Hi Everyone,

I am very excited to post this update letting you know of one wonderful project that has come to completion and another that is just beginning.

The completed project has just been released on Step-Up for Life’s web-page and is a video that I helped to produce with their founder – Samantha Castle.

Step-Up for Life is a South African based organization aimed at promoting youth engagement in social responsibility schemes, encouraging voluntarism and giving, and connecting youth across social boundaries through dialogue about social issues. 

I was approached by Samantha to help conceptualize, plan and edit a video that allowed the organization's Good Will Ambassadors to speak to youth via the Step-Up for Life website and You Tube channel about what social responsibility means to each of them and how volunteerism has affected their lives and career paths. Samantha and Shahra Sattar wrote a script combining the organization's message with the personal stories of Good Will Ambassadors; Nolothando Meje – a South African TV presenter; DJ ID (Akio Kawahito) – a Cape Town based DJ; and Zolani Mahola – the lead singer of Freshly Ground, in order to engage youth and raise funds for the organizations "Give What You Can" campaign.

Shot by local documentary film maker Richard Sandy with help from youth volunteers, and including music from Freshly Ground and The Town Heroes, the video was a wonderful project that will hopefully help Step-Up for Life get its message across to youth and donors alike.

Now for the second bit of news; the new project. After a meeting with marketing and liaison officer Lavinia Crawford-Browne at the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation last week, I will be volunteering with the Foundation to produce informational videos for the organizations various studies and photographs for its publications.

In partnership with the communication team and project leaders at the ADAPT study we will produce an informational video aiming to address cultural sensitivity within the study and helping the study participants understand how the study will affect them. The video will be shot over the next month and if I can I will upload or link to a copy once it is completed.

I am very much looking forward to volunteering with an organization as well known and well organized as the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and I am quite excited to share the Step-Up for Life video (below).

I hope you enjoy the video and check back for more photographic updates in the next week or so.

William