It was such a great opportunity to meet Fida Qishta and to watch her film. When watching the film I really felt like I was watching these scenes unfold from the eyes of a war correspondent/journalist. The events that she captured on her camera were so eye opening. This made me think about news stations and how stories are covered.

Fida addressed this when she answered questions after the screening: social media can either promote or hide the severity of an event or activity. I think news stations like to stay away from showing overly graphic images to the masses. They think that the general public cannot handle it. But if you do not show these images, who are you really protecting? This film touched me very personally because I am international student and there have been many gruesome deaths in my country. Although we have not been involved in any recent wars, Jamaica suffers from community and gang-related violence frequently. It is a serious issue and I imagined the people in the movie as my own. The closest Jamaica has come to a war recently was the Dudus case. This case was described as a massacre and everyone was to stay inside for their safety. Soldiers were constantly driving along the roads looking for this man. And America was also a part of the search for this Don.

It’s interesting to note that not many people in America were alive when there was a full out invasion of the country. There have been attacks but the biggest direct attack was probably 9/11?  Has anyone in this class lived to see soldiers of another country destroying your house? Killing your relatives right in front of your eyes? It’s not the same as seeing it on TV. I am not trying to say that anyone is at fault, but ignorance is bliss; and you can be really insensitive to situations that you have never experienced. Again I don’t wish this experience on anyone, but it is very important to tell these stories and to share these voices. The more we know about what is going on, the more we can make well informed decisions.