Balancing out the scales

Okay, so the big prize goes to Smarvez. She guessed Ethiopia on the flag from my last post, and she's right. Angus from Rock and Ice Magazine also got it right, but I think maybe both of them cheated... or at least used their 'phone-a-friend'. Yeah, Google is my friend too.

So I'll be going to Ethiopia soon after I premiere PURE here in Colorado and before the European PURE tour starts. There are a lot of things that start to gnaw on you after spending seven months making a film, and one of the biggest is this: Looking back over the last seven months I can honestly say my existence has been 100% completely self-centered. Honestly, that's the best way to make a film... to get totally encompassed in it. But seven months later I've done nothing for anyone other than myself and it's time to set the scales closer to a balance.

I'll be going to Ethiopia for about 10 days to do a short film about clean water infrastructure and the benefits it can bring to villages. The idea is then to bring the film back to the US and gather as many eyeballs as possible together to see the kind of difference it makes when villages have access to a clean water source.
I dont personally have the finances to donate wads of cash to the effort, but using my cameras for good is one of the things I aspire to and this looks to be a very good chance to work for some positive change.

The above photo is from the Elizabethfontaine Primary School near Rocklands, South Africa. The donation we made to the school last year was 10 times more meaningful to me than sending V14 (of course, I didn't scream "Fuck Yeah!" after donating the money... but you get the picture). I hope the trip to Ethiopia will be even more positive and memorable. And hopefully I can tip the scales far enough in the other direction that I can start working on another film soon.

If you would like to support my travel to Ethiopia please feel free to contact me through my web site. I'm currently accepting donations to offset the expense of the trip.

If anyone out there has been to Ethiopia or has any advice to offer on traveling in the country... fire away. I'm all ears. Some friends of mine were mugged in Ethiopia last year and honestly It's a bit frightening to head out there with all my camera gear, so any stories or tales or bits of advice are welcome.

Oh, commercial plug... PURE is now available for pre-order at www.bouldering.com and the tour schedule is filling up. If you want to host a show contact me as soon as you can!

-Chuck