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KarmaTube has selected our short about Yankunytjatjara Elder Bob Randall as their video of the week. KarmaTube is committed to bringing inspiring stories to light, using the power of video and the internet to demonstrate and multiply acts of compassion, generosity and selflessness. Each video featured is coupled with three simple suggestions for ways to support the action and spirit shown in each video.

Check them out!

www.karmatube.org ...Read more

Aboriginal elder Max Harrison from the Yuin nation of NSW Australia talks about what is sacred and what his people have to offer about learning to relate to the land in some new clips just added. Be sure to check him out here. ...Read more

We just returned from Ecuador a few days ago and will be working hard on getting that material up on the site in the coming days and weeks. This week we will be meeting and interviewing some interesting people here in the Bay Area. On Wednesday and Thursday we will be hanging out with the energetic young staff at the People's Grocery, a community-based organization in West Oakland that develops creative solutions to the health, environmental and economic challenges communities face every day. On Thursday morning we will interview Mia Hanak the executive director of the Natural World Museum, whose mission is to present art as a catalyst to inspire and engage the public in environmental awareness and action. On Friday we will be interviewing Nipun and Guri Mehta, two very inspiring individuals who have dedicated their lives to service and have founded numerous orgs and projects including CharityFocus and KarmaTube.

We will keep you updated about these interviews and look forward to sharing this material with you soon!

Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee ...Read more

We arrived at Cuenca's largest cathedral on the main plaza before 9 a.m. where we were going to film mass with Alberto Luna, the former Archbishop of Cuenca. Having never attended a mass before I wasn't sure what to expect but tried to be inconspicuous standing behind the camera about 100 feet from the alter. The mass lasted for about thirty minutes with Denise darting in and out of the pews getting shots and close ups of the Archbishop.

After the mass we waited until Alberto Luna was ready and then set up for the interview in the cathedral near the altar with him seated on a pew. Alberto Luna was until his recent retirement the Archbishop of Cuenca, one of the largest cities in Southern Ecuador. He still holds mass daily in the cathedral and his services are always packed (today's was no exception), a sign of his popularity with the people here. In addition to being a much loved and respected figure, Alberto Luna is also controversial because of his stance on the importance of working with the poor and issues with the church’s support of class structure.

After the interview, we kindly thanked Alberto Luna for his time and spent a few more hours filming b-roll in and around the church. Tomorrow we leave Cuenca and head for the jungle, a full days journey by plane and ca ...Read more

Current TV is a global television network that features content made by viewers. You can watch content on their site and give it a 'greenlight' if you would like it to be seen on TV. Check out some of our short films on Current TV's web site, and if you want to see it on TV, give it a greenlight!

http://www.current.tv/community/people/globaloneness ...Read more

Nothing like two hours sleep, a plane ride and three hours on a bad dirt road to start the day! I'm making it sound worse than it is...it was a beautiful drive!

 Our plane arrived in Cuenca at 7:30 a.m. and we were soon on the road to Saraguro with our guide Marcella and driver Gustavo. It's a two to three hour drive to Saraguro, the district where we would meet Don Alberto Taxo in his small village of Membrilla. The more I see of the countryside in Ecuador the more I am struck by its beauty and diversity. The landscape and vegetation change so quickly as you climb higher in the mountains where the land becomes dry and the population sparse. After climbing to 13,000 feet we began to descend toward the town of Saraguro, and made our way along the very bumpy, winding road to Membrilla.



Membrilla is a small village of around one hundred families set on the slopes of high mountains of Saraguro. As we drove through the village we passed people working in the fields, sitting on front steps listening to music and women washing clothes by the roadside. The indigenous Quicha people of this area all wear black, mourning the death of Atahualpa, the Incan king who was killed by Francisco Pizarro five hundred years ago. The women wear long skirts and the men short pants cut off below the knee. It was quiet and peaceful here and the pace felt even slower than in Agua Longo, the village of Maria Juana. We pulled up in front of a simple house with a young boy covered in mud rinsing himself with a bucket of water in the front garden. 



