Karma Cola Final Script

 

Pics.. Driving thru Freetown Streets

 

V/O Sierra Leone is not the most sought after destination.

It’s a country best known for brutal civil war, blood diamonds and most recently an outbreak of the Ebola epidemic.

 

Pics. driving through town then out to the country

 

V/O But far from running a mile, New Zealander, Simon Coley from Karma Cola is back in the country for his second visit.

 

Pics Card 1.     ** 0007 01.04.06 – 04. 28      Wrecked car drive by

Travelling shots. Card 3.  Clip  143 // 144 // 147 Drive through rugged terrain.

 

V/O Ebola killed close to 4 thousand people here, shut down the borders and made it impossible for Simon, until now, to return.

 

Pics Villagers singing, drums…

Pics. Card 3 01.58 20.17 - 20.33 women sings.. God figure enters frame and is whipped //

 

Card 3 01.58 21.34 – 21.54 **dancing singing crowd.. cola nuts offering karma cola song

 

V/O Simon and New Zealand company, Karma Cola, have established both trade links and great friendships here.

 

Pics.

Card 3. Clip 0150   03.06.14 – 06.24 //

Card 3. 0150 03.05.04 –05.15 intro welcome Karma Cola

Card 3 08.48 - 09.00 Simon meets chief Hindawa “Where’s you hair gone?”

 

Simon I/V. Card. 11  Clip 0523 10.51.09 This is Boma, the village we get the Cola that goes in Karma Cola from and we’re here because we’ve been supplied by these people with Cola nut for the last 5 years.//

 

Graphic. Sierra Leone map showing Liberian border, Gola rain forest and Boma village.

 

V/O Boma Village lies deep within the Gola rain forest on the Liberian border. It is here where Karma Cola has it’s roots.

 

Simon I/V Card. 0523 52.07 originally we thought we would try and see if we could find a place we could get Cola from, so we could call the product karma Kola, there’s no point in putting that on the name, on the label without actually being able to do some good with it..

 

V/O 11.00.22 it’s the most drunk drink in the world after water, Cola’s (in) the most well-known word in the English language after OK and yet it comes from this place // none of these people have ever benefited from the sale of the drink that is one of the most popular drinks in the world

 

V/O The cola nut holds a great significance for the people here… much more than just the flavouring of a fizzy drink.

 

Simon I/V cont. ( Overlay ) Card. 11  Clip 0523 10.51.09 // this is where it’s part of the fabric of life, these people use it to greet each other, they use it for medicine, and now they’re using it to create a more sustainable economy for themselves…

 

Pics Simon walks thru village

 

V/O Ensuring that sustainability continues and improves is the essence of Simon’s trip here.

 

Pics. Village Barri. (Albert speaks)

 

V/O Simon is accompanied by Albert Tucker, his right hand man and Chairman of the Karma Cola Foundation…

 

03.38.46 Speaking..

Village Barri. ( meeting house) Speech . Simon Card 3

Simon..Thank you for making us feel so welcome here…

 

03.48.10  we think it’s very important to share with you something of our lives back home because you’ve generously shared yours with us // //49.25 here’s to you.. audience claps...

 

V/O Simon is planning to give the villagers here a very western treat today. Before that can happen cultural norms dictate that homage must first be paid.

 

Card 5 0297 Women dance and sing..( heading to bush and prayers..)

 

Card 3 clip 0178 walk into bush..

 

Clip 0184  04. 11.20 Pray that through our ancestors God will not forget us..

 

04.12.25 nice wide shot of prayers..

 

Clip 0185 People pray..**

 

V/O Faith here, is a mix of traditional Animism, Christian and Muslim beliefs.  To date, religion, has never been the cause of conflict.

 

Pics prayers..

 

V/O Ritual Prayers complete, the Village Shaman tells the story of karma Cola coming to the village.

 

Shaman. 04.04.20  One white man came here and advised us to be planting cola plantation

 

06.30 After a few years they called a meeting and presented a carton of drinks and said to them you know this thing?

 

 We said No.

 

We say, this is the cola you gave me some time ago…

 

7,40 but how they produced this thing we don’t know.

 

07.53 but the small thing they take is the packet we have.

