Window to Tomorrow

When we work in the field, one of the most amazing things for us to observe is when our beneficiary population gets a chance to see a video for the first time.

When we turn on the projector and point it at a wall of their hut, the rural people we serve are absolutely astounded. They cannot comprehend how they can possibly be seeing a video depicting a scene in their village or some other place that they're so familiar with. They see no equipment except the little device in my hand. And yet, they see a rectangular image on the wall, in many ways a window out of their world of despair and into the world of hope. 

Each small village is unique. But across countries and continents, these communities have one thing in common: problems that lead to a sub-optimal way of life. Sometimes it is overt suffering, but more often it is a subtle, yet constant, irritation at being forced to settle for the fate they’re handed.  Often, this way of life is heavily influenced by a lack of knowledge, insight, or acumen. They're simply doing something improperly because they haven’t had the opportunity to know a different way. Everyday examples of this might be not washing their hands at critical times during the day, not managing their garden in the way it will grow best, not using bed nets to protect their children from malaria, or some other behavior negatively impacting their quality of life.

So many suffering people can live dramatically happier lives if they adopted certain behaviors that would make them healthier or more prosperous. Unfortunately, because they are so disconnected from information available in more developed areas, they just don't know what these behaviors are. If they do know about them, they may not trust them, because there has never been anybody to prove to them it’s a behavior worth adopting. They tend to stick with the cultural norm because it’s what they know and trust.

A projected window to the world removes this disconnect. On their wall, they watch a testimony of somebody who suffered the consequences of not washing their hands, and they hear the confession that they knew the proper thing to do but they simply didn't do it. The people who appear in this window look like them, sound like them, and are in surroundings like them, so they're believable.

The people in the “window” show them the better behavior: they demonstrate how to plant five kernels of corn instead of 7. They show them how to wash hands properly with enough soap and 20 seconds of lather. They show them how to wear a face covering or mask. The people in the window testify that after they began to practice the proper behavior, their suffering diminished and they lived a more fruitful life. The people in the window are trusted advisors encouraging the poor and destitute who are watching the video to experience a life with more hope and promise for a better tomorrow.