Donate NowPeace X Peace, a global network of women with women-focused e-media, fresh analysis, and from-the-frontlines perspectives that tries to amplify women's voices as the most direct and powerful ways to create cultures of peace around the world, has featured Jen Marlowe and her documentary Rebuilding Hope in an article on their website.
Read below:
"I've Got This Camera": Reflections on Activism and Unease
I recently walked out of a screening of the documentary Rebuilding Hope and rashly declared that I was moving to Sudan. The film had reinforced my awareness of the disparity between my comfortable existence in the United States and the injustices in Sudan and, in that moment, the only thing I could think was: I need to do something. The morning after watching Rebuilding Hope I had the opportunity to talk with the film's director, Jen Marlowe. By then I was less determined to move to Sudan (after all, I have nothing miraculous to offer this war-torn nation) and instead ready to confront the uncomfortable emotions the film had unearthed in me.
Rebuilding Hope follows three Sudanese "Lost Boys" – Gabriel Bol, Koor, and Garang – as they journey from the US to Sudan to find their surviving family members after fleeing 20 years ago. The longing in their voices and sadness in their eyes as each of them talked about their families resonated in me. The sense of inadequacy these three young men struggled with as they tried to help rebuild their communities moved me to tears. Koor journeyed to his village with a truckload of donated medical supplies, a newly acquired nursing degree, and unwavering determination to improve a clinic that had no water or electricity and provided the only healthcare within a five- day walk. The medical supplies and his nursing capabilities fell short in the face of the measles, meningitis, and hunger that were ravaging his community. I, however, have no doubt that his determination will eventually win out. (Learn more about his ongoing efforts here.)