Before / This is a video I created at the beginning of my Fellowship for my host organization:
After / Reflections towards the end of my Fellowship year:
I am proud of the sheer amount of videography, photography, and fair trade knowledge I have acquired and applied this year through this project. I am proud of each interview in which I am able to provide a safe space for an interviewee to share their story openly, excitedly, or unabashedly. I am proud of each photograph that I feel manages to capture a truth about an organization or an individual.
I am proud of my improved ability to cope with my own failure. I am proud of how I have handled a missed 13-hour train ride, destroyed laptop screen, shattered UV lens filter, plane ride accidentally booked in the wrong month. I am proud of the time I have given myself to melt down or cool down. I am proud of my new support system that helped me through each of these.
I am proud of my self-assurance. I am proud of my developing ability to act as both a director and visitor, my efforts to find balance and embrace humility. I am proud of my acceptance of my uncertainty, for my future and my surroundings.
I am proud of my improved ukulele skills, my maintained pun skills. I am proud of my ever-increasing spice tolerance. I am proud of each joke I make in Hinglish, proud every time I can make an interviewee smile, make them comfortable on the side of the camera I find terrifying.
– Kara
