A Universe of Giving

Yesterday I was reminded about the universality of storytelling when we were contacted by someone who had just watched the Edward Watts documentary “Escape from ISIS” (Dispatches, Channel 4) . She was so moved by the story that she wanted to help. She had done some research on the internet and had found the appeal that AMAR ICF are currently running to help the victims of ISIS: Escaping Darkness.

In her words:

Jeg glæder mig til at slappe af i aften.

Sådan føler jeg ofte i løbet af min travle hverdag med både arbejde og studiejob.
Det glædede jeg mig også til igår. Men igår blev ikke til afslapning på samme måde som normalt. Jeg så nemlig dokumentaren ‘Flugten fra Islamisk Stat’ på DR og blev hurtigt anspændt.

TÆNK, at kvinder, mænd og børn ikke kan slappe af, som jeg kan i aften.
TÆNK, at vi rent faktisk kan gøre noget for at hjælpe de udsatte familier og bortførte kvinder samt børn.
HJÆLP mig med at hjælpe dem!

TAK.

Signe asked if she could donate to the appeal in her national currency. I said we would look into it and get back to her. It’s not the first time that we have noticed that when a broadcaster screens the Edward Watts “Escape from ISIS” documentary that donations from that broadcasters country goes up. But, it was the first time that someone had contacted us to ask if they could donate in their national currency. So we were happy to be able to add the Danish Krone to the list of currencies we can process. Signe also offered to help raise awareness of the appeal amongst her friends and family in her native Denmark. We mentioned that we were looking into creating personal pledge pages and asked would she be interested in putting one together in her native language and this is the resulting pledge page that Signe put together. The basic concept was how can supporters of a cause show their support and make a pledge to help raise funds for an appeal or charity in a richer more personal way. Namely, how could supporters of a cause add in a meaningful way to the universality of the story and to the universality of giving.

Tomorrow Amnesty International will announce the winners of it’s 2015 Amnesty Media Awards. Good luck Ed Watts, your nomination for this award as well as all your other nominations and awards are well deserved. Storytelling is truly a universal need and in the words of Amnesty International let us all “shine a light on your work”.

As @niccolo wrote on the Amnesty International blog .

… watching Escape From ISIS did remind me of the power of all things televisual. The lined, worried face of Khaleel al-Dakhi, the stark beauty of the purple-flowered landscape through which his team drive – flatlands beneath mountains and then spooky mountain roads littered with burnt-out cars. It all begins to hit you.

Today’s digital communications revolution has brought to the fore the universality of storytelling on a truly global scale. Our mission in a few words is to bring forward the universality of giving for the digital age.

If you too would like to make a pledge in your native language please use the form below to submit your request.