We made this video with some of the students that HOPE sponsors at Pamulaan in the southern Philippines, where I was for the last two weeks. I had to interview each one of them about their lives growing up and their current family situations. At Pamulaan the music and the smiles are constant. This could be considered odd because when you start hearing about the situations that the students come from – even ones that their families are currently living in – you uncover some depressingly bleak living conditions. Altogether there are about 90 students at the university. All of them are there on full scholarships provided by various donor orgs from all over the world. Without the full scholarships, almost none of them would have any other shot at university education. We visited one of the student’s villages and it is of the no-electricity, sleep-and-wake-with-the-sun, when-there’s-no-food-we-eat-only-bananas-for-weeks-on-end variety. Some of the students go home on holidays to families who are living in slum conditions, and so the students see the education they are getting for free at Pamulaan as their ticket out of poverty. A big theme for me was how little money they actually need, judged by western standards. I was feeling it when we took them for fast food, and one of the students remarked that the meal cost more than her total support money for the semester, which was between 5 and 10 bucks. Those sorts of inequalities are easier to deal with when you just hear about …
Every year The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Asia Society recognize US high school students that demonstrate in-depth understanding of key issues in international affairs. Sarah from Westlake Village, CA is one of the 2008 winners of a 000 scholarship. She created a video comparing her life and those of her peers with people she met in Nepal, finding different definitions of necessity, wealth, and happiness. Sarahs video included footage she shot while in Nepal with a media team documenting human rights issues and the recent historic elections. While there, she filmed an interview with the rebel leader at the time, Prachanda, who has since become the Prime Minister of Nepal. Sarah has also completed video projects for her local symphony orchestra and continues to follow the evolving political situation in Nepal. For more information on the prize, check out askasia.org
Video Rating: 0 / 5
28. January 2011 at 9:39 am
Very nice…..^^
28. January 2011 at 9:42 am
galing ng mga taga pamulaan! =)?
28. January 2011 at 10:05 am
@FabArrankar That’s right! Music IS my vacation.
28. January 2011 at 10:52 am
Really cool!
You cant live without making music, even on vacations xD
cheers
28. January 2011 at 11:02 am
Great video! Looks like a lot of fun.
28. January 2011 at 11:13 am
Ahhh, great video, this is really awesome! All thumbs up and pressing favorite.
28. January 2011 at 11:50 am
Salamat po! very good.
28. January 2011 at 12:28 pm
This is so cute.
28. January 2011 at 12:46 pm
Awesome project!
28. January 2011 at 1:46 pm
Congratulations! It is awesome!!!!!
28. January 2011 at 2:19 pm
hahahaha this is great, cute fun video
28. January 2011 at 3:10 pm
hahaha cool
28. January 2011 at 3:52 pm
OMG! Excellently done!
28. January 2011 at 4:46 pm
@Gimmeaflakeman
On this channel.
28. January 2011 at 4:59 pm
EXCELLENT! Featured!
28. January 2011 at 5:05 pm
Great idea and a great video.
28. January 2011 at 5:11 pm
AWSOME!!! made me feel so good…you should all be proud. Thank you.
28. January 2011 at 5:48 pm
joy to watch(3x)
28. January 2011 at 6:46 pm
Awesome!!
28. January 2011 at 7:41 pm
why they call me ninja turtle ,i don’t even like pizza !!!!!
28. January 2011 at 7:58 pm
haha thats coo
28. January 2011 at 8:51 pm
Amazing!
28. January 2011 at 9:29 pm
This is sooo cool! Thank you for sharing! ?
Bee, bop, bop, bop! ????
28. January 2011 at 9:51 pm
This is really cool!
