EMPATHY

It might take a lifetime to crossover the thin line that distinguishes a victim from a survivor especially when one is in no position to understand the situation and to know any better then fall prey to helplessness. This is a story of my lifetime and in the struggle that continues within me even today. Memories are still as vivid as they happened just yesterday, but today Ive decided to come out and speak about it. But, I believe my story might help others fight their demons too. Sana 10/2010

A more complete idea of where we're coming from and who we are. Sana and myself are beginning a grand journey around the issues of abuse and storytelling. We're not looking at gender specific abuse or limiting it to sexual. But, we want to foster a discussion and storytelling around the subject of racial, gender, bullying, ethnic or religious. We want survivors representing themselves and speaking for themselves. Too often we hear the voices of the aid worker, the academic or the medical professional. SBB is a community with members having true empathy with others in the community. We have Grand ambitions. The idea is a Global Voices for abuse and creating a network of humanitarians and NGOs. Where, if help and support is needed or required, we have the ability to point them to those resources. Empathy is the root of Stories Beyond Borders. Sana lived the experience. She can be the focus in creating a place where those who have suffered abuse may seek, find the empathy of others and, if need be, heal. We live in a world believing that abuse exists but that we are far from it. It exists in newspaper stories, human rights journals and media reports but not in our homes and in our lives. But, as we have seen so recently, even our journalists are not capable of understanding the nature of abuse without finding sympathy with the abuser. Few present the stories of those directly affected by abuse nor do they provide and environment empathetic to their needs. It's most often the activists speaking to us or aid workers. Rarely does the survivor tell their own story or give their own testimony. SBB will present human faces all can relate to as though they are members of our own families. A crowd-sourced storytelling platform, archiving stories of individuals, with a special focus on using stories of people to frame issues of abuse into perspective and context. Often issues are not seen from a global perspective. Issues such as gender based violence, poverty, racism & human rights violations are often polarizing and difficult to advocate in closed societies. An inability to recognize the issue and reluctance in discussing it is one of the major reasons of increased incidences of harassment. As human rights advocates on the ground many of us interact with people, our life stories mingle with theirs. These stories need to be shared, they need a platform to be heard; Stories Beyond Borders aims to empathetic and give these

statistics human faces. With a fast paced media industry we hear a lot of global human right issues, powerful accounts of suffering and survival, pictures that speak volumes. Yet, the telling of a personal story remains seemingly taboo. For the storyteller it is a process, a cathartic journey, for the audience it is a way to interact with and, perhaps, come to understand through the stories of others. Storytelling is for fostering connections between survivors and the diversity of their collective experiences. Envisioning a world where empathetic voices are heard, freely, without directions and where storytelling is in the first person representing their own unique experience. Its often cathartic for the storyteller to tell their story and for the viewer its a way of being exposed to realities outside their realm of comfort, thought and knowledge. These very personal stories are only known by the storyteller. It well may be the first time theyve articulated the story. They too are searching, not only for answers, as they are not easily revealed, but for the empathy and understanding of others who may have endured a common experience. They may come to understand they are not alone and it is possible to be ok. We will create a resource not only to bridge gaps, but also a resource center for social justice. We will hear people speak about the issues they face and learn about how we may help them. We're not thinking small. Sana age aged five suffered from sexual abuse so the base of the idea is coming at it with empathy. We've no intention of being the tree in the forest. We want results. Well create a Global SMS network with FrontLineSMS where individuals may report suffering, abuse and we have an established network of responders (NGOS et al) who can respond. We have the facility and experience to crowdsource the effort by students or members of the public. There are a lot of possibilities for direct impact. Let me tell you of Sana. I first met Sana as I was remotely doing crisismapping during the floods of 2010 in Pakistan. Sana and her student group (Future Leaders of Pakistan) were assisting and aiding those forced from their homes in the Jamshoro area. Sana would tweet out and geolocate her position and specific needs. I would, in turn, map them. Together we were a virtual team, a first encounter. Communication was by Skype and email. But there was more to it than just the technology that enabled efficient delivery of aid, allowing for Sana to locate the nearest hospital for medical aid and me to assist with providing shelters and clean water where necessary. Sana would post pictures from her trips and discuss her experiences at length. She became a witness to the stories of a people displaced, the agony, suffering coupled with relief, smiling faces twinkling with hope every time she made her return to provide them with even more necessities. For the beginning every journey ended with doubtful smiles, relieved to have been helped yet struggling with an uncertain future. Through the stories Sana witnessed and shared from the ground I was confronted with the lives and