 

08.20 from that small package ( money ) we were able to construct that bridge..

 

So whenever we invite the paramount chief he will not fall off into the river.

 

Pics  Cooking.

 

V/O Now it’s time for Simon and his travel companions to unveil their plan.

 

Pics Cooking starts.. Clip 0186 women laugh boys perform 04.13.52

 

Simon I/V  Clip 0524 11.01.44 This time we brought two of our business buddies from London, Tom Barton and Philip Eales who are the founders of Honest Burger to make burgers here in the jungle.

 

V/O Honest Burgers’ chain of fourteen London restaurants, ran a karma Cola and burger special contributing one pound from each sale back to this village..

 

Cooking Pics.. clip 0189 04.15.55 Phil. this is a very strange strange experience.. no one in England has ever cared about us cooking burgers as much before so..

 

Card 7 Clip 04 10 7. 53.35 Tom ‘when Karma Cola came along we met with Simon and we were really enthused by what he was doing but had this massive urge to see what he was doing as well, so I think our first meeting was ‘when can we go to Sierra Leone we want to do it’, I think then the idea progressed ‘can we bring burgers over here

 

Simon cont  11.02.06 the crazy idea was rather than us tell people what we do and what it’s like for someone at the other end of our supply chain, we thought  why don’t we bring them here and see if we can cook and share some of the culture that we’re indulging in in our part of the world, with the people here whom we get these ingredients from..

 

0192 Phil Grab 04.19.30 first time cooking in front of a load of people most of them think what we are doing is mental by the way they’re not happy about it”

 

V/O It’s 35 degrees in the shade and as Phil and Tom set up on makeshift Barbeques and cookers, the village women, not impressed with a couple of white boys taking over their domain try to muscle in…

 

jPics cooking Card 3  04.16.20 clip 0189 women advising boys…

0190 Phil telling the women… You relax

0191 oil poured then women told to push back..

0192 phil trying to move women back

 

V/O With the women repelled, Phil and Tom return to the task at hand.

 

Pics overlay cooking

 

57.50 Tom there’s a lot of Cynicism around charity, where does the money go, does it even make it to the right cause ? so…one of the biggest factors working with Karma is we know how vital they are they want to skip a few steps in terms of  the hierarchy here, make sure it went direct to the villages… Make sure it was going on things that they wanted, things that were going to generate more income for them… trade not aid, the long standing, long term affect that’s gonna really change this place.

 

Cooking Pics..

 

Card 11. 11.27.20 **** Simon ‘ what we are trying to do is give these people a hand up rather than a hand out and we’ve been working with local initiatives here to help administer that but with a really low overhead.. /27.50  so the first thing we did after we made the first box of cola was send it here and we showed people what we were trying to do, the next thing we did was send money and that was the proceeds of the first 6 months sales and what we thought the next 6 months would be and that was enough to build a bridge between the old village and the new village..

 

Pics of Chief Kardi Bo. IV card 4

 

V/O  Kardi Bo is the Chief of Boma village, one of but a few female Chiefs in Sierra Leone.

 

V/O Her husband Chief Hindawa, translates for her.

 

I/V Chief Kardi Bo 10.22.00 ‘Change since Karma Cola has come into Boma community is tremendously large, the first change is the bridge, before karma Cola came here all the palm logs that we used a bridge would just be wiped away by the overflowing stream, people from the old village were unable to come here when it is raining heavily..’

 

Pics card 5 clip 0290 05.51.14 – 51.21 women x bridge

card 5 clip 0282 05.44.42 – 44.48 women carry on heads.

 

Simon I/V Card 11. 53.30 * We’re not experts in supporting developing economies or rural communities like this, you know, it’s not something I thought I would ever end up doing, or any of us that work at Karma Cola, but because of the journey that we’ve been on, we’ve found that we are somehow responsible for some lives here, and it’s important for me that we respect that, that these guys are able to develop their own independence, with what little help we can give them and what we’ve been learning over the last few days there are some quite small activities that we can support that could really shift things here..

