What Peace Means for Girls?

I feel great pleasure in sharing my journey towards understanding peace here at FAT. Recently, I got the opportunity to work on short films on peace building with 6 other girls which were to be submitted for the “What peace means to me” short film contest that was held the Peace Builders Film Festival held in Delhi from 10th to 13th October 2016. Each of the 6 girls submitted a film they made themselves, and they got an award as well!

Before beginning to work on the film ideas, we talked a lot about peace through questions like what is peace to me, what does peace mean, what it is called in Hindi, etc. After hearing each other, reading and discussing a lot, when we really understood the word and were able to define what peace means for each one of us personally, we felt we really need to share these thoughts with others. Taking it up as an opportunity to put our learning at FAT into an action, we felt that we had the skill to show what one feels about peace. So, 6 girls from FAT’s Young Women Leadership Program, who are also trained in video shooting and editing, decided to make short films and send it as an entry for the Peace Builder Film Festival.

Ideating a peace journey

When the very idea of short films was shared with the girls, they started talking to each other and pondering where they feel most at peace. One thought led to the other and eventually the discussion highlighted two important points - why we look for peace in our lives and why certain things dictate our lives and deflect us from our path to attain peace. Somebody said, when she gets upset, staying alone, going to the park, looking at plants and trees give her immense pleasure and a feeling of peace. Another girl shared that she finds her peace in reading books, while for another, she feels good by staring at stars, while yet another said that playing was the source of her happiness and peace.

One girl said that when she was upset, despite people around she felt lonely. But, at that moment if someone comes and asks ‘what happened’, that very question takes away all your worries and gives you a secured feeling that someone is there to talk to you and listen to you. It made her feel good and at peace.

One of the girls shared that her family’s financial condition was not so good. After she passed her school, there is now a lot of pressure on her to earn to sustain the family and help them financially. This was affecting her studies, as she wants to study further. She shared that she loves reading so much that when she reads a book she would travel into another world where nobody told her what to do and there she could do whatever she wanted to do.

During one of the discussions, the girls shared that every day at home, at work, at school, something or the other happens from which they want to come out. During this discussion, two prominent concerns came up collectively. Firstly, why nobody thinks about them (the girls) and why nobody would see that certain things upsets them as well.

In spite of me being acquainted with them, through the making of this short film I got an opportunity to know more about them. Often during our conversations these girls would share about their lives, and I began to understand through this peace journey (of making the film) the tiny things that these girls did for their inner peace.

Creating the peace journey

Before commencing the shooting, we asked the girls to either write it down on paper or draw a sketch on whatever they wanted to showcase in the film. These ideas and thoughts were then converted into a story board. When we started shooting most of the girls tried to capture the shots themselves during which they also helped each other in every possible way and simultaneously enjoyed the process.

After the shooting, I helped each girl in editing her video so that their short film on peace was narrated according to their way of thinking and idea. This helped the girls in understanding the process of editing and they also showed interest in learning it in future.

These short films were sent as entries to Peace Builder Film Festival and to our surprise they won a prize also. I could not believe my eyes when I read that all of them have won the competition. I was running from table to table showing the email to people. I felt like I was on top of the world that day. We were invited for the prize distribution event on 13th October, 2016 where our girls were handed over certificates and at the end of the event their films were screened. That day we stayed out till late in the night. Every girl convinced her parents to allow them to go and receive their award.

"I was so happy. This is such a big achievement, not only for me but for these girls. I fall short of words to express my joy. All the girls, the directors and heroes of these short films, were able for the first time to showcase their inner peace, their happiness and that too for the world to see. I knew we were competing with professionals, but deep inside me there was a hope that if not all, at least one of our girls would win."

If I think back about learning, this whole peace journey was a life changing experience for all of us. Now, I just want all these films on peace get published on FAT’s Youtube channel for others to watch and takeaway the actual meaning of peace.

~ Deepika, Program Trainee, FAT
(This blog has been translated/ written by Harvinder Kaur who handles Communications and Social Media at FAT)