How do you tell the story of millions of individuals without turning each unique soul in to a statistic?

One of my frequent critiques of humanitarian and development organizations revolve around how they present or project the story of the population that they serve.

When I moved to the U.S. from South Africa as a child, I experienced first hand the misconceptions that many people have about the continent of Africa. This and other experiences have made me acutely aware of how Africans (and people of other regions of the world) are portrayed to the American consumer audience. Even beyond the critiques of neocolonialism I find it extremely important that we consistently examine how we (the socially minded non-profits, organizations and businesses) portray the people we work along side and for in other countries, particularly in our fundraising efforts.

I am very excited about a the following project by Discover The Journey called ‘i am child’. The way they have chosen to frame the harsh and often brutal reality facing millions of children puts a face to this realities and then placing the story is a broader one- ours – without removing dignity from either group. I hope you find it as refreshing as I did.

i am child from Discover The Journey on Vimeo.

Their stories look like our stories. If they carry weapons, we wound each other with weapons of words. If they lack the basics to survive, we lack compassion.

If they are in physical danger, we are in danger of losing ourselves. If they fear death, we are afraid of costly love. If they hunger for food, we crave for what never satisfies.

When we begin to listen to their voices, we can relate. When we can relate, we can react. Learn more about yourself by learning more about them.

Let the “i” and “them” become “us” and “our”. Journey with us. Discover the greatest global crisis the world has yet to see.

Then join DTJ’s give7 to help tell their stories.

Learn more about yourself by viewing more about them. View the entire i am child webpage: discoverthejourney.org/iamchild