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By Parker Snyder
The lotus flower blooms in muddy water and marvelous deeds spring forth in Rwanda. Both are beautiful because they are improbable.
During the genocide media was used to perpetuate a message of hate but media can just as well be used for good. That's what motivated my fiancée and I to move to Rwanda to start a media site. We produce video for free for people who need it most. At 80 Percent Angel we tell stories of good work through video, audio, text and photography. Basket weavers teach rural women to save, a peace association aids genocide survivors and a film maker resolves conflict in his art.
These are a few of the stories we tell.
The media site is predicated on the idea that you can influence human behavior by reinforcing positive habits. Each of the 12 videos we've produced and stream online feature a Rwandan Caring Habit, such as "Do Your Best," "Protect the Environment" and "Never Again." The habits aren't trite or inconsequential. They are the basis upon which a civil society is constructed. (80 Percent Angel because we are all capable
of the unspeakable if we are indoctrinated with a message of hate or forced beyond our human capacity to resist evil.)
Whether we acknowledge them or not, the habits are a set of working principles that can influence behavior through repetition and practice. Caring Habits Rwanda is a program in planning, formally adopted by the National Unity & Reconciliation Commission (NURC) in October of 2006. Kasia and I were invited by the program's founder Elaine Parke to write a business plan to fund the project through its pilot stage.
It's a marriage: 80 Percent Angel and Caring Habits Rwanda. We're partners in thoughtful persuasion. Together we produce visual media to demonstrate to the world that progress in Rwanda is real. Unity and reconciliation are not abstract concepts. They are the habitual actions of a concerned few who believe in peace.
What's the future of 80 Percent Angel? We intend to replicate this model all over the world. In July 2007, we're holding a film camp in Eastern Europe to train two core teams to go to post-conflict countries, most likely Cambodia and S. Africa. To see how the media site got its start copy the link www.80PercentAngel.com/?video=1 or contact info@80PercentAngel.com
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