Award winning video journalist and filmmaker Tania Safi and video assist Rachelle Hair recently spent two days with DfG Lebanon learning about DfG’s response to the refugee crisis in Lebanon and participating in several DfG Kit distributions, all while filming the experience in order to create the incredible video, “Turning Periods into Pathways,” as part of Tania’s recent project called Shway Shway.
While her parents met in Lebanon and her siblings were born there, Tania was born and raised in Australia. Recently, she decided to pack up and move to Lebanon with her partner where she now volunteers filming organizations who are making a difference as a way to inspire others to not only see the good already going on in the world but also to find ways to make a difference.
“Video is one of our strongest tools of communication and storytelling, but completely unaffordable for a lot of small NGOs or people out there in the world who are struggling to keep their own projects alive…I believe we’re all capable of helping change the world or to at least change it for one person, little by little, so why not? It’s all about priorities and perspective. The world needs us today, not tomorrow.” Tania Safi
In “Turning Periods into Pathways”, Tania takes viewers inside a Days for Girls enterprise providing jobs to Syrian women and shows what DfG Kit distributions are like in some of the Syrian refugee camps. Tania shared that she felt particularly connected to the work that Days for Girls does, stating that:
“As a queer, Arab, female-identifying person, everything that Khayrieh and [the DfG Lebanon] team does hits incredibly close to home. I’ve volunteered in Women’s Shelters in Los Angeles and made documentaries about homelessness across the globe, and one thing that has always struck me was the lack of access to menstrual products and hygiene for girls and women who are displaced or on the streets. It’s hard enough for any person who gets their period.” Tania Safi
In celebration of World Refugee Day on June 20th, we encourage you to share Tania’s stunning depiction of the work DfG is doing with refugees. Your support on this important day will have double the impact, reaching even more refugee women and girls!
Tania is an award-winning Lebanese-Australian filmmaker currently based in Beirut. Previously she was Head of Video at BuzzFeed Australia, and was relocated to Los Angeles where she co-created Bring Me! and produced, directed, filmed and edited videos for BuzzFeed News, Tasty, Goodful, Nifty and more. After leaving BuzzFeed, she moved to London and was Head of Video for production company Shootsta, where she taught high-end clients how to film their own content. Currently, she is in Lebanon filming a series of change makers across a dot on the map that are doing some of the world’s most good under the title Shway Shway, meaning “little by little” or “slowly slowly.” To hear more about Tania and Shway Shway in her own words, watch her video here.
