Filming at Head Nepal:
The next day, on the 10th of October, early in the morning at 8 am, 5 porters and 6 horses were arranged because that day the plan was to go to a village called Thehe where Unit 4 of the Head Mobile Blind School was running. The day was quite challenging for the crew members because they had never had such a mountain trek and never walked in such a difficult landscape. They had to walk for half the way down hill, because horse riding would have been very risky. As horse riding was also very new for three of them except the host, it was very adventurous for them as well. "Though the journey was quite tedious and tiring, it has been the most beautiful trip for me" said Paige, the host. After about 5 hours of walk and horse riding, we arrived at the village where the parents of the children of Head Mobile Blind School welcomed the crew and the staff with their very own cultural way. After the heart warming welcome ceremony and lunch, the crew started filming the class at unit 4 in the same village. There the main subject of filming was about the progress and the improvement that a 15 years young boy, Gorasingh Bohora made after he joined the Head Mobile Blind School. Actually, he had never been to regular school before. Now he can read and write in Braille. He can also walk independently with the help of a white cane that we provided and taught him to use. The filming crew also filmed how he performs his daily living activities and how he helps his family in house-hold works. In the same village, the crew also filmed some of the activities of a 15 year old girl, Gahugora Bohora from the same village. Though she is totally blind, she can do most of the house-hold works as for example fetching water from the public tap, cooking for herself and even for her family, collecting fire-wood from the distance or cutting grass for the animals that they keep. But she never had the chance of school education and literacy before she joined the Head Mobile Blind School. The crew filmed especially how Gahugora cooks for her family. Though the cameraman curiously started filming at her home, due to too much of smoke and darkness in the kitchen, it was very difficult for him to continue filming.
That night the crew and the staff of Head Nepal stayed at the home of Gorasingh Bohora. They enjoyed the food which is locally produced and prepared. On the next day early in the morning, after some tea, the host took an interview with the founder/executive director of Head Nepal setting on the roof of the house. After having had a late breakfast in the village, the crew and the staff and volunteer of Head Nepal started their journey back to Simikot. While departing from the village, some drummers performed their song with the sweet and harmonious sound of the drums, which was meant to be a farewell ceremony for the group. Then each of the group members rode his horse all the way back to Simikot. That day was much more comfortable and relaxing than the previous day due to more up hill way where it is much easier to horse ride. After about 4 hours of journey, the group arrived at Simikot at 4 pm and everyone, including the porters, had a nice rest and lunch in the high quality hotel, Sun Valley Resort, in Simikot. Then all the porters and horses got back to their own home. The next day, on 12th of Nov 2011, the filming crew departed from Simikot with a heart warming farewell by Head Nepal's staff and volunteers.
The film has been released on the 20th of February 2012 in Singapore. We realized that the film is remarkably contributing to communicate our vision and mission all over the world and equally helping in the growth and development of the organization and its programme. After the documentry was on air in Singapore, we received a lot of positive responses/feedback from so many people. Some of them even wished to support our programme financially and some with low vision aids and learning materials for the children. We still hope/believe that the film will be even more helpful for us and our programme. We are very grateful towards the August Picture TV Production House and the filming crew who came to Humla to prepare this documentry. A big thanks to all the people who directly and indirectly contributed to it! Our special thanks goes to Paige, the host, for her great assistance/support! And to read a writeup about Head Nepal prepared by the company, visit this LinkLater in 2013 the film " The Activist Journey 2-The Hidden Light of Hope of Humla" was awarded a Bronze World Medal by New York Film Festival 2013. learn more about a Documentry "The Activist Journey"
