Study Guide
Grades 10-12, College, Adult
Directed by Michael Sheridan
Produced by Oxfam America
DVD Purchase $79, Rent $45
US Release Date: 1997
Copyright Date: 1997
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-967-4
VHS ISBN: 1-56029-731-X
Subjects
African Studies
African-American Studies
Agriculture
American South
American Studies
Business Practices
Community
Cooperatives
Developing World
Economics
Geography
Globalization
Human Rights
Humanities
Hunger
Local Economies
Micro-credit
Poverty
Social Justice
Social Psychology
Sociology
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Development
Self-Help Solutions to Poverty in the U.S. and Africa
Hard-pressed farmers in the southeast US and in Mozambique find co-ops work.
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"This video is highly recommended." Buzz Haughton, UC Davis, MC Journal |
Willie Head, Jr. is struggling to hold on to his farm-70 acres in southeast Georgia. Willie is one of the remaining 18,000 African Americans who are losing their land at the rate of a thousand acres a day.
Teresa Massango, a farmer in Mozambique in Southeast Africa, is among the 80 percent of Mozambicans who depend on their land to feed themselves. They've faced war and famine, and are now threatened by investors wanting to profit from Mozambique's cheap land and labor.
CULTIVATING OPPORTUNITY tells the inspiring story of how poor communities in Mozambique and the United States are creating opportunities to better their lives. Their work is a road map to ending hunger and poverty, a journey that begins within the communities themselves.
In CULTIVATING OPPORTUNITY, communities in vastly different parts of the world demonstrate surprising similarities in the self-help solutions they champion to fight poverty. The video shows how these communities are creating the opportunities they need. Willie says, "I don't care what profession you're in; to just work hard doesn't do it. To just be committed doesn't do it. The opportunity must be there..."
Reviews
"Cutting back and forth between the two states, this program mixes scenes of farming with comments from agriculture experts and self-reliant growers, who are determined to get a fair price for their products as well as easier access to loans. An interesting lesson in economics for classroom and public-library viewing."
"Effective...introduction to cooperatives, especially from a sociological perspective."
"The cooperative ideal has worked well for two widely geographically separated groups of people with remarkably similar problems. This video is highly recommended for...agricultural economics and comparative farming systems."