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Update: We have located pockets of communities who still live in symbiosis
with their lands and have struggled to keep large corporations off their lands. If
you are interested in a documentary collaboration, please contact us.

A JOURNEY THROUGH INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES: A DOCUMENTARY

Alice had been thinking about producing a documentary for a while. You could call it a strong pull
that she had been resisting. In June 2009, an amazing set of events connected her to Dorothy
Fadiman, who instructed her to watch the movie "Radiance" which you can find on her site.
"Radiance" she was told, "would resonate" and by watching it she would know exactly what she needed
to achieve in producing a documentary. Dorothy was right. Alice watched this movie five times and
cried. Please visit her site. Dorothy is an incredible filmmaker and teacher who has also authored a
book about what it takes to produce a film with passion.

Having connected to someone (a teacher, really) with so much experience, this urge became a "test"
(how passionate are you, really?) In the next month, Alice made the commitment. She took a great
leap of faith and created Pachamama Ayni. This all then came to be.

Both Alice and Jillyan are extremely interested in the production of a documentary. When they began
their work together (which was also sparked by an incredible set of events) – their vision completely
resonated. Jillyan will also be traveling to Perú in the same months Alice will be there and they are
committed to embarking on this incredible journey together.

For Jillyan, the intended documentary may show alternative ways of coping and the use of local
resources. Unity in the face of adversity is essential when financial resources are threatened. Self-help
and mutual help systems have been part of everyday life at other times in history; for example during
the first and second world wars.

With Jillyan’s amazing ability to put the purpose of this documentary into words, we are able to
present the proposal on this website as we begin the beginning stages of this work in the months to
come.

The aim is to search for indigenous communities who are still living in a more unified way. Even if we
can only discover small pockets of mutual help between community members in any given area, this
may be an example to the viewers. The search is for patterns of belief, old and new, which are being or
may have been passed down the generations. What messages are the elders giving to their
community, positive or negative? How is this affecting life in each community? Who is speaking and
who is listening?

THE PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENTARY.

1: To cover a number of authentic communities, whereby the viewers can experience the people
visually, their lifestyle and where they live.

2: Gathering information from the elders that are important to them, have been and still are.

3: Talking with some of the young people to hear how they relate to their elders, together with their
attitudes and beliefs. Do they match those of their elders? There will be questions to draw out
various areas of their lifestyles: care of their own children, health and well-being, spiritual beliefs,
birth and dying, care of the land and natural laws.

4: Asking questions about care of resources, their state of housing, food production, the current
availability of work and the effect of the global financial situation.

5: Having gathered information on community needs, is there a self-help system in place, whereby
community members work together to meet those needs? What roles do the elders play for meeting
community needs?

AIM OF THE JOURNEY ITSELF:

TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

HOW?
1: By entering into lands where indigenous people live, work, are born and die, energy moves in some
way. This happens when questions are asked and the reason for being there becomes known.

2: The questions bring to the surface people's needs, desires, options and more questions in the minds
of the elders and the community as a whole.

3: Within each question, an answer may arise. By asking a question, people become aware that there
is a need, that there is more to life.

4: There may be opportunities to encourage ideas on self-help and mutual help systems leading to
increased understanding of the benefits of unity in the face of adversity, if it exists in a community.
Some communities may already be functioning in a unified way, while others may be living in
isolation.

Many years ago when Jillyan was working as a public health nurse in Auckland, two Aboriginal
health workers came to visit a family clinic, play group and mother's craft and self-help group
that she was running in a community centre. They expressed the problem of the distances they
needed to travel between families in the Northern Territory Australia. They were interested in
the concept of self-help and having the medical officer examining children from birth to 5 years
old. For only two hours a week attention was being given to a large number of community
members, medically, socially with an educational session given by kindergarten students for four
year olds. The Aboriginal health workers felt that their families weren't enjoying being part of a
thriving happy community as theirs. They also noticed that the community in which Jillyan
worked was cross-cultural, with Maori, Samoan and Pakeha all in one place.

5: By visiting a number of different communities, there will be opportunities to share a wide range of
indigenous cultural beliefs from one to another. With modern technology, anything is possible.

The search does not relate to land claims or politics, as issues relating to land claims and current
political activity (though may in some way influence community needs) is not the focus for this
undertaking. The aim is rather to focus on the nature of the elder's beliefs, which influence the
communities within the area of their homeland, however their influence is likely to spread. It is
important to define the role of an elder for it is not enough that an individual is older in years, but
does have the respect of other community members. Of course, beliefs change over time according to
external influences and these will be taken in account. At the same time we believe there are
ancestral beliefs that have been handed down through the generations, ones that still exist, whether
conscious or not in the minds of the descendants.

We hope that by embarking on the beginning stages of this project, we will be able to eventually
garner enough funds to manifest this vision into reality.