Cambodian Mine Action Centre

So for my documentary I am following an all- female landmine team in Cambodia. I originally contacted MAG to work with their team members, but after filling in the media form, I was told I was not a large enough organisation and that I would unfortunately not be able to shadow their work in Cambodia.

Through a stroke of luck, and some good, previosuly- made contacts, I came into conversation with Mike Minehan of CMAC and he quickly made me feel welcome in terms of working with the in-country staff memebers, and excited to meet the team!!

So I am off to Battambang to see the work of CMAC’s all-female landmine clearance team first hand, and to show what is involved in the work of a female landmine clearance team member and how they feel about it.

I quickly came to realise whilst preparing my for final project documentary that contacts are key! and Mike Minehan and Bill Morse (of CSHD, who put me in contact with CMAC) are two very important points of call that I have made.

Phone Apps for Landmines

Yes, you read it correctly, Windows has come up with a phone app to ‘detect and find landmines to save lives’. This was a particularly interesting article that I found in my research for landmine clearance teams.

Cambodia Landmine Doco – Why women?

After my documentary pitch, I was faced with the question: why do all- female landmine clearance teams even exist in Cambodia? I asked the person who I felt would know best, a previous contact and landmine victim – Stuart Hughes – and he got straight back to me with the following answer: (I found it a very interesting hypothesis)

Quite simply, a generation of men were exterminated by the Khmer rouge, opening the way for women to take on traditionally “male” roles. Many of the men who could have worked as Deminers were killed – which is why the percentage of people under 30 in Cambodia is so high.

Also, you’ve got the traditional Khmer gender roles of subservience to men being subverted by women Deminers, which is a really interesting dynamic.

Have a read of this (‘Women in Cambodian Society’) http://www.seasite.niu.edu/khmer/ledgerwood/women.htm

One World Media

So my face and my documentary idea are finally up on the One World Media website, and I must admit I was very excited to see them! There are 18 students being funded on the page, which is supported by CBA, channel 4 and See Africa Differently. And the titles range from ‘Motorbike Midwife’ to ‘Being Black in a country without blackness’ for more information check it out for yourself!

My breif documentary summary looks like this:

Female Bomb Disposal Teams Of Cambodia (TV/online) In the predominately male-dominated job of landmine clearance, women are often overlooked. This film will follow an all-female landmine clearance team in Cambodia.

And having given them the option of which photo to put up, they went with ‘nice’ over ‘action’ shot.

Cambodia Landmine Doco – The Audience

With so many media outlets and platforms for international current affairs documentaries and long form news reports, the task of identifying my specific audience was quite a tricky one… But nonetheless one I have now decided upon. I have always wanted my documentary to be video/ film based as I feel that the subject matter lends itself very well to good visual footage, but this does not mean that I have to simply look at television, as there are now so many online streams to accomodate such documentaries.

The Options:

• Channel 4 – Unreported World
• Al Jazeera – Witness
• Al Jazeera – People and Power
• Al Jazeera – 101 East
• Al Gore – Current TV
• BBC – World Serivce (for an optional radio piece)
• BBC 2- This World

The Winner: Al Jazeera – Witness

Of all of the options for my target audience, I feel that my documentary best fits in the programming and criteria of the three Al Jazeera strands. Of these, I have chosen Witnes due to the guidelines…

“Witness is Al Jazeera English’s flagship documentary starnd, presenting two international documentaries each week which bear witness to the ordinary – and the extraordinary – lives of people across the globe.”

Since I am focusing on an ordinary Cambodian woman with an extraordinary job (landmine clearance worker), I feel that this fits in well with the programmes this strand broadcasts.

