Crafting a Movement with Uganda's Digital Storytellers

It's our privilege to share the North American premiere of "A Shared Dream: Digital Storytelling to Support Gender Equality in East Africa." Our guests, Barbara Naggayi and Mutatina Robens, talk with Dr. Mike Lang about the practice of digital storytelling in Uganda. They reveal the joys and challenges of guiding storytellers to express their innermost experiences and we examine the wide-reaching influence of digital storytelling on initiatives like Healthy Adolescents and Young People, showcasing its power to translate young voices into messages that resonate with the world.  Their tales are not just stories; they are instruments of change, daring to ignite discussions on gender dynamics and empowerment.

About the Documentary
Beginning in 2017, Common Language DST has created a strong partnership with Mbarara Institute of Science and Technology in Southwestern Uganda and the University of Calgary Department of Indigenous, Local, & Global Health in the Cummings School of Medicine. Working together they have developed a unique model of digital storytelling facilitation for use in the East African context which involves a team-based approach with each facilitator specializing in a specific phase of the  process. This documentary highlights this unique facilitation model and demonstrates how digital stories can stimulate compelling conversations about global health topics and in doing so, help encourage the women and girls of East Africa to pursue their dreams.

• Determined to Succeed - A digital story by Nancy
• Premiere & Online Discussion - Full Version

About Our Guests
Mutatina Robens is the DST focal person at Healthy Child Uganda where he has worked for the past 6 years while pursuing his Masters degree in Business Development. As well as being a skilled DST editor, Mutatina is responsible for coordinating the DST work with Healthy Child Uganda. The stories Mutatina has facilitated have been shared to thousands of community members across Uganda to advance child, maternal, and adolescent health. 

Barbara Naggayi is a lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty at Mbarara University of Science and Technology. She is currently pursuing her PhD in the same discipline and uses her extensive presentation and facilitation skills as a digital story sharing expert. Barbara has a strong focus on developing and maintaining ethical DST practice.

About Leading Through Stories
Everyone has a story to tell—and what we do with that story can create lasting impact. Every episode, Leading Through Stories, helps unravel the how and why of digital storytelling with host Kristy Wolfe.

Life is made up of meaningful moments—which ones do you want to share?

This podcast is presented by Common Language DST, digital storytelling facilitation training for health and wellness changemakers.

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Transcript

Mutatina Robens: 0:00

There is much meaning in stories, meaning which is very impactful.

Barbara Naggayi: 0:08

Storytelling being part of African life, I think this is the best way to bring out what these people can share. Your story has value and it will impact somebody, so you want to encourage them to speak. People connect through stories.

Mike Lang: 0:29

Welcome to Leading Through Stories, a podcast that explores the how and why of digital storytelling. My name is Dr Mike Lang and I'm the founder and lead instructor of Common Language Digital Storytelling. In each episode, our Level 3 facilitator, Kristy Wolfe, connects with storytellers or common language trained facilitators to learn more about the health and wellness stories that they are creating and sharing.

Kristy Wolfe: 0:51

Today is a special episode of Leading Through Stories. You're actually not going to hear from me. You're going to hear more from Mike Lang, who's the founder of Common Language Digital Storytelling, as well as a couple of our facilitators that are in Uganda. This episode was actually recorded during one of the kitchen table nights. A kitchen table night is when we bring together facilitators, storytellers, members of the public who would like to learn more about storytelling, to watch and discuss digital stories. Now, this particular kitchen table night was the North American premiere of A Shared Dream, a documentary that we filmed in Uganda around the process of digital storytelling. You're going to hear a lot more from Mike about this process, as well as his two guests, robbins and Barbara, so I'll let Mike take it away.

