Last night Des and I attended the one night live event in movie theaters around the country A Powerful Noise. This event was a screening of the documentary by the same name followed by a panel discussion including Nicholas Kristof, Madeleine Albright and CEO of CARE Helene Gayle.
The film was a documentary about three women who are fighting poverty in different ways on three different continents. This is the trailer and synopsis of the film on the documentary website:
Hanh is an HIV-positive widow in Vietnam. Nada, a survivor of the Bosnian war. And Jacqueline works the slums of Bamako, Mali. Three very different lives. Three vastly different worlds. But they share something in common: Power. These women are each overcoming gender barriers to rise up and claim a voice in their societies. Through their empowerment and ability to empower others, Hanh, Nada and Jacqueline are sparking remarkable changes. Fighting AIDS. Rebuilding communities. Educating girls.
Hanh learned that she had contracted HIV after her husband and daughter died from AIDS. Bouncing back from despair, she started a self-help group in Vietnam, called Immortal Flower, to give people living with HIV/AIDS a place for support, counseling and health care.
Nada is a working mother of three children. As a refugee, she survived the Bosnian War. Her women’s association, Maja Kravica, is helping ease hostilities between Serbs and Bosniaks in a region marred by war crimes and massive destruction. Nada is building an agricultural cooperative to offer employment opportunities for war widows, and fair trade markets for families to sell their crops and livestock.
Jacqueline, better known as “Madame Urbain” fights forced labor practices in the slums of Bamako, Mali. Madame Urbain stands up for the rights of powerless girls who are often abused in the workplace or on the streets of the big city. Her organization, APAF, provides girls a basic education, teaches them vocational skills and places them in safe jobs.
A Powerful Noise takes you inside the lives of these women to witness their daily challenges and their significant victories over poverty and oppression. Their stories are personal yet illustrate larger issues affecting millions of marginalized women worldwide. A Powerful Noise is a meditation on the inherent potential of women to change the world.
The focus of the panel discussion was the impact poverty has on women, and the impact women have on poverty. It was the assumption of the film and the panelists that educated, healthy, business-owning women are the greatest resource we have in fighting global poverty. It is mindblowing when one realizes the disproportionate impact poverty has on women, and the unlimited potential women can have in changing the world. Check out these videos by CARE to see what I mean:
And another video, this one by the Nike Foundation, that makes the same point:
So, what are you going to do to fight global poverty? I’d suggest first seeing the documentary. Then I’d suggest maybe sponsoring a girl in a poor country through World Vision or Compassion International. Or maybe you could give a woman a micro-loan to start a business through Kiva. Or maybe you could partner with CARE who has taken this method of fighting global poverty seriously by focusing their efforts on helping women around the world. Whatever you do, please do something.
I attended the event in Davenport, Iowa where there was a good crowd, though not a sell out. The film is a powerful piece, which would make a great teaching tool in churches, schools, and with youth.
Too many, at least in some online communities I frequent, believe that gender injustice is a myth generated by feminists with a ‘victim mentality’ and time on their hands. Stories powerfully told by the women themselves shout volumes.
The film shows so well how a single woman, focused on a particular issue, can move mountains. For me it is motivation to try to find a clear focus so as to not be overwhelmed and get to work.