 

Pics.. Burgers getting plated up

 

58.30 Tom I/V 58.30 Tom  yeah it is working, 58.45 hoping that us coming over here shows them that we are serious //it’s not just about charities that we’re trying to set up a trade link that are hopefully gonna give some real long term benefits to this place. 

 

V/O The Burgers are ready but adhering to local protocol, Village leaders including the regions Paramount Chief, who has travelled far to be here, are to be served first.

 

Pics. Burgers on trays heading to chiefs.. Card 4. 0211 04.44.08 Burgers carried out

Clip 0207 04.37.47 Drinks into house.

Pics. 0208 Chiefs get served

Chief proclaims ‘as good as American burger ‘ Clip ’0208

 

V/O With the Chief’s seal of approval, it’s the hungry masses that now need feeding.

 

V/O Phil and Tom have prepared to feed 150 people but with around 500 turning up,

some fast thinking has been required.

 

V/O Adding cassava chips to the menu and rummaging up every spare bit of bread in the village and quartering the burgers, ensures that everyone will get fed..

 

Simon I/V 53.13** You look around, these people don’t want much… they just don’t want to ask for charity and that’s what we’re here for, to make sure that they don’t need to.

 

……………………………………

Pics walk into Jungle.

V/O And with the Gola rain forest on their doorstep it’s only a short walk to find the cola nut. The nut that has given this village independence whilst remaining an integral part of the environment.

 

V/O  Peterson is the local cola nut farmer and expert.

 

Peterson. Cola grows tall it provides shade and it can stay for 20 30 to 50 years

Simon. and that provides a canopy

 

Peterson. And the canopy serves to protect the soil..so it improves bio diversity.

 

Simon. And the soils the most important thing…

Peterson. Sure

 

V/O The Gola rain forest is the main water source for many of west Africa’s rivers and as  a global biodiversity ‘hotspot’ it is of immense importance.

 

Pics of harvesting nut..

 

Simon IV 10.59.40 ***.. u know 100 miles that way there’s a lot of palm plantations, if we can show that this rain forest is productive without being torn down, then those palm plantations won’t reach here and this place will stay as biodiverse as it is.

 

V/O Destruction of the rainforest and Cola tree would  gravely impact the villagers here as  the society and culture is deeply interwoven with the Cola nut.

 

11.33.33 the irony is these guys have been using cola in their daily lives for over 2000 years it’s part of the fabric of this society they use it to continue to have relationships with the departed you know, it’s a powerful thing..

 

Pics of harvesting nut..

 

06.29.31 Michael. Cola is a blessed fruit… to bless a child’s birth… marriage ceremony..

during ramadam in evening u can have Cola nuts.. the end of ramadam has to have Cola

Funeral ceremonies..

 

11.32.09 cola’s used for naming ceremonies for children, it’s part of the wedding celebration a kind of a dowry, its wrapped up and gifted to the family of the bride,// and I think the most prolific ritual is as a welcoming token, its most used to welcome people so when you arrive at a place like this if you’re not met and greeted with cola being split for you, watch out.l

 

318 06.32. 10 Conflict resolution  when there is conflict between two family members..

land resolution

 

Simon very important nut.. potent.

 

6.32.40 Welcome visitors

 

33.05 so you can use cola for conflict resolution?

 

33.25 so break cola to right my wrong

 

Michael. settle it.. exactly.

 

33.35 Peterson. Additionally, land disputes.

 

** 06.34.17 in Nigeria they say he who brings cola brings life, but in sierra Leone, we say he who brings cola brings peace.

 

Simon., 11.31.28 it’s a peace nut, fantastic.

 

V/O And if any country needed it, It was Sierra Leone..

 

……………………………

Simon. 12.00 **** we’re in the middle of the Gola rain forest, which is just a few kilometres from Liberia, when the Liberian rebels came here, they marched thru this town and they were given such a warm welcome, they ate, enjoyed themselves and went home again, they were under orders to attack these people, they did that twice, before their leader told them to stop messing around and then they came and they terrorised these villages and what these people don’t talk about is how terrible that was,.. the rebels were told to do things like choose one or two people in the village and they would be harmed, they would have their arms chopped off ..

