In 2014 an orphan from Gambia reached out to me, who was at 20 and as a Christian, alone with his 4 siblings in a Muslim country - heavily sponsored by Saudi Arabia among others.
Now in 2020 and $ 16000 of personal investment in him and his family, including purchasing a 600 square meter plot of land in the city of Brikama and having a wall built around the compound, I think the story of my involvement in his life needs to be made into a film specifically for the US audience.
Why . Because Gambia once served as a big time clearinghouse for slave trade from Africa to the US. And only by people understand why we have blacks in the first place e.g. the stuff about the continental drift and the genetics of “race” - will the ignorance and hatred that then produce racism and violence - be overcome in America’s collective consciousness.
Going in 6 weeks to Cologne Germany where I will submit a film script to Macro Media local film sponsor. The idea being that the film crew from Germany flies out from Brussels to Banjul, pays off the missing $ 1000 for an imported 2nd hand Mercedes from Germany, then proceeds to finally build the simple structure of 4 rooms for Momodou and his 4 siblings, on the site of the compound, and 3 tourist suites for future paying visitors, and then proceeds to both visit and interview government officials in Banjul to discuss how they invest/use about $ 280 Million in foreign aid they receive for 2 Million inhabitants - while Momodou Latin Camara the 25 year old orphan bitterly complains, that his government does NOTHING for poor people, that allocations of rice bags are only being handed out by government officials to their own family and friends.
Next to investigate in Germany with the development agency what they have to say about development in Gambia and the about 170,000 young unemployed men like Momodou who for lack of a concrete future in their own country dream of escaping on overcrowded boats to Europe. With a recent anthropological theory being that mostly Europeans - the whites - actually some 30,000 years ago - were Africans who got out of Africa and migrated north to Europe. The movie is a mix of documentary, comedy and reality TV e.g. the reality that the people in Gambia live through, the reality that I Hannah the sponsor and investigator/researcher live in here in Israel and the actual reality of the Gambians, who have already made it to Germany (ultimate white country - with as many as 54% of schoolchildren in cities like Cologne being from “migration backgrounds”) and their lives in the “better place” today.
Hannah.porat@gmail.com
