Here is our Day 4 recap of some fun and interesting adventures!

Day 4: Waking up to our second day in the country town of Debre Berhan was exciting. We had a great long drive out the night before and shot late into the night at Dereje’s, but the team was ready for another day with him and his family. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we wanted to capture Dereje and his family during their normal Sunday activities, which were going to church and spending the day together as a family. We loaded our faithful bus with gear and began traveling the couple miles or so to Dereje’s house.

As we unloaded, we caught his family walking the dusty road to the paved road where they would rent a horse drawn carriage for the rest of the way. Although we drew lots of looks as we followed the family, I could tell they just loved being together. As we turned from the main road onto smaller neighborhood streets, we were amazed by the variety of materials used to construct the homes (or shelters) in which people lived…corrugated metal, sticks, mud, blocks, scrap pieces of wood, and the list goes on. Arriving at Dereje’s church, I soon realized it was the same church we had visited the year before to interview the men and women who were in LIA HIV programs.

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Today’s post continues the stories from Africa. Enjoy!

The third day of our trip took us to a town 4 bumpy hours outside Addis. A few members of the team took the bus with our new Ethiopian friend, Dereje, the others roughed it in the van; a vehicle which apparently does not handle rough roads as well as an Ethiopian bus, a discovery we would later make on the trip home. Read the rest of the entry >

As some of you may remember, Rule29 ventured to Africa last year to learn about the work that LIA is doing in Sub-Saharan Africa. (For a recap go here.)

Rule29 has since adopted Life in Abundance as one of the organizations we support through giving of our talents and advocate it as much as possible. To see an organization that trains and empowers Africans to become the catalyst of change in their communities is not only inspiring but, most importantly, sustainable. To highlight this great work we went to shoot a video documentary that focuses on one of their programs, showing the need and potential change that can develop through LIA.

Although we’d hoped to blog daily, sadly we had no internet connection and were only able to twitter once we figured out how to get our phones working in Ethiopia. So we have decided to dedicate one day a week for the next few weeks to tell the story of our trip. Stay tuned for bits on the progress of the documentary, some funny stories and a couple of heart-wrenching stories. We’ll take you on this adventure as much as we can, building up to the release of the documentary this fall. In the meantime, check out our initial Flickr set that we may be adding to over time.

OUR FIRST UPDATE:

Day 1-2 was pretty uneventful. Hooked up with the LIA team in Detroit, and after two more connections we finally arrived in Addis. No luggage or equipment lost; we were just excited as a team what the next day had in store for us. We had a quick production meeting and knew that tomorrow had us interviewing some trainers & the hardcore street kids, filming some of the programs and doing an interview with Dereje, our main character for this project. As jet lag started to creep in, we all applied some deet and went off to bed with the excitement of tomorrow in our minds.

For additional recaps check out J.J. Peterson’s or LIA’s blogs. J.J. always has kernels of wit and wisdom. And he also provided much comic relief as can be witnessed in the video embedded below. After a long day and three flats, eventually to be four, JJ lost it a bit.

We still have the credit cause on facebook. If you are interested in supporting this film and want to appear in the credits, please sign up and give here. Please let us know any questions you may have as we go through this, and please share your thoughts or any projects you’re working on for the greater good.

PS: Don’t forget to check out the coffee table book form last year, or the newly created limited edition letterpress poster.

Everything is packed (well, almost). All the equipment and bug spray has been purchased. Long labored over plans are in place. At 11:32 am, central time, Wednesday morning the long planned and discussed trip to Ethiopia begins!!

After 3 layovers and over 20 hours of travel and more than a couple thoughts of ‘are we there yet?’ the Rule29, MacDonald Photography and LIA crew will arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and set up camp to begin the process of capturing the stories and lives of the people that LIA serves everyday.

The project we are working on is LIA’s very first documentary. With the help of our partners and some good friends, we will be spending the next 10 days watching, listening and searching for what it is that makes these people and the LIA organization so unique. All of this in efforts to create a film that will educate about the work LIA is doing for communities in Northeast Africa.

Part of the time we will be following an LIA trainer, Dereje, who leaves his family every week to work with orphans and vulnerable children in the city. We are hoping to learn what life is like for these kids who have to survive on the streets. And also what life can become when LIA is able to help.

Make sure to keep posted as there is so much more to come!