stories of people that till then appeared as specks on the map, scattered reports and text messages from the ground. In the intervening years I've read Sanas blogs asking further questions or simply relishing the fact I was being exposed to a new culture and thoughts by a fearless voice. Its rare getting an inside look at activism on the level Sana practices it. One has to acknowledge Sana often takes positions putting her in harms way and she endures threats and possible physical violence. I asked Sana what gave her courage to blog as she does. She replied by sending me an animated story. Her story of abuse suffered as a child. Sana is our empathy. She knows, she relates and it's her passion for storytelling. Sana's story - Fight for Survival Sana is one of the most fearless bloggers and activists of South Asia and the World. Further, Foreign Policy named her one of the top 100 Global Thinkers of 2012. Me. I began his professional life with a Rockefeller Foundation grant to work as an intern with the Arena Stage, D.C. Among the productions was the "Great White Hope" with James Earl Jones. I experienced the spring of '68 (King's assassination) and ensuing riots in D.C. I left for NYC (a new life) the morning following Bobby Kennedy's assassination. I began work (production side) in the NYC Theatre world culminating with nearly 100 off Broadway and two dozen Broadway production credits as production electrician, lighting designer and/or assistant, stage/production manager to general managing Zorba the Greek (w/Anthony Quinn). In the early '70s rock 'n roll and touring became my way of life with Emerson, Lake & Palmer the first major (production) international tour and on to the Stones and Earth, Wind and Fire for several years. Somewhere there was Bowies Diamond Dogs Tour. Followed by and interspersed with dozens of other tours and ending with the reunion tour of Simon and Garfunkel and Billy Joel's ( I'm married to Christie Brinkley) tour. Lighting for the film "Star is Born" w/Streisand and for the PBS series "Cosmos" w/Sagan. Produced Emmy nominated documentaries (W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult) with/for PBS and wrote/developed, as producer, for feature films. For the past three years as a volunteer in the global humanitarian space I've been part of a group who have revolutionized, in part, worldwide crisis response. A Core Team member and Volunteer Coordinator of Standby Task Force, a network of CrisisMappers including one thousand international NGO members, UN associates, SAR Team members, disaster and crisis responders and citizens of the world. SBTF has responded to the requests of UNOCHA, UNDP, UNHRC, WFP, Amnesty International and the first crowdsourcing effort by a US Government agency, USAID crowd sourcing financial information in SE Asia. Crisismapping, in the humanitarian, space came to be realized with the Haitian earthquake. The US Military, State Department, NGOs began utilizing the Haitian map, almost immediately, in aiding rescue. SBTF went on to map the floods of Pakistan '10, the earthquake of Chile, the

Libyan Crisis, famines in Somalia and Sudan, the mapping of the Syrian crisis for UNHRC and Amnesty. We'll be working with Ken Harper of Newhouse School, Syracuse. Ken's experienced in journalism, storytelling, design and as activist. We're also consulting with John Crowley of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. John introduced us to Jemilah Mahmood a power in Humanitarian Healthcare. We are still forming our team. Knight's support will be integral to forming the team. YouTube, Twitter and Vine can all be utilized to tell stories and bring out work to the front creating an impact. Recently, with the Steubenville rape verdict and the insensitive and outright offensive reporting of it by CNN, MSNBC and Fox, SBB could have responded, almost immediately, with a YouTube of statements and testimonies of abuse survivors coupled with an onslaught of Tweets shaming the kind of journalism we witnessed. It seems the time for passivity is over as long as no harm is done to survivors. Within a decade look to how attitudes in the US have changed in response to AIDS, LGBT issues and marriage equality. Look to Liberia and the banning of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) as a partial result of storytelling (Ken Harpers project). With time and if we believe changel is possible due to effective activism and honest, accurate reporting. Syracuse is one of a consortium of Colleges and Universities of the Newhouse Schools who have a storytelling program we may be tangentially involved with and are exploring the possibilities. We are also exploring relationships with Internews, FrontlineSMS and Souctel Now you know.