A Member Asked
A member of our club suggested we did something to put Zimbabwe in a good light instead of all the negative perceptions that the world read about Zimbabwe and its people.
The idea was put to a friendly club in Zimbabwe to put to their Rotaract section and and the finished version can now be viewed on U-tube at http://www.youtube.com/
I do hope you like the result. It is less than 5 mins long. The Rotaract group explain .....
THE SMILE OF ZIMBABWE….
Zimbabwe through various forms of media has not been portrayed in a positive light. Most Images of Zimbabwe shown outside the country show a negative side of Zimbabwe which has overshadowed the positive aspects.
This was a realization made by President Jo Ann Ross, of the Rotary E-Club of London Centenary, each time she came back to the country. She was motivated to call upon the junior wings of her former club, the Rotary Club of Borrowdale Brooke, to produce a film showing the positive aspects of our beautiful country.
In March 2013, the Rotaract Club of Borrowdale Brooke decided to take this project on as a group as their first international project, aimed towards improving the image of Zimbabwe and help show the world a side of the country they had probably not seen before.
Rotaract members collected videos and pictures over a period of 6 months from various angles of the country and festivals they had visited. All the footage used to make this video was taken using smartphones.
Pictures were taken from the Harare International Festival of the Arts, 'With Love Foundation Soup Kitchen', The Zimbabwe Carnival, images of children reciting songs and playing games, the night scene in Harare and even a clip of a Rotaract member bungee jumping in Victoria Falls.
The pictures and clips were collected and compiled by Farai Gwaze and video editing and production is by Kumbulani Zamuchiya from the US Embassy Public Affairs Section Zimbabwe. Music in the background include songs from inspirational singers, a choir directed by Rotarian Kundisai Mutero, “Ngoromera” by Zimbabwean Musician Oliver Mtukudzi and “Mwana Wamai” by Alexio Kawara.
The decision to call the project “The Smile of Zimbabwe” came about as the team were working on the final edit and decided the main focus of the video was to show the various smiles found on the people of Zimbabwe and a decision was made to refer all the smiles as Zimbabwe’s “single smile.”
Initially the project was to be put on DVD for distribution to various clubs around the world but a decision was made to add the video to YouTube for the world to view. The link to the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Rotaract Club of Borrowdale Brooke members sincerely hope the ‘Smile of Zimbabwe’ will bring fresh ideas of their beautiful country and ultimately change the perception of the outside world