Watch the above trailer for "A Trip to the Market"

This is the first public showing of "A Trip to the Market." Come to the CHS Performing Arts Center at 650 D Avenue on June 3rd, 2012 at 6pm to see the movie on the big screen!

Since we live in or visit Coronado, which is such a beautiful place, it can be easy to forget about suffering outside of our community. However, two CHS seniors and their film instructor got to experience real suffering firsthand on a trip to Ghana in July 2011. Maya Barba and Simonne Villamichel Borel have been studying film for the past few years at Coronado School of the Arts under CHS teacher Angela Tieman. Last summer, they, along with a group of other students who worked on various projects, had the opportunity to go on a trip to Ghana and make a documentary about an issue facing hundreds of teenagers: Kayayo. 

Kayayo is a child labor labor issue in Ghana. The government only pays for children to attend primary school, so if a teenager wants to continue his or her education, they must go and suffer in huge markets, working for pennies as a Kayayo. The film follows two Ghanaian teenagers, Lewis and Emelia. These Kayayo share their stories and recount their experiences while working. 

Angela was inspired to go on the trip as soon as she heard about it from Kirstin Green, CHS Mosaics teacher. "I'd always wanted to work in social documentary, so I thought that a trip to Ghana would be a good opportunity to create something meaningful," said Angela. Kirstin, having been a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, already had connections with several families in the area, and they helped her find Lewis and Emelia. "It was great to do everything through Kirstin because I didn't want to do something that would exploit the culture -- I wanted to educate and inform people about a social issue in the area." Angela said.

Before going on the trip, the Ghana team had to do a lot of fundraising. They hosted both an auction and a gala, as well as several small bake sales and garage sales. "We raised between $35,000 and $40,000, which primarily funded the different projects that we did, such as the new computer lab and refurbished classrooms, as well as the documentary," Angela said. The group even raised enough money to give Lewis and Emelia, the Kayayo in the film, scholarships to further their education.

The team returned to Coronado with 36 hours of footage and no idea what to do next. Working countless hours and giving up weekends and lunch breaks, Simonne, Maya and Angie managed to edit the film into a 30-minute documentary that tells the story of two Ghanaian teenagers. 

To keep the community service going, Angela and Kirstin are founding their own sustainable development nonprofit organization, called Community Wings. "The whole idea of Community Wings is to be sustainable. We don't just want to raise money and make improvements in a community -- we want to give the community members the skills and resources to keep those improvements going."

This is the first public showing of "A Trip to the Market." Come to the CHS Performing Arts Center at 650 D Avenue on June 3rd, 2012 at 6pm to see the movie on the big screen!

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Sophia Zaller

Online Editorial Intern

eCoronado.com                                                                                

Do you have a story, news item, or event that you would like to share with Coronado? Feel free to email me at sophiazaller@yahoo.com. I look forward to hearing from you!