One Voice at a Time
A Documentary Film

Introduction

October, 2002 - I was living in a small town in Western Canada when I traveled to Bali, Indonesia for a vacation. I had been on the island for 3 days when terrorists attacked on October 12 in the town of Kuta killing over two hundred civilians, most of them young adults, most of them on vacation like me. Traumatized, local newscasters implored citizens to volunteer and assist in the crisis. I volunteered at the local hospital where the injured and deceased were taken. I volunteered in the existing crisis centre and was asked to help set up a much larger centre to meet the expected onslaught of families and friends arriving at the hospital, desperately seeking their missing loved ones. As they arrived, I accompanied families and friends of the victims through the grueling process of filling out missing persons reports; viewing photos of burned and mutilated bodies and body parts of their children, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, mothers and fathers; searching through body bags stacked in the hospital hallway of the overflowing morgue where bodies where decaying from the lack of refrigeration, waiting to be identified; witnessing the agonizing recognition of a loved one – the faint hope of their still being alive, torn away from them; has had a profound and lasting effect on my life. What I saw, felt, heard and smelled in the hospital as a result of the brutal, senseless, attack, will never be forgotten!

I spent a month on the island of Bali after the terrorist attack. This gave me the time to process what had happen and to share my feelings and thoughts with the local Balinese people, survivors and the few remaining tourists on the island like myself. I have since heard that over 200,000 people had fled the island within 3 days of the attack, crippling the local economy.

Through these discussions, I noticed a common thread. Most of the adults I spoke with where quite fearful and held little hope for the future. What was inspiring to me was that the youth that joined in these discussions had a very different vision than the adults – they still had great HOPE for their futures. I was asked prior to leaving the island by several Balinese mothers that, as a foreigner, could I do something to help their children’s vision of hope be actualized globally. I made a promise to “do” what ever I could to make a difference for them and for myself; not only the Balinese youth, but all youth that have been affected by acts of terror globally.

My experience has been instrumental in forcing me to look at my responsibility in shifting from an arm chair theorist looking from a comfortable distance at the reality of our times to actively doing something to empower myself as well as to seek out “tools” and inspiration for all youth globally. This was the catalyst for establishing “Global Peace Productions, Inc.”, producing this documentary and becoming a Global Peace Actionist.

As terrorism continues to reign in countries around the globe and innocent victims are being killed, we all must do our part in ensuring that the most marginalized group of society - our youth - are equipped with the tools necessary to create a future filled with hope.