Another Great Story of a Doc Changing Real Lives
[Source: The Hot Blog; November 1, 2009]
GATES DONATES $1 MILLION TO EGYPT’S RECYCLERS
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards $1 million to The Spirit of Youth Association, the non-governmental organization profiled in Garbage Dreams.
At the International Sustainability Conference in Cairo from October 27-29, waste recyclers from all over the world worked with members from organizations such as the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) to discuss the sustainability issues we are facing in the 21st century.
The conference ended with a screening of the documentary Garbage Dreams, winner of multiple awards including the 2009 Al Gore REEL Current Award at the Nashville Film Festival. This coming of age story follows three teenage boys involved with the Spirit of Youth Association, the community based organization of Zaballeen, (Arabic for “Garbage People”) as they embark on a journey to turn their century old recycling trade into a 21st century job. A heartwarming applause concluded the film when all three boys profiled in the film, Adham, Nabil, Osama and their teacher, Laila stood up with the film’s director, Mai Iskander, to greet the audience and to answer questions.
Melanie Walker, Senior Program Officer for Special Initiatives, Global Development Program of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined them at the front of the room and announced a new partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Spirit of Youth Association (SOY).
“I feel so strange stepping up here with all these amazing, amazing people. We never had a movie screening at the Gates Foundation...This year maybe a month and a half ago, we invited Mai [Iskander] to come screen the film [Garbage Dreams] for us at our foundation.” She went on to highlight Special Initiatives’ goal of empowering impoverished peoples of the world by helping to integrate their voices into the city planning process. When speaking of her own reaction to the film, Ms Walker said, “…as you mentioned, it [Garbage Dreams] is very eye opening. Because you can hear about it, but then you see it and it becomes very much more real and you start to think about ways to try to help and be involved. We are privileged to have had that opportunity...We have recently come up with a grant that will help support groups like the Zaballeen here in Egypt: a $1 million dollar grant...will help support the work here in Cairo.”
Ezzat Naem Guindy, the executive director of the Spirit of Youth Association responded, “We are honored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for honoring us as Zaballeen...We will use these funds to build the capacity of our team, the capacity of our people, and to spread income generating projects and awareness such as the source segregation campaign...So that Garbage Dreams becomes a reality.”
GATES DONATES $1 MILLION TO EGYPT’S RECYCLERS
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards $1 million to The Spirit of Youth Association, the non-governmental organization profiled in Garbage Dreams.
At the International Sustainability Conference in Cairo from October 27-29, waste recyclers from all over the world worked with members from organizations such as the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) to discuss the sustainability issues we are facing in the 21st century.
The conference ended with a screening of the documentary Garbage Dreams, winner of multiple awards including the 2009 Al Gore REEL Current Award at the Nashville Film Festival. This coming of age story follows three teenage boys involved with the Spirit of Youth Association, the community based organization of Zaballeen, (Arabic for “Garbage People”) as they embark on a journey to turn their century old recycling trade into a 21st century job. A heartwarming applause concluded the film when all three boys profiled in the film, Adham, Nabil, Osama and their teacher, Laila stood up with the film’s director, Mai Iskander, to greet the audience and to answer questions.
Melanie Walker, Senior Program Officer for Special Initiatives, Global Development Program of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation joined them at the front of the room and announced a new partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Spirit of Youth Association (SOY).
“I feel so strange stepping up here with all these amazing, amazing people. We never had a movie screening at the Gates Foundation...This year maybe a month and a half ago, we invited Mai [Iskander] to come screen the film [Garbage Dreams] for us at our foundation.” She went on to highlight Special Initiatives’ goal of empowering impoverished peoples of the world by helping to integrate their voices into the city planning process. When speaking of her own reaction to the film, Ms Walker said, “…as you mentioned, it [Garbage Dreams] is very eye opening. Because you can hear about it, but then you see it and it becomes very much more real and you start to think about ways to try to help and be involved. We are privileged to have had that opportunity...We have recently come up with a grant that will help support groups like the Zaballeen here in Egypt: a $1 million dollar grant...will help support the work here in Cairo.”
Ezzat Naem Guindy, the executive director of the Spirit of Youth Association responded, “We are honored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for honoring us as Zaballeen...We will use these funds to build the capacity of our team, the capacity of our people, and to spread income generating projects and awareness such as the source segregation campaign...So that Garbage Dreams becomes a reality.”
