Video is a great way to communicate to a community. With low-cost tools and simple editing programs, virtually any group can instantly use video to communicate their message in ways that, less than a decade ago, would have required skilled specialists and scare airwaves. This point was impressed upon me several years ago, when I helped produce a video for some African friends who were trying to get their message out about the school they were attempting to build.

I was amazed at how quickly they picked up editing techniques and learned the tool, while they gave me an appreciation for how lucky I am to have a stable electricity supply. We produced the first video to provide a synopsis of their efforts to build a Christian school in their native Tanzania. Schools are a luxury in Tanzania and, when children do have the opportunity to attend, there are often 80 students for every teacher and their workplace is a spot on the floor.

The New Life Band had a vision and I definitely got more out of helping them put their vision into video than they got from me. Producing their current video, that promotes their 2009 tour of the upper Midwest and California, was a privilege. Like most things, it was rushed and I would like to tweak a few things, but the visuals tell the story of how they have realized part of their dream with the opening of their school.

The cool thing is that they have created a community that goes well beyond Africa and extends into the heartland of America. With their original music, they have entertained and educated people from both rural and urban America and, in turn, people from those communities have been to Africa, donating their time and treasure to create a school where there was once dirt. I highly recommend catching the New LIfe Band at one of their stops in California, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska or Wisconsin.

Note:  the video on the left shows where they were several years ago when they had just begun construction, while the video on the right shows appreciative students enjoying their newly built school.