Students Digital Story final project

Project Rubric

Lyrics- 50 points
Digital story- 100 points
self reflection - 30 points
movie premier- 10 points

Self Reflection

type up a 10 sentence reflection on how you thought your project went. what was the hardest part, what was the funniest, interesting, educating, and frustrating part. what grade do you think you deserve and why? tell me specific examples to back the grade up.
How would you make your next project better?

30 points

film all stars

The plight of the refugee in today's war-torn world is captured in the African proverb: "When two elephants are fighting, the grass dem' a-suffer." So it was in Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002, when the government and various rebel factions carried out a brutal civil war in which the terrorizing of civilians -- by killing, mutilation, rape and forced conscription -- was common practice on all sides. The war sent hundreds of thousands of ordinary Sierra Leoneans fleeing to refugee camps in the neighboring West African nation of the Republic of Guinea. That's where the remarkable story told by the new documentary Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars began.

On the Conflict in Sierra Leone

As many as 75,000 people were killed by 1999 in Sierra Leone during its civil War. Idrissa Conte from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) talks about the political context and the violence on civilians that resulted from the conflict in Sierra Leone. | Watch Video

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars are a band of six Sierra Leonean musicians who have been living in Guinea. Many of their family and friends were murdered in the violence, leaving them with physical and emotional scars that may never heal. Despite the unimaginable horrors of civil war, they were saved through their music. Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars chronicles the band over three years, from Guinean refugee camps back to war-ravaged Sierra Leone, where they realize the dream of recording their first studio album. And so begins a musical phenomenon that is making the world hear the voices of West Africa's refugees while drawing the accolades of musical superstars Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, Ice Cube (one of the executive producers of the film), and Joe Perry.

Walking with his wife, Grace, through the squalid and dangerous Kalia camp in Guinea, Reuben Koroma was happy to find Franco John Langba, a "musical brother" from the prewar music scene in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital. In camps like Kalia, discovering someone alive feels like a miracle. But the three took the miracle a step further by making music for their fellow refugees. The camp had already become embroiled in Guinea's fractious politics, and soon the unwanted Sierra Leoneans were relocated to the Sembakounya camp in the remote countryside. It was there that Reuben, Grace and Franco were joined by three other refugee musicians and acquired beat-up instruments and a rusted-out sound system.

At Sembakounya the newly formed Refugee All Stars, led by Reuben, had another fortuitous encounter -- with American filmmakers Zach Niles and Banker White and their musical director, Chris Velan. The filmmakers, both living in San Francisco, had previously had substantial experience in Africa and were in Guinea looking for stories that would balance the Western media's focus on the region's violence with a sense of African society's beauty and resilience.

When they were introduced to the All Stars, Niles and White knew they had found their story. That was in August 2002, and the band was just preparing, under the auspices of the U.N. refugee agency, to tour other refugee camps in Guinea. The filmmakers followed the All Stars on that tour -- where they were wildly received -- and over the following three years as the members worked on their songs, wrestled with the lasting traumas of the war and ultimately returned to Freetown, under an uneasy peace settlement, to record their first album, Living Like a Refugee. (Information on the band's album and U.S. tour, beginning June 8, 2007, is available at www.refugeeallstars.org.)

Despite all the recent hoopla in the group's life, including a tour of music festivals throughout Europe, North America and Japan, the band and its music remain close to the reality of the camps that gave them life. The songs on Living Like a Refugee, including the title track, "Bull to the Weak," as well as "Weapon Conflict," and "Compliments for Peace" speak directly from the refugees' experience -- against war, and the hatred, greed and brutality that accompany it.

As "Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars" so vividly reveals, no amount of Western entertainment glitz could sweep away the pain and terror that gave the band its soul and which, paradoxically, led to buoyant, hopeful and even joyous music. With its own blend of traditional Sierra Leonean goombay, West African high-life, reggae and hip-hop, the All Stars are bonded by the determination to do no less than "take the suffering of the people and make a song of it." In this, there is no distance between them and their subject -- the suffering is indelibly their own.

