. The website will serve as a constant reference to those who want to learn and share about where we work and what it is exactly we do. We’ll keep updating it so it will be a place you can go to hear about what neat things are happening in this corner of the world.
So stop by and check it out at www.kujilana.org
We’ll continue to keep our blog going at kujilana.blogspot.com but we’d like to start gearing it towards giving you updates on our family and not just the work here.
We appreciate all you’ve done to support us and our journey here in Africa. Hope you have a great 2009!!!
UPDATE (1/14/09): Dos Santos gave Rusty a green light on music permission so long as we bring proper release documents this summer. Great news.
Rusty, Ann and Hallie Caldwell
Charlayne Hunter-Gault is world-class journalist and author. She has an immaculate track record with civil right crusades, from desegregation in the American South to anti-apartheid efforts in South Africa. As the one of the two first black students to cross race lines at the University of Georgia, she brings a unique perspective to post-apartheid Africa, its lingering inequities, power coups, and fledgling democracies.The New York Times, The New Yorker, and NPR have all availed themselves of her writing. Her journalism is spackled with awards and her hair should be. She now lives in South Africa, which means there’s a a razor-slim chance we could interview her. Fasting and supplication should start now.
This is Charlayne’s most recent book. If the title alone doesn’t sell it to you, here’s an excerpt from the introduction:
“On my annual trips home to the United States from South Africa, I am constantly amazed at how little of the good news- or what I prefer to call the ‘new news’- about Africa is getting through to most Americans. With rare exceptions, the people I encounter, from all walks and stations of life, still think of Africa as the ‘dark continent,’ made darker still by the ravages of AIDS and the ongoing conflicts that occasionally produce enough carnage to merit a minute or two on a television newscast. […] At the moment, it is a continent at a critical moment in its history, with its nations undergoing change, albeit at different stages, and in many cases transformation.”
So beg, borrrow, or steal if you need. I bought.
When we last talked to Kyle, he told us about his connection with Feliciano Dos Santos, leader of the international music group Massukos. Their album “Bumping” is featured on iTunes and Feliciano has been doing some very interesting projects focusing on “empowerment through music” in regards to sanitation in the Niassa province.
We are going to try and arrange for Massukos to perform in the village during late July, and possibly use his tracks for our soundtrack.
Check out these sites for information on Massukos, Felicano Dos Santos and his Goldman Environmental Prize.
*There’s also a short documentary titled “The Big Shout” on the Massukos site highlighting their music and a music video featuring Niassa here
