Have you refocused your lens?
What comes to mind when you envision a group of divers exploring the southern tips kelp forests, restoring East Africa’s coral reefs or filming wildlife in warm and wild forest and plains across the continent? What do filmmakers, scientists, innovators and conservation heroes look like, sound like, and dress like?
Africa Refocused is built on a bold theory of change:
When talented and diverse African storytellers receive the training, mentorship, connections, and access they need to advance their skills and careers, they become leaders in wildlife and natural history storytelling. Their voices add vital perspectives to the global conservation narrative, helping to protect Africa’s wildlife for generations to come.
Our Story Arc is a collection of stories that amplify, and powerfully celebrate just a fraction of the trailblazing, compelling, complex, funny, hopeful, nuanced, inspiring, passionate and hard-fought journeys of African storytellers, conservationists and scientists in the NEWF community - on and off continent.
Through these stories, we celebrate our collective agency, and seek to share the value of community-centric impact through warm, thought-provoking narratives that highlight the richly diverse cultures, multidisciplinary talent and Indigenous knowledge systems that play a significant role in the preservation of our wild spaces, species and the communities that coexist with them.
Did you know that Ghana’s coasts are home to Coral Reefs?
George Amado is a man on a mission to re-story Ghana’s coral reefs. A passionate teacher inspired by how life in the ocean and on land is connected, he teaches drowning prevention and plans on establishing a new dive industry in Ghana.
What does freediving have to do with Ocean Access?
The largest Ocean Access Program for African Scientists, Conservationists and Storytellers, NEWF dive labs create opportunities for freediving certifications too. Recently, a cohort met in Sodwana Bay to calmly descend and ascend along a 10m buoy line, one breath at a time.
If we trusted our bodies, how far could we go?
African representation (throughout the diaspora) has been recolouring the recreational and professional dive industries. So, what happens when you’ve been diving for ten (10) years - would being called an athlete feel out-of-body? NEWF fellow Megan-Rose grapples with this very reality as we speak.