Our guide went in to announce our arrival and returned to tell us that Don Alberto was out with his young daughter but would be back soon. We were invited in and offered some jugo de naranjilla (juice of a local fruit) and directed to a couple of small rooms where we could rest. An hour or so later, refreshed from our journey, we emerged to find Don Alberto Taxo and his young daughter walking down the steps towards us. Don Alberto is a striking figure, handsome with long hair and a white beard and a look of deep peace and contentment on his face. He welcomed us to his home and invited us to come and have some lunch that his wife had prepared for us. Don Alberto and his family are vegetarian, which is very rare here, and they grow the majority of the food they eat themselves. His wife had prepared a delicious lunch of traditional soup, potatoes, cheese, corn and bread, all of which were delicious. As we ate we talked to Don Alberto about the project and why we had come to interview him. Don listened intently occasionally nodding and asking a question or clarification. He said he found our project very interesting and that he was very happy to participate and share with us, and we found a nice spot in the field next to his house and set up for the interview.

Don Alberto has five children of his own, and many other adopted, who by this time were all checking out the cameras and running around making mischief. After a while they settled down and gathered around Denise, Marcella (our guide and translator) and me to watch their father. Don Alberto began by explaining to us his role as a shaman was to be of service to those in need and carry on the traditions and wisdom of his ancestors. He said that now his ancestors were asking him to help fulfill a five hundred year old prophecy of the eagle and the condor. Don Alberto explained that the Eagle is the symbol for North America and the technological powers and skills it has mastered and that the condor is the symbol of South America and the understanding and respect it has for Pachamama (mother earth). At this time in the history of humanity the eagle and the condor must unite and share the knowledge that each society and culture has in order for the world to survive. He stressed repeatedly that neither culture is superior to the other -- the relationship is one of mutual need. Don Alberto also stressed that as a result of the way the earth was being treated, Pachamama was angry and was going to react until humanity understands that they cannot continue to treat her as something separate. When I asked what was this reaction was going to be, Don Alberto said that the reaction has already begun, with the many natural disasters that the planet has experienced in the last few years. He warned that these disasters were just a taste of what was to come. He went on to say that humanity has been chasing the wrong dream for so long that it has forgotten why it is here, and that major changes were needed force it to wake up from the dream of consumerism and greed. When I inquired further about what these changes would be Don Alberto responded by saying that the centers of power would be destroyed so that a new set of systems could emerge that were no longer dominated by the greed that has contaminated the planet. With all his children running around the field and his two-year-old daughter in his arms (she had climbed into his lap half way through the interview) I asked him what his hopes and fears were for his children during this time of transition. With a smile he responded how grateful he was that his children would be able to witness such a great transformation and perhaps live in a different kind of world that had a new dream, a dream of oneness.



After the interview, Don Alberto walked with us around his home in the fields and up the winding roads through the village. We were walking and talking and filming him as he stopped to say hello to neighbors in this quiet mountain town. As we approached the village school we heard people shouting at us, 'Invaders, invaders!' and looking into the schoolyard, we saw a group of men (Don Alberto later told us they were the school teachers) drinking beer and shouting at us to stop filming. The schoolyard was next to the village center and it wasn't long before a crowd had gathered around us (Don Alberto, Denise, Marcella, and myself) telling us to go away and stop stealing their culture. Initially Marcella responded to the group of men gathered around us explaining that we were here with Don Alberto and we were not stealing their culture and were not filming anyone beside him. They did not believe this and before long things started to get out of hand, at which point Don Alberto stepped in and explained to the village men why we were here and that we were his guests here to film him and not anyone else in the village. The village men were furious that he had not consulted the community leaders about bringing outsiders into their community, saying that all outsiders bring is trouble, they take and take and take and then they come back and offer aid and assistance, but only on their terms. For five hundred years we have suffered at the hands of the white man and his ways, they said, why should we trust these people, they will only steal and harm us like everyone before them. Don Alberto listened to the men, responding to each of their concerns and issues in turn, for forty minutes. I think it was important for us to witness how much resentment and anger is still present among the indigenous people of Ecuador (and elsewhere around the world) for the way they have been treated these past five centuries. I can understand why these wounds are so deep and raw. They had no reason to believe we would be any different from the other foreign people and 'projects' that had come before us.

Don Alberto was obviously saddened by this exchange and as we walked back he said, 'The wounds are so deep. It is so hard for them to let go and move on, but we have to move on or else nothing will change.' 

We spent the next few hours with Don Alberto and his family as they shared food, stories, music and good company with us.

It was after 8 p.m. when we left for drive back to Cuenca. It was a long and bumpy ride back and we were happy to see our beds when we arrived.





