Edongo Band, Kitgum, Northern Uganda
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Africa, Education, Interesting Places, Music, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Jim Quattrocki and I were in Kitgum, Northern Uganda, recording a story at the Anglican Cathedral. I can’t remember if this is out of his camera or mine. Either way, it was a great day and beautiful music.
Tags: Africa, Church, Faith, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Uganda, Video
2011 Year in Review: Frakesproductions.com
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Interesting People, Interesting Places, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Here is a random collection representing a few of the images I recorded during the busy 2011 production year. Locations included Haiti (twice), Cuba, Dominican Republic, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. Music by JS Bach, Mass in B minor Dona nobis pacem (BWV 232).
For more detail, here are links to most of work I did this year.
- People of Faith: Christianity in America
- Church World Service, Haiti
- Ascension Catholic School, Oak Park, IL
- Herald of Truth Image Video
- Rural Community Assistance Partnership
- Bethesda Lutheran Communities
- Lutheran Life Communities, Gifts of Grace
- West Chicago Printing Company 100 Years
- Haitian Artist for Peace International
- The Bread Shed
- St. Stephen Martyr Lutheran Church, Canton, OH
- Alianza Church, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- Simply Fragrant, Christian and Missionary Alliance
- Herald of Truth Cuba churches of Christs
- 30 Good Minutes Spiritual Journeys
Tags: Dona nobis pacem, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
Images from Mizak, Haiti
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Interesting Places, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Here is a collection of images from my visit to Mizak, Haiti in 2011 with Haitian Artists for Peace International. The music is performed by a group of guys who were jamming by the side of the road.
Tags: Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
A Late Autumn Walk
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Interesting Places, Nature, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
A late autumn walk through Hidden Lake Forest Preserve, Du Page County, Illinois. Panasonic Lumix GF3, 720p
www.frakesproductions.com
Tags: Illinois, Nature, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
Empowering Haiti: Let’s Hear it from the Girls
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Education, Faith Based Production, Interesting Places, News, Peace and Justice, Pro Bono, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, women
It’s back to Haiti in August. This time, I’ll be shooting footage for Haitian Artisans for Peace International (HAPI). HAPI was founded in March 2007 as a fair trade artisan co-op focused on spirituality and creativity. The marketing of the resulting art supports women’s economic development and empowerment.
HAPI Executive Director, Valerie Mossman-Celestin and my friend, photo journalist, Paul Jeffrey asked me to help with this project. The footage will be woven into a short documentary. “Let’s Hear it from the Girls” (working title) will connect the voice of girls in a rural Haitian community to touch us with stories, music and dance that convey the joys and challenges of growing up female in Haiti. The film will also capture the subtle messages of hope emerging from a dream that the community recognize the value and equality of girls and women.
We will be working in Mizak, a mountainous, rural section of La Vallee in South-East Haiti, 80 km south of Port-au-Prince and 12 km west of Jacmel. The total population is just over 35,000. Seventy percent are peasants living under the poverty level of less than $1 US per day, and 63% of the population is under the age of 18. There are no jobs available, no electricity, no telecommunication system, no plumbing, and no water filtration. The majority of households have no measurable income and they rely on system of barter and trade.
HAPI plans to make this DVD available as a teaching resource to folks in the United Methodist Church. The project is funded in part through a grant from the United Methodist Women’s organization.
Look for more in the coming days and weeks!
Tags: Haiti, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, women
Flight to Bukoba Tanzania
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Africa, Education, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Wednesday, May 23, 2001 Jim Quattrocki, Kevin Jacobson and I arrive at an air strip in Moshi, Tanzania and board a single engine, fixed landing gear plane operated by African Inland Mission. Andy, the pilot, is a tall, slender American from Boulder, Colorado. It rained the night before – now the clouds began to lift and we took off, flying around Mt. Kilimanjaro and her more rugged sister Mt. Meru. We then head out over the world famous Serengeti Plain, Ngorongoro Crater and Odoval Gorge.