Mike Lang: 1:36

Welcome everyone. It's great to see everyone here. Thanks for making the time for a very special presentation with Common Language Digital Storytelling Kitchen Table Nights where we get together, we watch stories, we talk about them, we glean wisdom from those stories that then we can take away and apply to our own lives. It's their wonderful evenings, and tonight is a very special one because it is the North American premiere of a short documentary called A Shared Dream Digital Storytelling to Support Gender Equality in East Africa. And man, I'm super excited to be here with you all because this documentary and the work of the digital storytelling facilitator team in Uganda has been one of the things that I have loved about my life over the past six years being involved in the work that they've been doing over there and actually, believe it or not, some of that work has really led in part, to the creation of Common Language.

Mike Lang: 2:27

For those of you who don't know Common Language is, it's an organization that I found entirely dedicated to training people to be professional digital storytelling facilitators, and you'll sort of get to see tonight what that looks like in East Africa and Uganda.

Mike Lang: 2:43

It looks different than it does in North America, and that's why this is so cool, because you can learn from each other. There's going to be lots of ways that they do things in Uganda that's different than the way we do it here. There has been so many people involved in this work. We have here Robens Mutatina, who is one of the digital storytelling facilitators on the Uganda team, Barbara Naggayi, who is just a wonderful person. You will meet right at the beginning of the film and you'll get to see her skills on display. You guys have been using digital storytelling for all sorts of different things, but this one in particular is around the topic of gender. What would be important, do you think, for people here in North America to know about gender relations in Uganda to help set the stage for the film that we're about to watch?

Barbara Naggayi: 3:27

In appreciating that men and women are not privileged the same, especially in our context, and so for us to be able to navigate through those limitations and constraints is very significant. It's a significant story to share. How does a woman, surrounded so much of limitations, manage to go through, sort of like bust the bubble, and achieve their dream is a significant story. It's a beautiful piece of silence to break and also to bring an understanding that there are things that we take for granted. When you see men and women sharing the same space, it's not always easy, and there's all the backstory to the woman's agency. We normally use the word agency to express that someone is trying to see themselves independently, move to that table, move to that space, occupy that space and find relevance and express their relevance in that space. So gender equality for me means that and so much more.

Barbara Naggayi: 4:51

I think that it's important that our colleagues in North America are able to appreciate that women are really struggling to be able to situate themselves in that space and find meaning and bring out their relevance in that space where they share with the men.

Mike Lang: 5:12

Great. Well, Barbara, that's wonderful to set the context for us right, and I think, yeah, what you said, this is very much part of the cultural conversation in Uganda. I think that allows us to really sort of understand and maybe appreciate at a much deeper level what we're about to watch on screen. There's a lot of interesting things that happen that we will dig into a little bit afterwards, In addition to learning about digital storytelling and the way that you guys work and the way that you've developed your digital storytelling work over there. We'll learn a lot about that, but also, hopefully, we can talk a little bit about some of those gender equality issues that are at play in the film.

Kristy Wolfe: 5:49

All right. So this is the part of the kitchen table night where we were actually watching a shared dream digital storytelling to support gender equality in East Africa. The documentary that you've heard Mike and now Barbara start to talk about this came together because of a number of different people and organizations, which you can find in the end credits of the video itself. The video is linked into the show notes. So if you'd like to watch the video, if you'd like to watch Nancy's story that we talk about in this documentary, if you would like to actually watch the full uncut version of the online premiere and discussion, all of those links are in the show notes.

Kristy Wolfe: 6:26

But I did just want to draw attention to a few of the organizations that were connected to this. So Nancy is the storyteller that is highlighted in the documentary and she is connected to the Mbarara Institute of Science and Technology in Southwestern Uganda. That's also where our facilitators are located. It's also done in partnership with the University of Calgary's Department of Indigenous, local and Global Health in the Cummings School of Medicine. A lot of the work done on the film itself was in partnership with Road West Pictures. All of that information you will be able to find if you're looking at the documentary, head right over to the end screen and find out more about how this project came to be. Other than that, we are gonna jump back in to the conversation between Mike Barbara and Robbins about the documentary itself.

Mike Lang: 7:13

There's so much that we could talk about in here, so I'm gonna start with just a couple questions.