28. January 2011 at 10:32 pm
Ba ba ba
its STUCK IN MY HEAD LOL XD
28. January 2011 at 10:33 pm
@shangrila628 Hope you will prove your words…
28. January 2011 at 11:16 pm
ya u lil shit did u just found out now that i was a human mothafucker go eat some shit nd if u care soo much why dont u donate some fucking pussies… money u donate here out of 100% even 30% of donation want go back home nepal so dont be foll nd be mature use your head not your heart
28. January 2011 at 11:24 pm
@Suckto1 ooo u suck xd relly after all this stuff u have to grow up and u r human so u r mean
29. January 2011 at 12:10 am
u r so truth
29. January 2011 at 12:55 am
I almost cried watching this. Videos like these from Nepal brings utter joy to me and I salute you Sarah for doing this. Your narration was very strong and full of meaningful thoughts to ponder upon. We are poor at materialism but extremely rich in our hearts. I wish I could give you a bigg hugg for this wonderful video.
Regards
Bipin
Maryland
29. January 2011 at 1:31 am
ya ya fuckers u must be 1 of those gyz helping out there in nepal with her documentry shit so fuck ur ass u lil cunt pussy motherfucker nd dont try replying back again … yaya homo….
29. January 2011 at 2:29 am
@Suckto1 be Optimistic and accept the reality. Appreciate and follow the great work done By these people.
Sarah and her group have done great job!
29. January 2011 at 3:21 am
namaste
29. January 2011 at 4:07 am
asiasociety
29. January 2011 at 4:31 am
Their wealth of natural resources causes many people to be farmers? How about: Their fertile soils facilitate agriculture. Your video reeks of parroting and insincerity. Your message is so generic. I’m tired of these ‘in-depth’ scholastic documentaries. I’m tired of hearing about people without the stuff we have are happier. In more cases than not, your moral does not apply. And at least try not to call it CAT – MAN – DO or NAM – ASS – TE.
29. January 2011 at 5:30 am
wow, this really brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much. Makes one really appreciate the life they’re living.
29. January 2011 at 6:07 am
i wish i was born in nepal instead of the U.S.
now im a nepali american teen who cant even speak nepali anymore o.o
29. January 2011 at 7:04 am
@Suckto1
this is really rude. the intent of the video is to help open the eyes of youths who are in misery even when they have so much more worldly objects. i am a proud NEPALI and would like to thank sarah and best wishes for all the people to open up their heart with genuine compassion toward others. namaste
29. January 2011 at 7:40 am
Fuck up stop making documentary of Nepal all u do is talk nothing gona change nd the thing u are doing is just for money all knows that u get paid so stop using another countries name and making money I am nepali nd i fell sorry how innocent we people are. it just sucks when i see my contry name in this kind of stuff and is being used for which it should not be.
29. January 2011 at 8:34 am
this is really great video thanks
29. January 2011 at 9:22 am
Thanks For the Wonderful video. And Thanks for spreading few words about my mother land Nepal to other foreign country.
29. January 2011 at 10:17 am
The root cause of Nepal problem is Hindu government. The Hindu King and his government had ruled Nepal for last 240+ years with discrimination, suppression and corruption. The Hindu government did not include the indigenous Nepalese in running of Nepal. All the government and public administration post in Nepal were only held by 2 group – brahmin and chettris.
29. January 2011 at 10:20 am
Too much knowledge is dangerous for humanity . It’s destroying me. I was born in bahrabise, sindhupalchowk , a village in Nepal ,. Nepal is full of life. They’ve seen all elements of life. They are happy . And I am lying. This whole system of society is a mistake ,
29. January 2011 at 11:17 am
I checked the CIA Factbook, Nepal is really diverse.
29. January 2011 at 11:44 am
no comments
29. January 2011 at 12:32 pm
i really want to do something for my country but dun have any idea how n which way should i start from .
29. January 2011 at 12:39 pm
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29. January 2011 at 1:38 pm
Good documentary..your words carry some good truth about humanity..
29. January 2011 at 1:47 pm
@nepal76 see this is what u should not be doing…. if it goes good for me then blah blah blah….