Reuben and Grace had fared among the best of Sierra Leone's refugees, having fled Freetown in the midst of a rebel attack. In the camps, the couple had one another but had lost everything else, including contact with family, friends and the musical life they had known.

Franco had been separated from his wife and kids and had still not been able to learn anything of their fates. Of the other bandmates, Arahim "Jah Voice," so called for his perfect high pitches, was forced to watch rebels kill his father before they cut off his arm at the shoulder and left him for dead. Mohammed Bangura had similarly been forced to watch the murder of his parents, wife and infant child before having his hand severed. At 15, Alhadji Jeffrey Kamara, called "Black Nature," is the youngest of the group. Orphaned by the war and tortured by police in Guinea, to which he had fled, Black Nature is perhaps the most traumatized and is considered an adopted son by the others.

Yet it is in such grace notes -- in the warmth, humor and searing candor with which the band members bear their personal and collective wounds -- as well as in the music they make, that the All Stars express their fierce loyalty to one another and to their people, and indeed to refugees of all the world's terrible conflicts. They must face the present with courage and the future with hope in order to save their lives. Thus the band's return to a barely reconstructed Island Studios in Freetown, while the devastation and a shaky peace treaty signed in 2002 keep many refugees away, comes as a powerful message of renewal.

Says co-director Zach Niles: "Even amidst unimaginable hardships, we knew the All Stars' story would be not only a celebration of what is beautiful about Africa, but what is beautiful about the human spirit -- the willingness to overcome adversity, the ability to forgive, the desire to share hope with others."

Behind the Lens:
Read an interview with the filmmakers and submit a question of your own »
Adds co-director Banker White: "From the beginning, we would joke that Reuben knew what we were doing there better than we did. Reuben said they had been writing and practicing all along and were just waiting for us to arrive. He really was writing songs for the whole world to hear."

"Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars" is a production of SodaSoap Productions, LLC.

music as a soical protest

OVERVIEW:
This lesson plan is designed to be used in conjunction with the film Sierra Leone’s
Refugee All Stars, the story of a band born in a West African refugee camp that chooses
to fight back against their suffering and circumstances with music. Note: A significant
portion of the film has subtitles. In addition, the film includes graphic war images
and accounts of atrocities. Please preview before showing the entire film in a
classroom setting.
P.O.V. documentaries can be taped off-the-air and used for educational purposes for up
to one year from the initial broadcast. In addition, P.O.V. offers a lending library of DVD’s
and VHS tapes that you can borrow anytime during the school year — FOR FREE!
OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this lesson, students will:
! Analyze a song about the recent civil war in Sierra Leone
! Discuss the role of social protest music
! Write new lyrics to an existing song to address a current social issue
! Present their original protest songs to classmates
SUGGESTED CLIP:
Performance of “Weapon Conflict” in Sembakounya Refugee Camp (2:49 min)
(The clip begins at 3:15 with text on the screen: “Sembakounya Refugee Camp,
Republic of Guinea.” The clip ends at 6:04 with the performance of “Weapon Conflict.”)
BACKGROUND:
Created in the late 18th century by freed slaves from the British colonies in the West
Indies, Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961. From 1991-2002, a brutal civil war
displaced more than 2 million people (about a third of the population), caused at least
Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars Lesson Plan 2
50,000 deaths, and brought about the mutilation of an estimated 100,000 men, women,
and children. Hundreds of thousands of civilians from Sierra Leone, including those who
formed the band Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, found refuge in the neighboring
country of Guinea, primarily in camps run by the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR). Once peace was reestablished in Sierra Leone, the UNHCR began
actively repatriating Sierra Leoneans from the camps. By mid-2004 UNHCR reported
that fewer than 2,000 Sierra Leonean refugees remained in Guinea. Those who chose to
stay will be integrated into Guinean society and will no longer receive UNHCR aid

students to identify a social issue of importance to them,
research it, and then write original protest song lyrics to a tune of their choice. For
example, students could address concerns about an environmental issue with original
lyrics set to the tune of, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”