Mike Lang: 7:17

But Robens one of the things I really liked about the video is at the end your final interview. I could like feel your excitement about digital storytelling in that moment, and then you say, if anyone can do this, you should because it's such a great methodology. So I guess the question is what was your favorite part of that whole experience working with Nancy? And then I would take it a little further what was what's your favorite part of being a digital storytelling facilitator? What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Mutatina Robens: 7:47

I think my favorite part working with people to create their stories is the excitement that you see on the face of those people after they have managed to put out their story in a way that is very comparing and in a format that can be shared with very many people through different platforms, so that they can also learn from their lived experience. I think for me, that is the most exciting part of this digital storytelling, mainly the product of digital storytelling- I mean, you're one of the people who is involved in the most diverse ways.

Mike Lang: 8:26

I guess, right Often Robens is the I would call the story coordinator. He connects with people, he schedules them, he works with them on the crafting as well. Maybe you could just share with us some of the ways that the Uganda team has been using digital storytelling in the other projects that you've been working on, because we just got to see one little glimpse here and you guys have made over 60 stories now and using them for all sorts of different purposes. So tell us a little bit about some of your favorite projects and where you're using digital storytelling.

Mutatina Robens: 8:55

In Uganda, and specifically at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology. We have used digital storytelling in different ways, different projects, but mainly if I'm single to this one we use digital storytelling for engagements, and engagements at different levels. It can be local, at the community level, district level, even at the national level. The project where we have used digital storytelling so much is the project which we have been recently implementing, a project called Healthy Adolescents and Young People. Before we started implementing this project as the head of the Uganda, we have been implementing other projects targeting other age groups, for example, mothers and the children, and their challenges are very obvious. They can be seen by anyone.

Mutatina Robens: 9:44

But when we started implementing the head of the Adolescents and Young People, to us and some other people in the community the districts, the head of the workers it was very abstract. Why should we think about young people? But not until we captured the lived experience of the young people, things that they are going through, their challenges, and visualized them using digital storytelling. Very many people would connect and appreciate the challenges that are affecting the young people. So I must say that using digital storytelling because of the comparing nature in the stories that we have been able to create and share with the communities.

Mike Lang: 10:26

I remember Teddy telling me once that she just shared a digital story at one engagement with sort of a higher up health official and that's all she needed to do. After sharing one story, they started talking about what they were going to do to support adolescents and young people, and you didn't even have to present much data, you didn't have to do much to get them excited about the work that you were doing, and so that really stood out to me when Teddy told me that it shows sort of the power of hearing right directly from people that have lived it. You don't really have to think too abstractly, like you said, when you hear it straight from that young person. So, barbara, I'm going to head over to you. It seems like the students were really engaged in that conversation, and so you know you're a lecturer at the university. You teach lots of classes there. What was that conversation like with those students that we saw in the film, compared to sort of your average sort of educational context, the classrooms that you teach in how does it compare?

Barbara Naggayi: 11:23

Just like Robens said, this is a lived experience. It's not something abstract. They are not listening to something abstract. They are listening to somebody's real life experience and this person is bringing a certain meaning to something that they experience in their own lives. They may be different contexts, different settings, but they experience something similar, so there is something that they resonate with as the person shares that story. So, because of that connection like we normally say in our community of digital storytelling that stories connect people, people connect through stories. As they listened, as they watched, I guess there was something that everybody in that room could pick or connect to the stories and parts of Nars experience being made alive.

Barbara Naggayi: 12:26

Finally, someone being able to speak to that particular aspect that they have not they themselves in the audience haven't spoken about, but now they have the privilege of hearing somebody speak about it. So it's like you've held a secret within you for a long time and you're wondering how am I going to speak about it? What kind of meaning can I attach to this particular experience? And then you finally hear someone speak about it and bring out a certain understanding. There's a lot of emotion, empathy. You sort of feel like, oh, finally I get somebody who understands what I'm going through. Finally, I get to hear someone who has gone through what I have gone through. There's an inspiration for somebody to say, okay, I'm not the worst of the worst, this is not the worst that can happen to me. I really love digital storytelling because it brings a life, that which is abstract and people are able to connect to it.

