12
UK
Asian Voice - Saturday 21st April 2012
Leading Lights
Food for Life Vrindavan organises celebratory dinner
by Rani Singh
Special Assignments Editor
Guy Gunaratne, 27 is the Creative Director of CODOC, an award-winning documentary company based in London. Guy believes storytelling is a powerful tool to promote advocacy and engagement. Working with partner Heidi Lindvall, CODOC is dedicated to creating space for critical thinking through documentary. Guy and Heidi’s distinct brand of nuanced storytelling that goes against the grain of traditional campaign - led advocacy has given them the reputation of disruptors in the field of human rights documentary-making. Guy is a Virgin Media Pioneer- part of a free and open online peer-to peer community for young entrepreneurs. Q. How did the idea for “The Truth That Wasn’t There,” your film about the conflict in Sri Lanka, come about? A. I was just a student at the time, finishing up an MA in Current Affairs Journalism at City University. Heidi, a photographer friend of ours, Philip Panchenko, and I arrived in Sri Lanka only a few weeks after the war ended. At the time, Sri Lanka exploded as a news story around the world. The Sri Lankan government was not letting independent journalists report from the frontline as it was worried about its global reputation. So when we approached the government about getting access we simply told it the truth: that we were only students and weren’t affiliated with any established news agency. It agreed and we ended up becoming the first independent journalists to cross the frontline. We came back with an unprecedented 30 hours of footage and over 4,000 photographs of the area. I put that down to the fact that we didn’t see the fact that we were students as a hindrance but as an opportunity. It’s worked out well, the film won an award from “Film South Asia” last year and we’ve been touring since then with Amnesty International in the US. Q. What access did you get for making the film? A. We were given access to Menik Farm, which was at the time the largest and most infamous Internally Displaced Persons camp in the world. We went as far as Chalai and Mullaitivu, the final battle grounds and where the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) were finally crushed. In
the film we speak about our journey, how we felt about what we found and the tragedy of the moment we realised that the truth of what exactly happened on those beaches had been lost. Q. Did you get any mentors or advice? A. Both Heidi and I have from the very outset made sure to surround ourselves with mentors and people who can advise us in what we hope to build with CODOC. By now we’ve collected quite a cast, and that means individuals from a broad range of fields; filmmakers, producers, business leaders, and financial managers. I think it is important to surround yourself with people who energize you and spur you on to the next level – especially when everyone else tells you that you’re crazy.
“Surround yourself with people who energize you and spur you on to the next level especially when everyone tells you that you’re crazy.” Q. How have your parents influenced your outlook? A. Immensely. I always talk about how my father found himself in the UK after boarding a boat on a Sri Lanka harbour. In many ways his is the typical immigrant story. He must have endured many from his tiny village telling him to stay home and settle down. Instead he made that journey and because he had the guts to do so he managed to create a life of endless possibilities for his two sons; my brother and I. Q. How was the Virgin
CB along with Rupaprabhudas gifting Nitin Ganatra with Love Gujarat Coffee Table Magazine
Guy Gunaratne
Media Pioneer group a support? A. Virgin Media Pioneers is a social network for young entrepreneurs. Last year we became sponsored Pioneers on the program. It’s incredibly inspiring as it creates a supportive environment where young entrepreneurs get to grow together, share their triumphs and challenges. If you want to meet the next generation of future business leaders, this is the place to start. There are some amazing stories on the site and I’d recommend anyone to become part of it. Q. Future plans? A. Together with Heidi I founded CODOC to really change the game when it comes to human rights documentar y-making. Our upcoming project, “Forgive Me Mother” about formerly abducted child soldiers in Northern Uganda will be released very soon and later this year we’re set to launch CODOC.TV; a channel dedicated to telling great stories in a new way, incorporating the latest in social media and technology, and using the internet as a platform. In the next three to five years we hope to become pioneers in the upcoming television app market. You can follow our journey at Codoc.org in the mean time!
Food for Life Vrindavan UK Limited held a celebratory dinner on Friday evening, 6 April 2012 to appreciate the support of their UK donors in making Kiki Nangla School Project in Vrindavan a success. The function, despite being Good Friday was well attended by over 120 people at the Cinnamon Function Suite, above Raw Spice Restaurant in West Hendon Broadway. The function was attended by Rupa Raghunath Das, the International coordinator of Food for Life Vrindavana, and it’s brand ambassador in the UK, Nitin Ganatra of Eastenders. Unfortunately the charity’s brand ambassador in India, Vivek Oberoi of Bollywood fame, could not attend due to pressing engagements but sent a video message which was relayed. After the guests had been served with cocktail non-alcoholic drinks and starters the programme began with a dance by Demini Varia. Ravin Ganatra, the MC for the evening, introduced Bhikhubhai Parmer who gave the historical background of the UK Charity (registered with the UK Charities Commission and HM Revenue & Customs) which was formed in September 2006 by Harsha Pandya. The current trustees are Mini Pattni, Bhikhu Parmar, Kaushik Desai and C B Patel. The objectives of the charity in the main are to educate the poorest of the poor. Kaushik Desai explained that the money was raised through major
events, regular donors and child sponsorship where the UK charity has 140 The monthly donors. charity has had three major events, the Asian Achievers Award held by Gujarat Samachar in 2009, the Diwali Function in 2010 and a function held by the Jewish community in 2011 which raised £275,000; the total raised since 2007 was over £1m with a cost of £52,000 – 5% of the income raised. The policy of Food for Life Vrindavan is to generally remit all the funds raised to India with minimal costs in the UK – just under a £1m has been remitted to India. A second dance following the main course which was performed by mother and daughter, Mrs Yaksha and Demini Varia. Rupa Raghunath Das then gave a presentation of the progress made in building Kiki Nangla School in Vrindavan and he reported that the school had now been built and that it was operational. There were still unfinished classrooms and Nitin Mehta and his wife Jyotsna Mehta donated £2,500 for the comple-
tion of the classrooms in memory of his mother, Mrs Kanchanben Mehta. Rupa noted that the Indian charity raised over $1.9 million for the year ended 31 March 2012 and that the total number of children now studying in the school were just over 1,300. C B Patel then spoke a few words where he gave a history of his involvement with the charity and he and his family had donated a substantial sum of money (in excess of £35,000) as he genuinely believed that Rupa was doing a tremendous job in India in educating children at a minimal cost. He further went on to say that he would donate a further £25,000 if Rupa was prepared to build another school in Gujarat. He made a spontaneous gesture by paying for the cost of the evening for which the Trustees are extremely grateful. Ganatra of Nitin Eastenders then gave his account of his involvement in the charity and C B presented Nitin with a copy of the Coffee Book called Love Gujarat. Jay Kumar then did a dance with the audience participation which the guests thoroughly enjoyed. Miniben Pattni gave a vote of thanks to all those involved in making the function a success. The guests then enjoyed the music and the deserts and departed around midnight knowing that their donations had been well used for a worthy cause in educating the poor of the poorest children, particularly girls, who are the backbone of any family.
Yaksha and Demini Varia, mother and daughter duo performing at the event
Government not to appeal Qatada decision The government will not appeal against the controversial European court of human rights ruling blocking the deportation of the radical Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, the home secretary is to tell MPs this afternoon. Instead, Theresa May, pictured, will attempt to convince a British high court judge that she has
made sufficient "demonstrable progress" in securing assurances from the Jordanian government about Qatada's treatment to prevent him being freed from virtual house arrest. The announcement is expected to lead to Qatada's lawyers making an application to the special immigration appeals commission for the highly
restrictive bail conditions on the terror suspect to be lifted.
JayKumar teaching some moves to the guests at the event