Lights Action Camera...Movie Night

Health promoters here use movies a lot as a tool to teach people about health topics. There are films on everything from gender roles to HIV to domestic violence...really any health topic (especially sexual and reproductive health) you could think of-there is probably a video. Being a health promoters, myself, Xiomara and Estefan (new German volunteer), we have used and will be using movie nights a lot. When I first arrived, Christian (old German vol.) and Evan (PC volunteer who I replaced), RAVED about movie nights. They described them as being one of the easiest activities to organize. As long as you have all of the equipment, you should have a successful event. To begin, you arrive at the neighborhood where you will be putting on the movie. You go to the house of a community leader, hoping that they will lend you some electricity and possibly a sound system. From the Casa y Clinica, we bring the movie, a laptop, a projector and a screen. As soon as everything is set up and working correctly (which should be an easy process), you go house to house inviting people. This is the fun part. Next, everyone shows up half an hour later and you begin the movie. To end the night, you give a short charla on the theme that the movie discussed and thank everyone for coming.

Now...these are the steps, in order, that one must go through, if we lived in a perfect world (or if I were a luckier person). For me, I have had some difficulties arranging these events. The first time I attempted to put on a movie night, we arrived and told the people we would begin around 7. At 6:59, the lights go out. We now have no electricity to plug anything in. The event is postponed. Movie night number 2- it pours and the event is postponed. Movie night number 3- the wire we bring to connect the sound system to the computer is not compatible. The event is postponed. Movie night number 4- it pours....the event is postponed...again. Movie night number 5- my computer does not have the correct program to connect the projector to my computer. We borrow a computer and FINALLY are able to put on the show. We show a film on gender roles and domestic violence and give a brief charla on the theme. It goes well...finally.

Anyway, today my counterpart-Xiomara- tells me that her boss wants us to do a series of movie nights- the series being 7 movie nights in 7 nights. What?! Are you serious? Dead serious. The theme is domestic violence, HIV and teen pregnancy. The week long movie night will begin Monday October 10th and will end on Sunday October 16th. We will be putting on these activities for 15 youth per neighborhood here in Corinto. If all goes well, it will not rain for a week, the lights will not go out and we will all be technologically inclined. (This being Nicaragua and me being me...I'm not too optimistic!)

But being in Peace Corps and being a person who likes to learn, I'm hoping to have at least a few of the movie nights go well. And if not, as my Dad always says, at least "it's an opportunity to make new friends"!