[Music]

Foko Madagascar: Brings Malagasy Stories to the rest of the world

Hi my name is Mialy Andiramaninjara. I am from Madagascar.

I am one of the project managers for the Rising Voices project in Madagascar

The project is FOKO Madagascar where we try to get people living in Madagascar into the world of blogging

We have so far successfully held blogging workshops in Antananarivo, Tamatave and planning to expand to a third city

... in the next few weeks and as well expand our sessions to kids and teenagers.

FOKO bloggers at the United Nations Club

Think Build Change Salone - Arms Sierra Leonean interns at local NGOs with weblogs to share their stories, successes, and struggles in the post-war development of Sierra Leone

Neigbourhood Diaries - Teaches youth living in Kolkata's red light district how to become young citizen journalists.

Nari Jibon - Offers an intimate portrait of Bangladeshi life, culture, and customs from a woman's point of view.

We are wearing yellow dress as a symbol of the spring

HiperBarrio trains young people living in the outlying hillside communities of Medellin how to tell local stories with online media.

My name is Alvaro Ramirez and I'm working with the Rising Voices project we developed here in Medellin, Colombia

With the other four ones in other parts of the world

We are now going up to La Loma San Javier, which is a very famous neighborhood in Colombia

Because it is very beautiful, but also it was heavily battered during a war, a real war that developed here

where many youth were involved in arms and it had to do with the narcotrafics

the guerilla groups who took over some parts of this area, this neighborhood from here up

So this first neighborhood we're trying now are San Michel and a couple others

but we're going to the highest of them in the most remote and the most in the periphery

which is called La Loma

Hello my name is Catalina my blog is called "Thinks of the soul"

I study social work in the University of Antioquia

And so I try to tell about the experiences that happen in my work as frequently as I can

Because, of course, there are some factors [in social work] that could be a risk

But, yeah, I try to do that with my blog, put down the observations I make.

"The eyes are in the mirror of the soul" ... and so I like to write down everything I see in my blog.

My name is Luisa Fernanda Alvarez and my blog is called "Raining crazy thoughts"

And I study industrial design.

Why did you call your blog "Raining crazy thoughts"?

Ah, because at the beginning I figured I would write crazy things ... that's how I reflect ... I'm a little crazy.

So I wrote some crazy things, like the blog says, but at the end what I wrote wasn't so crazy.

Voces Bolivianas - Trains marginalized communities throughout Bolivia how to indicate dialogue with new media.

My name is Felipe Paucara, we're in the city of El Alto, Bolivia. We would like to send our greetings ...

To Colombia, to our friends in Medellin, to the HiperBarrio project

We are satisfied here in our country to participate in this project marching forward, Voces Bolivianas

My name is Loyola. Greetings to the HiperBarrio project in Medellin, Colombia

All this about blogs is really interesting

This experience has allowed me to write what really happens in reality ...

... in the area where we live, the city of El Alto, Bolivia

I ask all of you to keep writing, and we'll keep reading all the blogs, and share.

The experience is very interesting. Please leave comments. Take good care and we'll speak again later!

Iran Inside Out - Teaches aspiring young filmmakers how to share their works with an international online audience.

What would it be like to see Iran from the inside?

to see stories about the people

to share the dreams of the youth

from urban life

religious rituals

to underground music

Iran

from the inside

out.

REPACTED Kenya - Mixes improvisational street theater with citien media to encourage more community participation in Nakuru.

Bloggers since childhood - will train a new generation of open source bloggers in Uruguay using their government-bought XO laptops.

Prison Diaries - trains men and women prisoners in Kingston, Jamaica how to tell their stories while gaining valuable media production skills.

Rising Voices for us was major because now ...

... and this is why I wanted you to meet the women [prisoners].

Becaus they have so much to say and nobody is listening.

You know, it feels like no one is listening.

So for us this was a great way to say to our guys

OK, you have so much to say, here is an avenue where you can truly express yourself.

You can say whatever you want to say

If you want to talk about something, if you want to write about something in the future ...

... you can do that. If you want to create ... whatever you can do, use this opportunity to do it.

Tell you story. Why are you here? How did you get here? Who are you? What are your dreams?

What are your goals? What are the things that concern you the most? Just write it.