 We had to be up early in the morning to film a mass at the main cathedral in Cuenca and an interview with the former Archbishop Alberto Luna

, a much beloved church figure who became controversial among the Catholic community for advocating rights for the poor. ...Read more

We spent most of the day waiting around for a phone call from Freddy Ehlers, a politician we had arranged to interview. Originally we had planned to meet him in the early afternoon in between his meetings with the president and other ministers but his schedule changed and it wasn't until almost 5 when we got a call to come to Quito and meet him. Freddy Elhers is one of the most well known faces in Ecuador. For many years he hosted and produced one of the most popular television programs here, as well being heavily involved in politics for the last ten years. He has served as a member of parliament, been a candidate for president and is now Secretary General of the Andean Community of Nations, a very powerful political post.



We arrived at a building where he was having a meeting and were told we would meet up with him after he was finished and do the interview then. We waited another hour or so before we finally got to meet him. He told us we could do the interview right then and there or back at his house in a couple of hours. As the building was an awful government type of building we said shooting the interview at his house would be great. In the meantime he asked us to sit down for some coffee and talk about our project. 



Freddy is an interesting man, calm, composed, full of energy and charisma. He spoke freely about his own personal beliefs and ideas in a way that US politicians would not do. It appears there is more freedom here in Ecuador for politicians to talk freely (at least with Freddy) without the fear of angering their party or special interests. Freddy was excited about our project and shared his belief that people’s consciousness needs to change and recognize the oneness and interconnectedness that is present in life. He said he has felt a shift in the last few years and that more people are interested in creating unity, even in government and business where he works. He was just starting to tell us about his personal spiritual life and how it impacted his work in government when his assistant's phone rang with a call for him. The Ecuadorian secretary of state was calling to say that the president had asked for her resignation, which was a big deal considering the government was sixteen days old, and the secretary of defense had been killed in a helicopter crash a few days before. Freddy said he had to go, but that he would meet us at his house in a couple of hours.



It seemed that this would be a promising interview....



We arrived at Freddy's house and were soon set up for the interview. It wasn't until after 11 p.m. that Freddy arrived, and another 30 minutes before we started the interview. We picked up our conversation where we had left off some hours before with Freddy telling us that six years ago he discovered Zen Buddhism, and that it had changed his life (can you imagine an American politician saying that?). He said that after he started meditating he began to see how it was possible to live and work in a different way and that he has been encouraging his colleagues to meditate and observe a daily silence. He said that through his practice he had experienced moments of oneness and those experiences had dramatically effected that way we related to people in his political life. I tried to ask him questions about how political systems and structures could change to reflect the experience of oneness we had shared with us, but didn't get much of a response.

What I had hoped would be a promising interview about a practical approach to oneness in a political context turned out to be more of a personal account of how a spiritual practice like Zen meditation can change your life. 

It was close to 1 a.m. when we headed back to the home of our host Juan Alfonso.

We would be getting up in a couple of hours for an early flight to Cuenca and a drive to the area of Saraguro to meet a Quicha shaman named Don Alberto Tax ...Read more

We just finished an interview with a very interesting man named Juan Manuel Carrion, a painter, ornithologist, naturalist, musician and politician. A real renaissance man. Juan has spent much of his life in the jungle in Ecuador studying the many bird, plant, insect and animal species here. He told us that 18% of the worlds bird species are in Ecuador, which is pretty amazing considering that the total land mass of Ecuador is 0.01% of the entire world. The combination of jungle and high mountains provide a unique environment that allows many species to thrive. Although Juan Manuel spoke English he said we would prefer to answer my questions in Spanish. Up until now we have had a translator to help us, but today it was just Denise and I, leaving Denise to translate while operating two cameras and sound. She had her hands full, but did a great job.

Juan spoke about how we can learn the way that the natural environment in the jungle works. He said, 'There [in the jungle], everything is interconnected, and completely interdependent on one another. Each living thing has its own function, its own job, yet they all relate to each other and compliment each other in their own unique way.' Juan spoke about the need to replace the current political, economic and corporate structures in Ecuador and around the world with new systems, based on an understanding and respect of what nature has to teach us. When I asked him about the role of art to help create change and an awareness of oneness he said, 'The role of art has always been to wake people up, today our society is living in a collective dream and has forgotten that we are spiritual beings. We need to wake up our society and remind them that life is not about me and what I need, but about us and what we need. He continued, 'People always ask the question, ‘Who am I and why am I here?,’ but the question should be ‘Who are we and why are we here?’'

He was a real pleasure to talk to, a man of integrity and passion whose voice will be a valuable addition to the 45+ (!) people we have now interviewed

Tomorrow we will interview a man named Freddy Ehlers, one of the most well-known and powerful politicians in Ecuador.

