Early in August, prior to the co-founder Hawa Mire, arriving in East Africa to provide free technical media training, Miscellany Finds generously donated over 15 film cameras to PYM programming.  This equipment provides much needed access for many youth under the age of 18 and is left behind as a direct donation to the Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association so youth leaders can continue developing their skills.

FIlm photography is still a great method of media arts training as the facilities to develop film are still readily available in Uganda. Youth learn the basics of photography including light and composition and then move to digital cameras as they become more available.

If you have film cameras or film that you are interested in donating, please contact us at pointyouthmedia@gmail.com. PYM can guaranteed that youth will recieve your donation within a matter of weeks with no cost to them.

Nelson and Shamira have been recieving media arts training from PYM for approximately the last three years and have passed along those skills to other youth that frequent Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA). AGYA creates safe, supportive, sustainable learning environments where youth can develop leadership skills and express themselves creatively. AGYA serves youth with limited opportunities and resources in some of the most populated urban slum communities in Uganda.

This initiative is part of a larger partnership between PYM and AGYA where AGYA youth leaders are working hand in hand with PYM media staff in the development of a youth-focussed  train the trainer model.

“This is part of an extensive sustainable plan”, explains Mire “PYM delivers these skills to young people first with the intention of having youth delivering their own training to other young people across the globe, AGYA youth leaders are a great example of how this process can be an empowering one, particularly for young people across Africa.”

The training will take place in early September 2011.

If you have further questions or are interested in having PYM staff or AGYA youth leaders conduct training at your organization, please contact us at pointyouthmedia@gmail.com

Point Youth Media (PYM) has had a long time partnership with the Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA) , having worked with them since their founding in 2008. AGYA is a non-profit organization committed to creating a safe, supportive, sustainable learning environment where Ugandan youth can develop leadership skills and express themselves creatively. AGYA operates a community center that has provided outreach, education, and services to more than 1,000 people living in poverty in urban Uganda.

Youth at AGYA have participated in extensive media arts training and will be working with Mire to implement said training in Uganda (Jinja and Masaka) as well as in Maai Mahiu, Kenya.

For more information, or if you are interested in having Point Youth Media develop a media arts program for your organization please contact us at pointyouthmedia@gmail.com.

Please contact us at pointyouthmedia@gmail.com for more information.

Co-founder Nasra Mire recently shared successes and challenges working with Point Youth Media’s (PYM) Uganda programming at Simon Fraser University’s Engaging Diaspora in Development’s EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT event at the SFU Wosk Centre for Dialogue in Vancouver. Mire presented  on May 18, 2011 and participated in an audience dialogue further sharing her experiences as a young African woman doing work in Vancouver.

In Uganda, Point Youth Media works in partnership with Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA).* to implement its media arts program with heavy focus on youth driven and youth run media initiatives. “It’s been an incredible important program in reminding young people of the value of their own experiences”, says Mire, “I’ve grown so much personally in terms of my facilitation ability and sharing technical media skills I also learned as a young person. Youth of the diaspora have such an abundance of skills and stories to give to one another. Point Youth Media exists to ensure that youth can connect using media arts, sometimes it REALLY is as simple as starting with a camera.”

More details on the dialogue at: http://www.sfu.ca/diasporas/

**AGYA creates safe, supportive, sustainable learning environments where youth can develop leadership skills and express themselves creatively. AGYA serves youth with limited opportunities and resources in some of the most populated urban slum communities in Uganda.AGYA operates a community center that has provided outreach, education, and services to more than 1,000 people living in poverty in urban Uganda. Find out more at www.agyainternational.org

Co – Founder Hawa Mire , 23, speaks about the women she has found influential in her life, her ‘SPARKs’ as per the Girls Action Foundation’s Light a Spark Campaign.The Light a Spark campaign highlights the work of women done all over the country, women that many other women, young women and girls hold as role models and mentors.

“There have been many women who have changed the direction of life,” says the youth and community worker, “I find it hard to just pick a few women who have made a significant difference, most especially being young, I feel that there are many more Sparks to come in my life. I grew up with a single mother, who changed dramatically the course of my life by setting an example of dedication, courage and hard work. Point Youth Media has been a culmination of that example.”

Mire sat on the panel with several other influential and powerful women in their own right: Maggie Ip (Founder of S.U.C.C.E.S.S) Kim Baird (elected Chief of the Tsawwassen First Nation) and Patricia Graham (Editor-In-Chief of the Vancouver Sun)

Girls Action Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting girls and young women to overcome barriers and reach their true potential. Find out more at www.girlsactionfoundation.ca

Photo Credit: Lizz Giordano

Done in collaboration with AGYA youth in June 2010, facilitated by Point Youth Media volunteers Benny Etienne and Nicholas Guay Ross.

Benny Etienne and Nicholas Guay-Ross taught Stop Motion Animation over a period of 5 weeks where youth were able to complete a final stop motion. They decided to focus on doing a promotional video for our host organization, Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Assocation. It is an amazing video and was cheered by their peers at the AGYA June Showcase.

Nasra Mire and Krystie Babalos ran a intensive leadership facilitation training program where aspiring future AGYA youth leaders signed up to prepare for their final youth leader interviews. The youth were trained on how to create inclusive environments and improved upon their own leadership skills that hopefully are to be put into practice by the NEW AGYA youth leaders.

Hawa Mire and Parisa Azadi are currently conducting film and photography workshops respectively over the next six months where youth will be asked to determine their own projects and to teach their peers what they have learned thus far.

Check out our photoblog at www.photoblog.com/pointyouthmedia to see up to date photographs as our projects continue to unfold. If you are interested in keeping updated via facebook – add us at Point Youth Media or Hawa Mire PYM to continue following along. Thank you for your continued support!