52 Attend 42nd Symposium | Senior scientist becomes life member of medical society | Young scientist receives award | Sauli attends measles detection workshop | IMR Madang staff attend AIDS talk | Staff get training on DVBS | University of Technology staff visit PNGIMR | This quater in pictures | Media personnel attends film workshop in Fiji | IMR Rugby Union team receive new jerseys | A trip of a life time | 2007 42nd Medical symposium in pictures |Successful GIS training workshop

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Media personnel attends film Workshop in fiji

Llane Munau reports on her trip to Fiji to attend the ‘Young Media Producers Documentary Workshop.'

pngimr media officer ms Llane Munau , colin laefasia from the solomon islands, aministai koroi from fiji having a break after a day of Filminmg in suva.

On the 15th of July 2007 I took a six hour flight from Port Moresby to Nadi, Fiji on Air Niugini, then to Suva on the Pacific Sun Airlines, to meet up with five other young people from Fiji, Solomon Islands and PNG, that were going to attend the ‘Young Media Producers Documentary Workshop,’ together with me.

The purpose of the two weeks workshop was to train young people from these countries on how to produce documentaries on issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.

I met the participants from Solomom Islands and Fiji the next day at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Suva, where the UNESCO funded workshop was to be held.

During the first three days of the workshop we listened to presentations by guest speakers whom the facilitators of the workshop (Regional Media Center) had invited to talk to us about issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.

This was to give us a clear outline about present issues surrounding HIV/AIDS because at the end of the two weeks workshop, we were required to produce documentaries surrounding the issues.

Those who presented to us were Dr Jiko Luveni and Mrs Tuberi Cati from the Fiji Network of HIV positive persons, Jovesa Saladoka, Behavior Change and Communication officer, SPC Noumea, Mrs Caroline Mataitoga from the STI clinic in Suva and Elizabeth Cox, Regional Programme, Director, UNIFEM Pacific.
Our workshop facilitators, Mr Larry Thomas, Coordinator Regional Media Center SPC, Mr Aren Baoa TV and Video Production Officer RMC SPC, and Mrs Etivina Lovo Media Training Associate RMC SPC, were very instrumental in the two weeks, in teaching us the basic techniques of what to go about when producing a documentary.

For some participants it was their first time to work with the video camera and have hands - on experience with the tool.

The six of us were then paired into three groups and were given the task of producing a six-to-ten minute documentary on any issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.

I formed a group with Br Wiktor Kanarski from the PNG Catholic Life, and the documentary that we produced was entitled ‘It’s better to know,’ and it was focused on Voluntarily Confidential Counselling and Testing (VCCT).

On the 27th of July we finalized our short documentaries and they were shown to a group of nurses, doctors, media personals, students, friends and SPC staff.

To see our work being appreciated by other people was the highlight of the training.

We then received our certificates from the Deputy Director-General Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Mr Falaniko Aukuso.

As a media person, I had some basic knowledge about working with moving pictures but I had a lot ofunanswered questions about how to go about when producing a documentary. By attending the workshop all my questions were answered.

The workshop has made me more confident in doing short documentaries for the Medical Research Institution.

I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity by UNESCO, SPC and PNGIMR to attend this intensive training workshop on documentary making.

Now I’ll be able to help out more effectively in the fight against HIV/AIDS through producing documentaries.

The presentations of those who gave talks to us during the first three days of the workshop has also become an eye opener for me as I compare how different groups and different countries have gone about dealing with the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS.
I would like to say ‘Vinaka Vakalevu’ to Mr Larry Thomas, Mr Aren Baoa, Mrs Etivina Lovo, Jovesa Saladoka, SPC Noumea, Mr Falaniko Aukuso, Deputy Director-General SPC and all those hard working staff at SPC Fiji who made our training a successful one and our stay in Fiji a memorable experience.

Lastly a big ‘Thank you tru’ to Mr Abel Caine, UNESCO Adviser for Communication & Information, Samoa, and Ms Nifo Onesemo-Simaika, UNESCO Office for the Pacific States, Samoa, for making it possible for me to attend this workshop and PNGIMR Director, Professor Peter Siba, for allowing me to attend the workshop.

Flying back to Papua New Guinea on the 28th of July, I said a prayer of thanks for all those whom I met in Fiji who have helped me in one way or the other to grasp the knowledge about producing documentaries and also to see the fight against HIV/AIDS in a new perspective.