 

Chief Hindawa 11.54 *they started to kill our people they started to grab our wives, our children and took them away, they rape our wives in front of us, they kill our brothers and sisters in front of us, why they do that they say that will make the world look terrible, they terrorise us, so with that attitude we started to be intimidated, we started to run away from them, it was so horrible that we can’t help that situation so we had to fled into the forest,

 

 

Simon. so these people fled, they couldn’t live here, so for 10 years they were living around these places but they didn’t have homes, they lived in the jungle and a lot of what we are doing here is just giving them a chance to get what they had back…

 

12.04.06 Chief Hindawa *Oh yes, now you ask me why I look happy, its because of the changes, fast changes on our lives thru the help of international bodies, especially like when karma Cola just emerge you know, with the help that karma cola give to us, like sending money, to rebuild to construct our bridge, cause after 10 years we are just on the run,

 

 

11.14.02 **** chief hindawa has incredible resilience, he’s a very happy man, he’s taught me a lot, // and I know from the stories he’s told me just how , u know if I was in his situation, I don’t know that I could get thru it, u know it takes a huge amount of  humanity to forgive people and to rise above the kind of crap these people have been dealt..

 

V/O The trade of the Cola nut has been instrumental in helping these people to rebuild.

 

Pics. Walking into jungle.. (card 5 clip 0300 start card 5 0324 /0327or  Card 5 0340 sequence..or combo)  of getting nuts down..( Nuts 0301 )

 

 

Simon I/V. 11.18.14 * kola grows in the canopy..its incredible that its even been discovered

 

V/O  The Cola tree grows wild but has been nurtured by the villagers to ensure a constant supply.

 

Simon cont .. to harvest it takes a bit of ingenuity.. long stick with a hook on it to get it to the ground..so that’s the first step.//

 

Card 5 Clip 0329 Bloke Climbs tree

 

V/O or you can take the more direct route .. straight up..

 

V/O The nuts are collected and then taken back to the Village for sorting..

 

Harvest Pics..card 6 0354 07.11.40 – 07.33.12 Cola prep and production ..to motorbike with sack of Cola departs for market.( Intercut with Iv Below)

 

Simon I/V..//11.18.40  brought back.. pod opened..reveals some white kola nut..pink brown or white seed pod.. pithe peeled away.. reveals kola.. open pithe  then you split the nut..

 

Simon I/V 11.20.17 so when nuts peeled.. domestic goes on cut..

 

Simon I/V 0525 11.21.48 washed   put into sack..  potash..  wrapped.. keep oxygen out.. parcel to travel.. fuller transfers .. tribe who travel thru sub Saharan.. we buy directly from the village

 

Simon I/V 11.22.53 bike Bo London..NZ

 

12.06.48 Hindawa *  two bags of kola nuts or 3 bags that can bring in some good cash into my home that I can take care of my family even through out that year you know.. so with karma Cola our lives rebuild again, we survive…

 

V/O And it’s not just the sale of the Cola nuts that is creating opportunity here, A percentage of each drink sold is channelled back into the village.. thru the karma Cola foundation. The village committee then decides how best to utilise the funds..

 

7.33.17 – 7.45.00 Simon listens to requests from villagers in the Barri  Pics.. upsot..

 

Simon I/V Card 10 57.20 .It’s really important for us to understand that this is not about individual development it’s about the whole community rising at the same pace //So there are some rules that we are trying to evolve about anything we do here needing to benefit everyone

 

V/O The foundations greatest initiative to date, is creating education opportunities

for the Village girls. Traditionally, educating girls here had never been deemed important and about 80 percent of them are illiterate.

 

But with the advent of 65 scholarships Karma Cola is hoping to change that.

 

Pics. School Interior ABC..

 

V/O Army Kumar is one of the 65 girls from the village that is receiving a scholarship to go to school..

 

Simon. Army what do u want to do once u leave school

 

10.51.30 she wants to be a nurse

 

Masa *56.00 I want army to be educated so that when she grows up she’s not just an ordinary woman. I want her to be able to make something special of her life.

 

Chief Hindawa.. Card 13 Clip 0550 12.12.31 education means a lot in the life of my girl child, as I said that is the right of the girl child to be educated.. that’s one and freedom, the most priority is freedom.

