Cameron Zohoori – Social Media and Training – Together Liberia

Cameron is a Robertson Scholar at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is studying Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Marine Science and Policy, while pursuing his passion for documentary film and photography. He spent summer 2009 using radio to reconnect Kentucky prisoners with their families, while working with the Thousand Kites organization at the Appalshop media collective. Summer of 2010 he was in the village of Manomenima in rural Sierra Leone working on a grassroots community development initiative. His photos have been featured in Al Jazeera English, the Duke Arts Festival, and the Duke Chronicle. Cameron is excited about using media to tell stories in new ways and change the way people think.

On Music by Nasseman and Takun-J

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Though our internet and electricity might disagree, we are well under way with our second training session here in Monrovia. Our second group of four trainees have had two and a half days of audiovisual storytelling training and discussion, and two to three days of story collection out in the field. This time around, the students are staying in Monrovia to explore Liberian arts and culture - and how they are used to reflect on and influence society and politics. They are now hard at work … [Read more...]

http://togetherliberia.org/1713/

The Radio is Coming to You

During our sojourn to the seaside town of Cestos, capital of Rivercess County, we launched the Soundbooth, an audio documentary project modeled on NPR"s StoryCorps. The idea is to have two people very familiar with each other - a mother and a daughter, a teacher and a student, a pair of friends - interview each other on a story or topic relevant to their lives. StoryCorps has been doing this for a while, and has a great archive of American stories, told in conversational, intimate style. We"re … [Read more...]

After Echo

Situated next to a monument of Liberia’s first President, Joseph J. Roberts, the ruins of the Ducor Hotel is one of Monrovia’s haunting relics of civil war. Like many of the city’s buildings its skeleton stands charred and gutted, looking over the water. Along the periphery the afternoon continues with a sense of normalcy. “Sad when you see a hotel like that, when you know once upon a time man…” … [Read more...]

Suppression Inna We Nation, It Makes the Poor People Weep

Corruption bringing poverty And poverty putting my sisters on the street... They abuse us many days And misuse us so many ways - Nasseman, 'Bonkey' We were first introduced to Rabbie Nassrallah, aka Nasseman, last Wednesday night, by Sayeed, the manager of our guesthouse. We didn't realize at the time that we were meeting Liberia's premier reggae star, nor just how quickly he would become a significant part of our project. Rabbie has been living in Monrovia his entire life, … [Read more...]

Media that matters

As the Together Liberia team sets out on this project to empower Liberians to tell stories to their fellow citizens and the world, I"ve been inspired with confidence that media tools have the potential to transform lives and, potentially, the way the country operates. We"ve already seen that Liberians have taken steps to tell their own stories through the media and enable other Liberians to do the same. The Together Liberia team visited the headquarters of the Liberia Media Initiative for … [Read more...]