Mike Lang: 13:33

Yeah, you know, one thing that really stood out to me as we were editing was how many people stood up and said I connected with this, because that was me.

Mike Lang: 13:41

One guy says that was me, but he was talking about the way Nancy, their family, sold everything so she could go to school, right. And then another girl got up and said that was me, but she was talking about sort of the relationship side of things. And man, I think that really highlights what you said is that it makes these abstract things real and then it allows people to actually have these conversations. No one would ever get up and talk about gender roles sitting in the cafeteria or even in gender studies classes. That might be some difficult ways to talk about things, but through the story itself, people can then talk about the story, and one of the things I love is when people talk about the story, what they're really talking about is themselves. When they talk about what resonates with them in the story, they're talking about their own experiences, and it's a way to start conversations that need to be had.

Barbara Naggayi: 14:32

Yeah, Talk about an experience in an environment where there's less judgment.

Mike Lang: 14:37

Yeah, that's very important that you're speaking from the place where you are comfortable, that judgment or kind of environment that stops people from speaking, and so one of the very unique things about the team in Uganda that I think we definitely need to talk about is there's sort of this made in Uganda approach to digital storytelling facilitation that's different than what I've seen pretty much everywhere else in the world, and that's you guys have chosen to do a team-based approach. So Nima is the finding telling facilitator, right, so she helps people find the stories and write it down. Robbins is sort of the crafting facilitator, right. He helps draw the emotions with the images and things like that and helps them come up with metaphors, and we'll talk about that in a second Robens. And then Barbara, you are the sharing person, right, because of your facilitation skills. How did you guys sort of end up at that?

Mutatina Robens: 15:31

place. I think it is because of the different skills among the members, the digital storytelling facilitators. We thought we could do it best if we divided roles according to what each facilitator is good at, and it is working out to very well.

Mike Lang: 15:51

Barbara, how did you end up as the sharing facilitator?

Barbara Naggayi: 15:55

Well, I guess, like Robens said, I guess finding yourself in the team, identifying what value you bring to the team and for me I thought that that was my best place but also identifying our strengths.

Mike Lang: 16:13

One of my favorite parts about this whole partnership has been the new ways, the new ways of thinking about digital storytelling, the new ideas that have been brought. Now we're working on just for everyone here. We're actually working on a digital storytelling guide and facilitator training Lesson plans. We're going to be using this film. We're co-working on things. Christy and Barbara and Robyns and I met and we're working on this guidebook and these lesson plans. Man, it's just really cool to look at all the different examples now that we can put into the guidebook about how to do things in sort of an East African context. What's your favorite part of the film, in particular of when you're working with Nancy?

Mutatina Robens: 16:55

What I loved most about when I was working with Nancy is that, much as I was facilitating or supporting, as the crafting facilitator, she still had the power to determine the content to be incorporated in her story. As a facilitator, it is always important to give the power to the storyteller so that she can determine the direction of her story.

Mike Lang: 17:20

And so, Robens, when you think about crafting the story, what's one of the biggest things that you've learned over the past six years? What's one of the biggest lessons that helps you when you work with people?

Mutatina Robens: 17:31

With crafting stage. I think some of the things which have learned and which are now very helpful is the metaphors. Metaphors, yes, they are so compelling they send the viewers on the general reflection. But the visuals which you have put there can expand the syncing or the scope of the story.

Mike Lang: 17:56

Seeing the visuals which she selected to be part of her story, they can expand the scope of what she's seeing, For sure, yeah, and it's been really fun to watch the team's process, from being very literal right in the way that you were telling stories, to now you have this whole world at your disposal to help people tell meaningful stories. You bridges and paths right. There's so many great moments in Nancy's story that were brought out through the images that you helped her choose, so it's very cool. Well, barbara, same thing for you. What was your favorite part about your role in the film?

