Scenes from Nepal
I have been editing some of the short clips I took during my trip to Nepal in February. I'm publishing them through the Glacier Trust channels under the series title 'Scenes from Nepal'. I'm hoping they provide a taste of what life is like in the communities our projects support. I'm hoping too that they do something else. I want them to nurture a connection for our UK based supporters, so that they can feel more than just sympathy towards the people their donations help. 'Empathy fuels connection, sympathy drives disconnection' as Brene Brown explains:
If we only sympathise with people in Nepal, we don't connect with them in any real way. We develop a fleeting relationship, because we haven't connected on a human to human to level - Nepal remains distant emotionally as well as geographically. If our comms invoke only feelings of sympathy they are failing.
When we empathise with someone and the emotions they are experiencing we feel a connection to them. This is because we know, from first hand experience, what something feels like; whether it feels good, bad, boring or invigorating. Our comms can do this, it is what I'm attempting to do with Scenes from Nepal.
When you watch the video you can feel the joy these children are experiencing, it connects you to them on a human to human level. Closer emotionally to Nepal if not geographically:
The next clip is a volleyball game, I was desperate to join in when I filmed this. Not because of some cynical need to 'bond', but because I just really wanted to play some sports! I felt a strong urge to experience what they were experiencing, because I know how it feels.
Lastly, here's a slightly longer clip taken while walking through a village called Kirtipur. This one just captures everyday life, there is nothing unusual going on (apart from me walking through holding up a camera!) What you can see here though, is that with some extra funding, communities can invest in equipment that makes their lives easier. The water fountain at the end of this clip is the result of an irrigation project that TGT helped to fund. With a bit more funding we could enable a whole lot more to happen.