RESOURCES:
Afropop Worldwide
www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/105/Reuben+Koroma-Refugee+Alls+Stars-
2006
The Web site for this public-radio series introduces people to a wide range of world
music and includes an interview with Reuben Koroma and a review of the band’s CD.
Cry Freetown
www.cryfreetown.org
The Web site of a film documenting the 1999 rebel attack in Freetown includes an
excellent set of links representing diverse groups, as well as general background on the
conflict, including information on the diamond trade.
Sierra Leone Web
www.sierra-leone.org/
A convenient gateway to a broad range of information about Sierra Leone.
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone
www.un.org/depts/dpko/missions/unamsil/index.html
This Web site provides an account of the Sierra Leonean peace process from the
perspective of the United Nations.
STANDARDS:
These standards are drawn from "Content Knowledge," a compilation of content

song weapon conflict

song

Now little Terry got a gun he got from the store
He bought it with the money he got from his chores
He robbed the candy shop, told her "lay down on the floor
Put the cookies in the bag, take the pennies out the drawer"
Little Khalil got a gun he got from the rebels
To kill the infidels and American devils
A bomb on his waist, a mask on his face
Prays five times a day and listens to heavy metal
Little Alex got a gun he took from his dad
That he snuck into school in his black book bag
His black nail polish, black boots and black hat
He gon' blow away the bully that just pushed his ass...

I killed another man today,
Shot him in his back as he ran away,
Then I blew up his hut with a hand grenade,
Cut his wife's throat as she put her hands to pray
Just five more dogs then we can get a soccer ball,
That's what my commander say
How old? Well im like 10, 11
Been fightin' since I was like 6, or 7
Now I don't know much about where I'm from
But I know I strike fear everywhere I come,
Government want me dead so I wear my gun,
I really want the rocket launcher, but I'm still too young
This 'candy' give me courage not to fear no one,
To feel no pain and hear no tongue,
So I hear no screams and I shed no tear,
If I'm in your dreams, then your end is near,

Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We're calling you
There's a war, but the guns are just too tall for you,
We'll find you something small to use
Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We need you now,

[[Lupe in background]]
Astagfurallah,Astagfurallah,Astagfurallah,Astagfurallah,
Astagfurallah...

Now here comes the march of the boy brigade,
A macabre parade of the toys he made
and shemaghs and shades who look half his age,
About half the size of the flags they wave,
And camouflage suits made to fit youths,
'Cause the ones off the dead soldiers hang a little loose
With AK-47's that they shootin' into heaven,
Like they tryin' to kill the Jetsons
The struggle's little recruits
Cute, smile-less, heartless, violent
Childhood destroyed, devoid of all childish
Ways, can't write they own names
Or read the words that's on they own graves,
Think you gangsta, popped a few rounds?
The kids'll come through and murder a whole town,
Then sit back and smoke and watch it burn down,
The grave gets deeper the further we go down,

Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We're calling you
There's a war, but the guns are just too tall for you
We'll find you something small to use
Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We need you now

Imagine if I had to console
The family's of those slain and slayed on game consoles,
I aim, I hold, right trigger to squeeze,
Press up and Y, one less nigga breathe,
B for the bombs, press pause for your moms,
Make the room silent, she don't approve of violent
Games, she leave, resume activity
Starred and blue hearts of card shark wizardry,
On the next part I, insert code
To sweeten up the little person's murder workload,
I tell him he work for CIA with "A"
A operative, I operate this game all day
I hold the controller, connected to the soldier,
With weapons on his shoulder,
He's only seconds older,
Than me,
We: playful but serious,
Now keep that online for online experience

Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We're calling you
There's a war, but the guns are just too tall for you
We'll find you something small to use
Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We need you now
Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We're calling you
There's a war, but the guns are just too tall for you
We'll find you something small to use
Little Weapon, Little Weapon, Little Weapon, We need you now