Barbara Naggayi: 18:31

For the first time I had the storyteller in the room.

Barbara Naggayi: 18:35

I think that was very powerful, powerful, I think, for the storyteller, for her to be able to hear what people have to say about her story and also to get to hear high emotion about that feeling after the whole screening exercise. So for me, I think the engagement we had, the fruitful, free-spirited says Ann says civil discourse, that was powerful for these young people to be able to come out and have connection with that story. And that's why I keep telling the team, our team, that the process of making the story is as valuable as the final product, which is the story, because if the story is not well produced to bring out that compelling effect, then screening, the impact that we are looking out for at the screening phase, will not come out, because at the end of the day, we don't just share stories for the sake of sharing stories.

Barbara Naggayi: 19:44

We want the story shared and then it triggers some form of action, triggers some reflection, triggers some behavior change. So if the story is not properly done, if the process is not well done, then we cannot have that effect of the story.

Mike Lang: 20:05

That's a great final word, I would say, but why it's important that we are. You know we talk about being dedicated to the craft. You know we got to continue to be better at what we do and continue to improve, just like you guys have over the past six years. It's been incredible. I just see huge things in the future for all the stories that you make because that, like you said, the process we've really done a good job with developing the process and you guys now have this great process that you use and how you work together, right. So I would like to share one little story, if I can, because every once in a while, you know, I go over to Uganda and you guys just tell a story and I'm just like, oh man, like we should be telling this to everyone.

Mike Lang: 20:45

You know, and I think there's a couple of digital stories that have had huge impact. I think one of them was a guy named Kenneth, and I got to read through his interview transcript that you did with him and he talked about how he took his USB key to all the TVs in his community and when people were around, he'd plug it in and he'd say let's watch a story about maternal and child health, and then everyone would, as soon as they heard his voice on the TV, they would get quiet, and sometimes he said he would take it to the bars and play it during soccer games and the commercial breaks. Sometimes he'd be in people's houses, like of people that had their own TV, and I just love that as an example of how these stories can be used in so many different ways to start meaningful conversation. If you're interested in learning more about digital storytelling facilitation, you can just go to www. commonlanguagedst. org.

Mike Lang: 21:37

I always say the people that show up for things like this are the type of people I wanna hang around. I wanna be with these people, right, because they're the ones that value stories and are telling stories that can help change the world, and I think we've seen that in lots of different ways in Southwestern Uganda over the past six years, and I just wanna say thank you, especially to Barbara and Robens and Dr Neema is not here as the core facilitation team man, it's just been so inspiring to watch you guys work and I can't wait to see where things go from here.

Kristy Wolfe: 22:09

If you would like to watch the uncut version of the online screening and discussion, please go down to our show notes. You can kind of hear from Mike, Barbara and Robens. They do talk more than what we talked about on the podcast. You'll get to see the documentary itself, which is about 20 minutes long, as well as Nancy's story Determined to Succeed, which is embedded in the documentary. Now you could watch each part of those separately. All of the links are in the show notes, but we would love to hear from you what resonated. It was wonderful to be able to have Mike, Barbara and Robens talk about the experience of creating the digital story, of the experience of creating the documentary as well, and it brings me right back to Uganda when we were there in 2023 to film this documentary. I hope you enjoyed it. If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us to find out more about what's happening in Uganda. Find us at www. commonlanguagedst. org.

Mike Lang: 23:05

Thanks for listening to this episode of Leading Through Stories, presented by Common Language Digital Storytelling facilitator. Training for health and wellness change makers. Everyone has a story to tell and we would love to hear from you what resonated for you in this episode. What health and wellness story do you want to tell? You can email kristy@commonlanguagedst. org or find us on Instagram at Leading Through Stories. Don't miss out on the next episode. Subscribe to Leading Through Stories on your favorite podcast platform or sign up for our newsletter to get new episodes straight to your inbox. Thanks again for listening and we'll see you next time.