On my first day in Nepal, I met with Prabal to learn more about the armed conflict, the transitional justice process, and NEFAD’s work. Once I learned more about NEFAD, its current initiatives, and future goals, Prabal and I discussed the ways in which I could be most supportive to NEFAD this summer. He explained that it would be helpful if we could supplement the research, articles, and photo content on the NEFAD website with a video about the conflict, transitional justice, and NEFAD’s work supporting victim families.

Prior to our first trip to Bardiya, we got to work outlining our goals for the video and our content ideas. We wanted to develop a short video that informs viewers who are unaware of the war or of NEFAD about the armed conflict, enforced disappearance, and transitional justice in Nepal. We also wanted to highlight stories of families of the disappeared and NEFAD’s work advocating for them in the transitional justice process. Finally, we wanted to showcase the importance of the embroidery cooperative and encourage people to donate to help grow it into a sustainable business.

To showcase stories of victim families, we decided to interview a few family members of the disappeared in Bardiya. I generated a list of questions which Prabal translated into Nepali. Once we got to Bardiya, we interviewed Sarita, Radhe Krishna Tharu, Belmati Tharu, Kushma Chaudhari, and Sharada Tharu. After returning from Bardiya, we began the translation process.

After listening to the videos, Prabal shared direct translations of what the family members were saying, but it didn’t always translate well into English phrases. When this happened, we would discuss what each person was communicating. Then I rephrased the translations to capture what they were saying as accurately as possible while still making sense in English.

Once translations were complete, we got to work selecting the most poignant clips that conveyed the all the information we wanted share with viewers. After spending hours viewing video tutorials on Adobe Premiere Pro’s website, I created a first draft of the video. We decided to cut a few clips so the film was as concise as possible.

After a lot more editing, we began one of the most challenging parts – subtitles. Although I had entered the captions in English, it was often challenging to figure out when one line began and one line ended since I don’t know Nepali. Prabal and I carefully went through each clip to adjust the timing for each caption and aligned it with what the speaker was saying in each video clip. Finally, we decided to add a few images of the embroidery and the bags to tie all the clips together into a cohesive video. After even more editing, I am excited to share the result, which you can view below!