On May, 6th I received an unexpected email from the ShuttleWorth Foundation informing me that I have been nominated (WHO ME?) by Sean Bonner "to receive a Shuttleworth Foundation Flash Grant in support of your work." (WHAT?) That's not an email you get everyday. I was so excited and in complete disbelief that I texted Sean right away to make sure it wasn't some kind of spam email. Here is a glimpse to my reaction receiving this grant:
The grant comes with only one condition: "The only string attached is that we ask you to live openly, tell us and the world what you have done with the money."
Here's a little video about the Foundation:
Shuttleworth Foundation from Blink Tower on Vimeo.
What we plan to do with this grant.
Since I will be traveling to Lebanon in July and August and was planing on documenting the amazing work ANERA (our NGO partner) is doing in the refugee camps in Lebanon as well as the Education initiative we are helping them fund through our We Are Home Collection, I will use this grant to hire my Lebanese filmmaker friends to shoot an amazing short documentary shinning the light on the 1.5 Million Syrian refugees stranded in Lebanon.
“The world headlines parade millions of refugees as faceless, nameless people in need of shelter… But here they have a face.”
I am so grateful to Sean and to the Shuttleworth Foundation for giving me this grant and contributing in our efforts to raise awareness about the biggest Human Rights crisis since WWII and helping us and our partner ANERA reaching a wider community of supporters. The crisis has been under documented, the refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Greece, Turkey and Europe have not been properly supported by the International Community. We join others in the mission to push the boundaries, stereotypes and judgement to inspire social change in the region and support the refugees with all the means we have.
You can expect a thoughtful, honest and intimate look at the situation in Lebanon my home country. We will be collaborating with ANERA throughout this documentary and will hopefully have it online by September.
More soon!