I

Pics school kids dance..

 

Simon I/V 56.00 (approx) we’re not an NGO, we’re not the government,  you know we can’t pay to build schools , that’s someone else’s responsibility, but if we can get a teacher in one that can mean that a classroom can be half the size so kids can learn faster and have more attention, that’s a hell of a lot of difference for what’s a relatively low investment and the more of those little seeds that we can plant, the stronger the small institutions in these communities, like education and health and trade can grow.’

 

Pics. 12.21.39 – 12.26.03 Village shop.

 

V/O On a smaller scale, the foundation has provided loans for women like this to set up their own small businesses.

 

58.32 ***and that’s the thing that I’ve learnt this time is that it’s a whole lot more than just being able to offer dollars, if you can create a sense of ownership and partnership and a future something that u can do together.. it’s so powerful.

 

GV beautiful village shots….

 

13.14.20 Boat departs for Tewai Island.

 

Drone footage of the island.

 

V/O Simon, crosses the Moa river, heading for the eco- reserve and animal sanctuary they support on Tewai Island.

 

Do this also…

 

V/O Simon, crosses the Moa river, heading for the eco- reserve and animal sanctuary on Tewai island that the karma Cola foundation has been asked to support.

 

 

 

 

13.06.50 – 13.12.19  Pics travelling across on boat..

 

13.04.52 Boat arrives on Island

 

12.52.29/12.51.03 Pics Simon and Medawa walk

 

V/O Medawa is a guide on the Island and the local gamekeeper

 

Simon and Medawa IV

12.56.07 Simon.  Medawa, you’re a guide here you obviously love the island what is your concern here?

 

M. My concern is let the island be protected… if the island is protected many people come to the island and they pay money, that money we share around the communities.. if this island is protected we get more benefit

 

12.56.50 Simon. why does Tewai need to be protected?

 

Medawa. It’s because the poachers come to the island and kill some monkeys..

 

12.40 good walk into bush

 

V/O Originally these tree tops would be full of troops of monkeys, living peacefully, almost oblivious to humans .. but as poachers have hunted more and more, their numbers have decreased and their wariness accelerated.

 

Pics. Walk 

 

V/O Medawa knows they are close, he can smell their acrid urine.. but they are long gone before he can catch a glimpse..

 

Pics. Walk

 

V/O Demand for monkey meat, a highly sought after delicacy, has decimated the numbers of the rare Diana Monkey. Those that remain, now fearful of humans, scatter at the slightest whiff of danger.

 

12.41.02 walk to cam

12.42 feet shot..

 

V/O Hearing the tree tops crack and creak as monkeys fly from branch to branch, Medawa and Simon know they are getting closer… but still no sightings.

 

V/O High above them a guard monkey spots them and sends out a warning to the others...

 

12.43.10 monkey call

 

V/O But then after nearly two hours searching, Simon finally gets a glimpse of the beautiful tree dweller.

 

12.42.20 spot a monkey black and white…

 

V/O Simon has seen enough, or not enough of the Diana Monkeys, to know that the Karma Cola foundations support here cannot come soon enough.

 

This one option also..

 

V/O Simon has seen enough, or not enough of the Diana Monkeys, to know that the Karma Cola foundations support here must continue.

 

Walks thru jungle..

 

V/O Returning to the village, having achieved all he set out to, it is nearly time for Simon to call it a day and head for home.

 

Pics. Dance…

 

11.44.48 – 11.45.20 Simon says farewell. ‘This has been a very special time for me.. overwhelmed by generosity and hospitality.. learnt a lot.. to talk about how we can help each other..’

 

Simon walks thru village..

 

V/O And with a renewed and greater understanding of life here, Simon prepares to leave, in the knowledge that he has been given more than money can buy, and that, what little he can give, will do so much.

 

Simon I/V 52.38 **it’s incredible how these people have opened up their lives to us..// they’re all living together and looking after each other, you know it makes me feel very humble.

 

Pics Simon farewells man

 

Woman dancing.

 

Simon. 11.01.15 *** //we’re in it now and whether I like it or not we’ve started something and we need to see it through, and these people, because we’ve established that partnership will benefit greatly from us following that through.