Sara Drawwater on why you should donate to Zambia’s untold stories video campaign

We are running a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds so a group of Zambians can make quality footage of Zambia. Read more on the launch blog.

The Lusaka Markets video is the first in a series of the #ZedVideo Project. So far the campaign has raised ZMW5,174 / $941 / £578 from eight backers. We have 9 days to go and ZMW12,134 / $ 2,207 / £1,372 left to raise. You can help in two ways:

1. Share this project with your network. The more people hear about this, the more likley we are to hit the target.

2. Back the project, by donating anything, no matter how small, or how big! Everything helps towards achieving this goal.

Sara Drawwater is involved in the project. Here’s more about Sara and why you should support this project.

What do you currently do?I’m the marketing and communications director of two sister companies, thebestofzambia.com and Something Beckons in the UK. I have a great job. We have tonnes to do with excruciatingly limited resources. But we get there anyway and heading in the right direction. One step at a time.

How did you get involved in the Lusaka Markets Video project?Julia Brown, my mum and business partner told me of this amazing person called Ngosa who she had met at Startup Junction. I had been following Ngosa and her company Purple Tembo on Twitter anyway and was convinced by the two of them that they could do this! I am giving them my support all the way.

Why did you agree to be involved in this video project?I’ve always had this dream to film what Zambia has to offer. There is no quality video on Zambia’s people, environment, cities, places… This is that start of that dream coming true. I don’t have the skill set required to make the videos. But I have a vision of what this can be. It’s great that my vision matches up with people like Ngosa and Julia.

Lusaka Markets VideoEdit descriptionwww.kickstarter.com

Why do you think we need to take action and create quality videos of Zambian people and places?I’m tired of hoping that other people will do it. I’m tired of joining the masses and criticizing Government for what it is not doing. I strongly believe in standing up, taking ownership and doing what needs to be done. Lack of time and money is just an excuse. I really mean that and can speak from personal experience. It doesn’t matter if you start small. But start something. Start what you can.

This video project is an example of what it means to stand up, start something and give it your best shot. It’s like, we want this for Zambia, we need this for Zambia, but we have no budget. Then it’s like OK, what can we do to find the budget? We’re trying crowd funding through Kickstarter and hoping and praying it works! The people of Zambia have an opportunity to donate anything from ZMW9 to contribute to making this happen.

What is your dream for this project?That it shows off Zambia in its true and authentic light. That it’s the start of a long and ongoing series of videos that reintroduces Zambians to Zambia (I stole that line from @Kuwaha because it sums things up perfectly), and inform an international audience what Zambia really has to offer.

What is your dream for Zambia?My dream for Zambia is that Zambians stop talking and take action. I follow lots of Zambians who are taking action. But we need more. We need more working in partnership and more trust in each other. We need to be humble enough to listen and learn from others. We need to embrace technology more. We need to use it to our advantage. We need to shake off inherited limiting beliefs and cultures that don’t work for us anymore.

We need to move forward. Do simple things like answer your emails! That’s a massive issue for me. thebestofzambia.com sends our members tonnes of enquiries. Our systems show we have a long way to go in terms of our members responding to those enquiries effectively. That’s an example of Zambians shooting themselves in the foot. Why do we do this? I think it’s a lack of belief in ourselves, a lack of self worth that leads to self destruct mode. My dream for Zambia is that we do what it we need to do to take our country to the level it and its people deserve.

Anything else you’d like to add?This video project is for Zambians by Zambians. We need Zambians to believe it and back it as their project. Zambians need to own it. We’ve had eight fantastic backers from people outside of Zambia. These are people connected to Zambians or Zambians in the diaspora. That’s great. Long may these donations continue!

But this campaign has also had many Zambians support it by sharing it on social media channels and saying it’s a great project. OK people, if it’s a great project then back it!

So today I started the #100ProudZambians campaign

We need #100ProudZambians to donate ZMW122.55 by the deadline of 30th November 2013. If you are Zambian, connected to a Zambian, in Zambia or abroad then we ask you to donate ZMW122.55.

I know we have lots of proud Zambians in and out of Zambia. I know some proud Zambians don’t have ZMW122.55. That is fine because I believe there are more than #100ProudZambians out there who have a VISA card or a Mastercard or any major credit or debit card, who can afford ZMW122.55, and more. If you are one of those #100ProudZambians all you have to do is back this project and type in £13.85 which is ZMW122.55 (or more if you can). Do it. Because Zambians need to take action.

Please back the project here.

Thank you for sharing this and donating, Sara

Related blogs

Help promote Zambia’s untold story by donating to the Lusaka Markets Video projectNgosa Chungu on why you should donate to Zambia’s untold stories video campaignChosa Mweemba on why you should donate to Zambia’s untold stories video campaign