Tim Barrus (Founder, Cinémathèque Films; Creative Director, Show Me Your Life): We launched Show Me Your Life to turn the lives of children at-risk, especially for HIV, totally around so they might begin to see themselves, not as patients, but as people who have something to contribute. So they might be less isolated to such an extent they can become change-makers. And not just sitting on the sidelines. Our mission crosses borders, sexualities, civil wars, continents, rank, and long histories of defeat. Many of us employ the magic of self-expression as therapy in our every day lives—a way to unwind after a tough week or a way to show people our innermost thoughts and feelings. Self-expression in its many forms include, but are not limited to, music, art, film, poetry, and writing. It can also be a powerful tool to help heal in times of distress. When you are fighting a life-changing illness like HIV, or when your loved one has been diagnosed and you are imagining the long road of treatment that lies ahead, self-expression becomes a critical means to treat the mind, body, and spirit. Show Me Your Life is an international art program where children at-risk construct video, film, photography, painting, and writing that is in essence a tutorial on how to implement art into any treatment program. We focus on HIV, but the principles are the same. Studies have shown that such creativity used to show the rest of us, “the other,” a glimpse into a life that might otherwise be silent and remain obfuscated can help reduce stress-related doctor visits, lower blood pressure, and improve the immune system. Students are facilitated to share their thoughts and feelings. These participants are guided through a variety of journaling techniques that will help them explore and then express their struggles. Show me your art. Show me your life. You are more than a disease, and a diagnosis, and I believe you.

Oliver McTernan (Broadcaster & Writer, Human Rights Activist, co-Founder & Director of Forward Thinking, U.K.)

I had the privilege of visiting Tunisia during its revolution earlier this year and meeting with some of the young people who through their courageous actions brought momentous change to that country. In the course of our conversations it became clear that these young people had overcome the fear that had dominated their lives and were prepared to risk all in their quest for dignity and agency. They were no longer prepared to tolerate the climate of repression that had robbed them of self respect and freedom to control of their own lives.

It was a deep sense of accumulated grievances and injustices that motivated them to act to change their lives in a decisive way.

It is well documented of course the significance of the internet in facilitating the changes. People were empowered by the ability to communicate.

They used their computers and mobiles not only to organise but to tell their stories.

It was soon after returning from Tunisia that I was introduced to the work of the Real Stories Gallery.

It struck me that it is the same quest for dignity and agency that motivates these young people from around the world who have been the victims of abuse to tell their stories.

Through the use of videos they too are learning to overcome the fear that has gripped their lives and to discover their intrinsic dignity despite what may have happened to them in the course of their early lives. I fully recommend Real Stories Gallery, who provide these young people with a chance to be free.

It's all about choices: standing up for the Rights of the Child and assisting our neighbours who are struggling to stand up.

Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) has not been ratified by 2 United Nations Member Countries: USA & Somalia.

Convention’s Optional Protocol: Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography has not been ratified by 56 UN Member Countries. **The USA has ratified this protocol, but has yet to implement a Federal & Coordinated response to serve the best interests of child-survivors within its territories.

Convention’s Optional Protocol: Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict has not been ratified by 61 UN Member Countries. **The USA has ratified this protocol.

Sexual violence against men and boys: The problem of male-directed sexual violence remains largely undocumented. We do not know about the relationship between conflict-related violence and sexual violence within institutions such as militaries, police forces and penal systems.  The reluctance of many men and boys to report sexual violence makes it very difficult to accurately assess its scope.  In the last decade, sexualized violence against men and boys – including rape, sexual torture, mutilation of the genitals, sexual humiliation, sexual enslavement, forced incest and forced rape – has been reported in 25 armed conflicts across the world.  If one expands this tally to include cases of sexual exploitation of boys displaced by violent conflict, the list encompasses the majority of the 59 armed conflicts identified in the Human Security Report (humansecurityreport.info).

Sexualised violence against adult men and boys can emerge in any form of conflict – from interstate wars to civil wars to localized conflicts – and in any cultural context.  Both men and boys are vulnerable in conflict settings and in countries of asylum alike.  Both adult men and boys are most vulnerable to sexual violence in detention and during military operations in civilian areas and in situations of military conscription or abduction into paramilitary forces.  Boys, are also highly vulnerable in refugee/IDP settings.  The issue of disclosure is further challenged in localities where homosexual activity attracts legal penalties. 

Sexual violence is however a mechanism by which men and boys are placed or kept in a position subordinate to other men and has no relationship to generally accepted notions of homosexuality as consensual relations between adult male partners. Sexual violence is an exercise in power and humiliation (fmreview.org)

When you take an HIV kid out of an abusive situation that is NOT the end of it. That is only the beginning. The first couple of months, you will need to rock and roll. What does rock and roll mean. It means expect the unexpected. There has been NO research done that will provide you with what is real guidance. Especially if you are dealing with 1.) drug withdrawal (addiction) 2.) SIBs: Self Injurious Behaviors, 3.) Nightmares (the nightmares the kid normally has are now exaggerated by ARVs like Sustiva), 4.) and just plain remembering.

What I like about Show Me Your Life is that the kid can make a video, but it’s safe; the life, the violence, the rapes, the incarcerations do not pull him into the computer. The video is a SAFE place in which he can articulate the rage at what has happened to him. What really pisses me off about so many professionals is that they look at me and say they can’t participate because the kid could harm the camera or he might steal it. GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK! The camera is a VOICE for a kid who is desperately attempting to construct one.

Icanu's Cage клетка

Iancu, 15, is from Eastern Europe. He was given a Show Me Your Life camera. In very telling ways, he shows us his life through the images he creates. Iancu is only now just beginning to tell some of his story, and he is practically inseparable from that camera. There is a place he wants to film. This place, too, was his life. Some people would consider it to be a thing not a place. But to Iancu, it was a place. The word for this place is: клетка. Iancu lived in an клетка. We will find a клетка, and Iancu will film it, and perhaps make a GIF when he is ready but not before then. And maybe never. It would be very, very difficult for him to face an клетка, and nobody is going to force him to even look at one ever again. He may decide to never film it. Or he might. It is completely up to him. It would be safe to look at a клетка as a GIF. I promise. He does not have to bite his arm when he sees a клетка. He does not have to go inside. You cannot go inside a computer. I welcome him to Show Me Your Life.