The ancient green grasslands are dotted with huts and animals. The route takes us west across the Serengeti to the southern tip of Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile River and on in to Bukoba, Tanzania on the western shore.
Tags: Africa, African Inland Missions, Bukoba Tanzania, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Proud of my Ugandan Friend Emmy
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Africa, Education, Interesting People, News, Peace and Justice, Tim Frakes Productions
I first met Akoch Emmanuel (Emmy), managing an internet cafe in Kitgum, Uganda in 2006. At the time, Northern Uganda was in the final stages of a 21 year civil war that saw hundreds of thousands forced into Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps. More than 20,000 children were abducted from villages and forced to join militants as sex slaves or soldiers. To avoid capture, children would leave their defenseless villages at night and congregate in city parks, back alleys and spartan night shelters.
Emmy lived with his mother and siblings on the outskirts of Kitgum. A bright student, Emmy worked his way into a management position at a store-front cafe on the main street of this dusty, provincial town. Not only did he run the store, he also served as an IT educator for friends and older Ugandan customers unfamiliar with the internet and computer technology.
After high school, Emmy enrolled in Gulu University and studied computer science. Despite considerable financial struggles, the burden of being the oldest male child, (Emmy’s father passed away several years earlier), theft of his computer and concerns about his mother’s health, Emmy emerged from Gulu with a bachelors degree.
Today Emmy serves as the IT manager for St. Josephs Hospital. In June, 2011, he launched their new web site. Check it out! http://www.sjhkitgum.org/
Emmy is a great example of the kind of talent, vision and energy possessed by many young Africans. He is a sign of hope in a world in need of something to hold on to.
Tags: Africa, Education, Justice, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Havana Cuba
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Culture, History, Interesting Places, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Recorded these shots while in Havana, Cuba, March, 2011.
Tags: Cuba, Havana, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video
Tim Archer Thoughts on Cuba Trip
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Travel
Tony Fernandez baptises a man at the Versaille Church of Christ in Matanzas, Cuba.
My friend and traveling companion, Tim Archer wrote about our trip to Cuba in his wonderful blog, The Kitchen of Half-Baked Thoughts. His post is a nice review of our visit.
Opening roads in Cuba
Posted on March 8, 2011 by Tim Archer
Back from my trip to Cuba last week, I want to share some more of what I experienced there. I’ve written in the past about the evangelistic efforts going on in the province of Matanzas, but I’m still overwhelmed every time I see the work in person. The Versalles congregation in Matanzas decided to reach out to communities around the city, something that the church had done before the Revolution.
They chose a road that led from Matanzas to the province of Havana (which now has been split in two and renamed, though I don’t remember the names). They prayed for those towns, asked members to give them names of people they knew in those towns, contacted respondents to Herald of Truth’s radio programs and set out to start churches. When someone was converted, they were told that the church would meet at their house the following Sunday. Those people would always invite family, friends and neighbors, and a new congregation was born.
After a time, congregations had begun in every town on the road they had chosen, so they picked another highway. When all the towns had churches meeting in them, a third highway was chosen. The church is now working on a fourth highway in their province.
The last few years, the Versalles congregation and the churches planted from it have averaged 280 baptisms per year. The retention rate is high. The number of Christians meeting in the province has basically tripled since 2006.
While describing their outreach methods to a visitor from Alabama, Tony Fernández made a statement that brought tears to my eyes:
When we are out and we come to a town that doesn’t have a congregation, we always stop and have a prayer for that town. Above all, we pray asking forgiveness for not having reached them yet.
Wow! I wish I felt the same passion, the same urgency. Maybe some of theirs will rub off on me
Tags: Church, churches of Christ, Cuba, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Ancient Rythm of a Cuban Farm
Posted by timfrakes | Filed under Carribean, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel
Recorded these images on a farm outside Matanzas, Cuba. The farmer is 69 years old and obviously physically fit!
Tags: Caribbean, Cuba, Tim Frakes Productions, Travel, Video