I'm planning to do a documentary about dump children in Ecuador

This is about children; children who live in dumps; children who eat other people’s garbage; children who spend every waking hour sorting through that garbage in order to salvage something, anything that can be sold. These are the people I intend to help. Yes they are people even though the authorities treat them as vermin, only fit for extermination. And why are these poor children living in such terrible conditions? Because they were unfortunate enough to be born in a country where the poor have no protection; because their parents have abandoned them for lack of resources to nourish them; or because their parents are either dead or too ill to work to support them; because of the luck of the draw. That’s why. You can thank God or providence or something that you have had better luck.

Por Amor which means For Love is a source of hope for many of these children. This is the charitable organization that has taken in 17 of these children to provide them with food, shelter, clothing, education and a chance at adoption. They are expanding their facility to accommodate 12 more children and have asked me to come to Ecuador with my cameras to document their efforts so that they may be better able to raise funds to keep the good work going and growing.

The goal of this project is to produce a full length documentary revealing the way that orphans in Ecuador are forced to survive by living in dumps, scavenging for food and saleable objects which those more fortunate have discarded. I will contrast their desperate struggle to survive with the wonder of a home, regular meals, clean clothing, an education and hope for adoption which Por Amor has made its mission to provide to the fortunate ones who have been rescued from such terrible conditions. There will be 2 versions; the first primarily in Spanish using the original voices of the children, and the second with English voice over for the English speaking audiences. Por Amor will be able to use these at ongoing fundraising events to help them finance their good work. I plan to premier the Canadian showing of this full length version at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival and subsequently hold a public screening to help raise funds for Por Amor. At the public screening there will be copies of the documentary for sale along with framed prints of the best of the still photography I will shoot during the project. Proceeds of course to Por Amor.

I also intend to produce a series of shorter versions and still photos suitable for use on their website and on other sites such as YouTube to further assist them in their fundraising efforts.

You can learn more about Por Amor Fundacion at...
http://www.por-amor.com/

Conditional Itinerary for Ecuador Project
February 2009

1st. Fly to Quito
2nd & 3rd In Quito visit dump, orphanage & child care centre filming conditions there.
3rd Bus to Manta takes 11 hours. Great opportunity to get colourful footage of the culture.
4th – 19th Stay at guest room at Por Amor.
Shoot footage of: Vision soup kitchen for drug dependant street kids. Do in depth coverage of living conditions of dump children and compare to the improved lives of the children Por Amor has rescued. Get detailed explanation of what will happen to the rescued children in the future as compared to what the future holds for those who remain at the dump. Try to do a count of unhoused children who need help. Document both long and short range plans for present and future expansion of the facility. Work with Allan and Pearl to transcribe or translate the frames on the video that I plan to use in the finished documentary.
20th – 26th If work is completed to my satisfaction take a week to rest at Allan’s friend’s seacoast hotel. Shoot some more local culture footage while there.
27th Fly to Quito.
28th Depart for Toronto.

Budget for trip

Round trip flight to Quito & home including taxes etc.
$1100.00
3 nights in Quito.
$150.00
Bus trip to Manta
$75.00
Expenses during stay at Por Amor
$450.00
Expenses at seacoast
$ 210.00
Flight to Quito
$100.00
Overnight at Quito
$40.00
Clothing and gifts for children
$200.00 Incidentals $150.00
Subtotal $2475.00

Budget for production
Editing software
$1200.00

Final project cost
$3675.00

Amount raised to date
$900.00

Current shortfall
$2775.00

Please help make this project succeed. Pledge a Donation Today.
For a pledge form go to...
http://downbutnotout.synthasite.com/
Click Ecuador Project and you will find a pledge form at the bottom of the page.