Emmanuel Vau ...Read more

I've spent a decent amount of time on planes in my life, especially in the last year working on this project, but it never felt as good as my maiden flight in an ultra light. Our Host Juan Alfonso and his brother Francisco own one of these small planes that they built themselves years ago. They offered to take us up so we could get some aerial footage of the country and Cotopaxi, the large snow covered volcano that Ecuador is famous for. We drove to their friend’s farm where they keep the plane and where a mower keeps the runway open. As we passed through the early morning streets of Tombaco and Cumbaya (a town nearby) on our way to the farm we saw food stalls setting up, getting ready for the Sunday morning rush that follows church. The majority of the population in Ecuador is Catholic, and even at this hour of the morning people were already leaving the many churches we passed in droves in their Sunday best.

It was a perfect day or flying, no wind, clear and very warm, although you have to dress warmly in these planes because the cockpit is open and you’re exposed to the elements. Before long I was strapped in, helmet on, heading down the grass runway at 50mph. There is only so much weight that these light planes can bear, and the amount of weight limits the height you can climb to. We slowly climbed to 1200 feet and the views of the countryside rolled out before us. We headed towards Cotopaxi passing over neighborhoods, fields, factories and farms. The feeling of flying with the wind in your face was amazing. You can't fly too fast in these planes (between 30-50 mph), which allows you to almost float above the land below and provides perfect filming conditions. From above the inequality of wealth in this country is ever more noticable. Unlike in the US where neighborhoods often distinguish the rich from the poor, here large villas with swimming pools sit alongside small shacks with gardens filled with corn and animals. The rich and poor side by side, yet living in such different realities, so close physically yet so far in so many other ways.

Denise and I spent the rest of the morning flying, filming and enjoying this unique opportunity to see Ecuador from above. We had no interviews scheduled for the rest of the day we took the afternoon off and spent time hanging out with Juan Alfonso his brother Francisco and their family.

Tomorrow we will be meeting and interviewing an artist/ornithologist/naturalist named Juan Manuel Carrion at his painting studio.

Emmanuel Vaughan ...Read more

The experience of spending the day with Maria Juana really got me thinking. Here we are traveling the world talking to people about oneness asking them to share how it relates to their lives, culture, traditions, and to the entire world, and we encounter people living in a state of oneness with their surroundings and they can't describe it. What does that say about the rest of us? Have we gotten so removed from that relationship to the earth and our environment that all we can do is theorize and talk about it? We talk about how we could live in that way, how we need to change this and that to become aware of the fact that what we think is separated really is not. Here were people who never thought of the idea of oneness in their lives and yet, the way they lived (as simple as it is by modern western standards) was a lot closer that anything I have seen to date on our travels these last few months.

We spent the morning shooting b-roll in the village of Agua Longo, wandering the dusty streets meeting people on their way to the market in Otavalo, the largest market of the area where the locals go to sell their meats, vegetables and handicrafts. I was again struck by the stark contrast to the way we live in the US. Not just the difference as far as a 'standard of living' but the pace and flow of time. Time moves so much slower here, there seems to be no rush to get things done, yet things get done all the same. There is not the same frantic rushing energy that drives people to be productive at every minute of the day. I know these are not new observations, and probably often observed by many people on their first visit to countries like Ecuador, but I think we could all learn a little bit about the flow of time from the people here, as they honestly looked a hell of a lot happier than most people I see back in the US.

After 4-5 hours of filming in the village we headed into the town of Otavalo to check out the famous market. Stalls full of vegetables and fruit bright with colors, freshly killed animals hanging from hooks, large pots stirred over an open flame by old women, venders hawking their wares and the occasional tourist, and locals buying their weekly food all filled the crowded streets. We walked around the market filming for a couple of hours with the children following us checking out the cameras.

The market was a mix of the old and new, with carts filled with cell phones and DVDs alongside bags of potatoes and corn. It was noisy and filled with the aromas of cooked pork (they are into pork here, almost as many roasting pigs as there were people) and empanadas cooking in hot oil. The indigenous people of this area are beautiful people, especially the women, who wear the traditional clothing and many bright gold beads around their necks, filling the air with the sounds of their Quicha language as they buy and sell fruit and vegetables. It was after five o’clock when we loaded our gear back in the car and headed back to Tumbaco and the home of our host Juan Alfonso.

Emmanuel Vaughan-L ...Read more