Everyday stories told by sub-Saharan Africans who are affected by HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, or poverty - particularly those from rural areas, and particularly men who defy conventional ideas about masculinity - tend to be in short supply. Media representations are often extracted from communities and then shaped and packaged by professionals into news segments or fictional dramas that reinforce negative stereotypes or encourage sensationalism and pity.

In an effort to inspire a different kind of storytelling - one that offers a meaningful experience to the storytellers and promotes understanding, accountability, and civic action among viewers -- Sonke and Silence Speaks have over the past few years coordinated a series of digital storytelling workshops.

In these workshops, the process of making media, with its potential to support reflection and skill building for participants, was just as important as the final media products that emerged. Most participants were recruited from Sonke partner agencies where they receive services, attend HIV support groups, or work as peer educators/activists. Potential participants were briefed on the production method to be used and on the fact that their stories would be shown publicly.

Working with a team of trainers, participants shared their own stories and listened to each other’s stories; recorded first-person voiceover narration; generated photos and drawings with which to illustrate their work; and either themselves learned to create (through hands-on editing tutorials and computer work) or offered varying degree of input into their finished stories.

During the workshops, we talked with the participants at length about what content and images they felt comfortable including in their final videos and assisted them with linking their individual stories to broader social issues. We were transparent about the non-commercial nature of this work and emphasised opportunities for personal reflection, solidarity building, and leadership development throughout.

While the majority of the stories are told by South Africans, individuals from Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Swaziland are also represented. The themes that emerge from the collected stories thus cross national borders, and we believe the collection will be useful to those doing gender-based violence and HIV prevention work throughout sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

acknowledgements

Special thanks to the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa and the International Organization for Migration for contributing additional stories to this collection.

Thanks to the following funders for supporting the digital storytelling project: Department for International Development, United Kingdom (DFID); John Lloyd Foundation; South African Development Fund; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ; United Nations High Commission for Refugees; and the Western Cape Department of Health.

Portions of this work were also made possible by the UCLA Program in Global Health, through the support of the Ford Foundation and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

The views expressed in the stories are those of the storytellers and not those of the project partners, funders or any employees of the funders.