Cambodia Landmine Doco – The Contacts

Here are the three organisations that I have made direct contact with on the ground in Cambodia and who are willing to participate in my documentary. They all have landmine clearance elements to their work, as well as rehabilitation and education programmes to try and prevent more people from getting injured due to landmines…

1. MAG – Mine Adivsory Group. ‘A neutral and impartial humanitarian organisation, MAG  works in current and former conflict zones to reduce the threat of death and injury from remnants of conflict.’
2. CMAC – Cambodian Mine Action Centre. ‘Cambodia’s leading demining orgainisatin, working in the key areas of Survey and Land Release, Mine and UXO Clearance, Mine and UXO Risk Education and Training, Research and Development’ “Saving lives and Supporting Development for Cambodia” Number of staff: 1,715. number of field staff: 1,387. number of female staff: 113.’
3. Cambodia Landmine Museum (and self-help demining) – ‘Was founded by ex-child soldier Aki Ra as a way to tell the world about the horrors landmines had inflicted on his native Cambodia, he used proceeds to clear landmines wherever he could find them.’

I will focus more specifically once I have all of my footage, but my plan is to interview a few key people (2-3) within each landmine clearance team. This will be with equal time and weighting across each organisation. Then once home, I will identify the strongest, most relatable or interesting characters and focus the documentary around them. I am looking for an ordinary yet outstanding character to carry the story of “The Female Bomb Disposal team of Cambodia”.

Women and Landmines

I am very keen to cover the story of landmines from the female landmine clearance teams’ perspective. I am aware that there are a few all-female landmine clearance teams, but I had not considered the reasons for these being in existance.

It was not until I gave my pitch to the rest of the course that this (very important and key) question was raised…

Why are there all-female landmine clearance teams at all? Are they better at the job? Is it for their safety? Or is it to increase publicity and awareness?

Either way, the work that these women do is still inspirational and  I am looking forward to projecting their vocies into a more public domain through my documentary, One World Media and YourWorldView.

One World Media Funding

So it was a stressful process, many a late night… but I have just found out that I have been successful with the One World Media student funding!!

I am SO excited!!

My Title: Female Bomb Disposal Teams Of Cambodia

The funding body, YourWorldView is looking for a 3 minute trailer of my overall 20 minute university documentary. This will go up on their website and hopefully showcase the work of female landmine clearance workers in Cambodia.

I will be starting up a new blog to focus on my progress with this documentary and the filming I do out in Cambodia, so watch this space…

Now my question is which photo to send in for the website?!

NGOs and landmines – The Evaluation

The Task – A four and a half minute radio package on the role of NGOs in the removal of worldwide landmines for a BBC world service audience.

The Execution – 3 interviews, 100s of quotes, research on the work of NGOs in Mozamabique, Cambodia etc and a good flowing script all need to be included.

After speaking to Stuart Hughes I felt that the initial focus of the radio package should be the personal experience he went through, whilst reporting in Iraq. Having stepped on a land mine and loosing his leg as a BBC reporter in the country, he was a relatable western character for the intended audience – rather than a name-less victim from the developing world. This would give my radio package a much more personal quality, instead of simply talking about the thousands of land mine victims who lose their lives or their limbs every year in developing countries.

Stuart Hughes now works with MAG (Mine Advisory Group), an NGO committed to creating a mine-free world. This links in well with my title, and allowed me to flow into the next element of the radio package smoothly – the work of NGOs.

It was quite difficult to choose the best quotes from both Staurt Hughes and Tom Shelton (Handicap International) as they made some really good points about the role of their specific NGOs, the role of NGOs in general and how the local communities benefit from the relief work carried out. I had to decide what the focus should be before I could cut out any clips, as there was no way all of the information could be included.

Also, with my final interviewee – Danny Whear of Shelter Box, the NGO did not actually work directly with landmine victims, but worked with communities in developing countries that happen to also be affected. Since landmines often affect communities suffering from a lack of education, famine and poverty, the services provided by Shelter Box are very transferable and the spokesperson could comment on the benefits this would bring to the people. I therefore had to make sure that this was clear within the package, to ensure that all the information I gave was clear and accurate.

NGOs and landmines – The radio package

The role of NGOs in landmine clearance in developing countries – Parts 1 and 2

Featuring interviews from:

1. Stuart Hughes – MAG
2. Tom Shelton – Handicap International
3. Danny Whear – Shelter Box

Unfortunately, this had to be uploaded as two installments, as Audioboo will only take files up to 3 mintues long, and there is a slight overlap between the two.