Fundraising for Evelyn's Safehouse

Kia ora koutou,

We held the Screening of WILDFIRE and Evelyn Meet last night at Miramar Creative Centre in Wellington, and were so stoked to see an amazing turnout. If you were there last night, thank you for making it out despite the classic Wellington weather.

We hope you found WILDFIRE thought-provoking, and Evelyn's talk insightful and eye-opening, particularly around the kinds of challenges she faces on the front line as a Human Rights Defender in Papua New Guinea.

Photo: Evelyn shares some of her insights and learnings

We have published some of the photos we took yesterday on Facebook, you can find them here.

How to continue supporting Evelyn and our project:

Support Evelyn directly - you can donate to her via this Open Collective we have set up for her.

Make an impact in our communities - contact us to discuss organising additional screenings of WILDFIRE for your workplace or networks. WILDFIRE is available on Vimeo and is free to watch and share.

Connect us with partnership opportunities - it's hard work making an impact documentary about a tough subject and very little support. If you know of any funding or support avenues, we want to hear about it!

Keep in touch - follow us on Facebook or Instagram, we will continue to provide updates on our progress with Evelyn's work and the upcoming feature documentary.

Aroha nui,

Paul, Evelyn, Shu Run, Helen, Hilary, Adam & Annie

Kia ora from the Sanguma project crew,

Remember that pledge you made last year to help save lives? We do. And we haven’t forgotten. If you’re Wellington based…

We are excited to let you know that our co-creator Evelyn Kunda is here in Wellington, New Zealand to join us for a limited time during our post-production for the Sanguma project. Your generous donations have kept Evelyn going during this time, and she has been able to rescue many families from SARV in the past year - come and meet her!

We would like to invite you to come along to an exclusive Screening of WILDFIRE, and hear from Evelyn in person on her efforts to combat sorcery accusation related violence (SARV) in Papua New Guinea.

Date: Thursday, 26th October 2023

Time: 6pm-8pm

Location: Miramar Creative Centre, 133 Park Road

+1's or more are welcome (limited seating available at the venue so make sure you RSVP to secure your seat!)

Please RSVP here.

Many thanks,

Shu Run, Paul, Helen, Hilary & Evelyn

Hi all,

Wishing everyone a wonderful start to 2023!

We’ve been working with Evelyn for the last few months on our film Sanguma - Islands of Fear, and your donations have made a huge difference to Evelyn and the survivors in her care during this time.

Evelyn was recently displaced due to the instability and political unrest around Papua New Guinea. Her work in rescuing sorcery violence survivors was briefly interrupted whilst she escaped for her life. She is now settled into a new place and is working with others around her to rehabilitate survivors again. Your donations could not have come at a better time!

You can watch the video of Evelyn expressing their thanks to all our wonderful Pledgers!

Here’s the translation to English:

Hello, I'm Evelyn Kunda from Goroka, PNG. I want to thank all of those people from New Zealand who have supported me with my work. This money has helped to support the survivors of violence and those who provide services to them. These donations have helped women sell their produce at the market and start small business to support themselves. The money has also helped the survivors with food and clothing. I want to express my deepest thanks for your support. Thank you and God bless you all.

And here’s a glimpse into what the crew and Evelyn have been working on. Evelyn is working with many survivors from all walks of life.

Photo: The crew interviewed a couple that was recently accused of sorcery. They are currently in hiding with their children.

Photo: A young girl who was accused of sorcery alongside her entire family.

Photo: A family who is forced to return to the village where their accusers burned their house down. They have no choice because they need land to grow food to survive. They had a recent run in with some young men who threatened to kill them with machetes.

Photos: Evelyn and Angela (a senior counselor who supports Evelyn) cooked food and distributed it to people on the streets late at night.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has been following and supporting our campaign. If you want to see additional updates about our production and the work we're doing with Evelyn, please follow us on social media. Links below!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sangumafilm

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/sangumafilm

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sangumafilm/

Some helpful links if you want to continue to support Evelyn's work:

Donate to Evelyn via OpenCollective: https://opencollective.com/everlynssafehouse

Share the story about WILDFIRE: https://vimeo.com/650412724

Love,

Shu Run, Paul, Hilary, Helen, Evelyn, and Adam

Hey everyone,

We're saying goodbye to Paul and Adam who will both be travelling to Papua New Guinea shortly to reunite with Evelyn for the first time in many years. Thanks to all our amazing Pledgers, we're able to provide Evelyn with the financial support she needs to continue her work in these difficult times.

Over the next few months we will be working closely with Evelyn to film and tell her story to the world. Watch this space as we look to provide more updates once Paul and Adam have landed!

PS. We are working through the Pledgers list and will be shouting you out soon on our social media! 

Best,
Shu Run, Paul, Hilary, Helen

Kia ora Pledgers and Supporters, we REACHED (and exceeded) our goal of raising $6000 for Evelyn's Safehouse today! THANK YOU EVERYONE who has pledged towards our cause and helped us achieve this amazing outcome!!! Here's a video of Shu Run, Paul, and Indie repping the Sanguma film team celebrating 🥳🎉 

WHAT NEXT? We still have 6 more days before the campaign technically ends so we will continue to push for more donations before we officially finish up, as every little bit counts towards Evelyn and her work! The more money we raise, the more survivors Evelyn can rescue and rehabilitate.

All our best,

Shu Run, Paul, Hilary, Helen, and Indie, on behalf of Evelyn

Hello again everyone!

We reached (more than) 75% of our goals just today - $5,395 of $6,000! So incredible to have all this support from everyone.

Only two more weeks to go on our PledgeMe... We may sound like a broken record but crowdfunding only works if we all share the campaign and get the word out there!

You can help us by sharing Evelyn's story on Facebook or Twiter using one of our videos, or send people a link to WILDFIRE.

We have also recently put together a short video on a phenomenon called WitchTok, which features people dressing up and calling themselves witches on Tiktok - something to ponder in the days leading up to Halloween and the realities of those who are accused as witches in Papua New Guinea.

Best,

Shu Run, Paul, Helen, Hilary

Hey everyone,

We reached 50% of our goals over the last weekend and a bit more - that is a whopping $3,720 dollars we have raised for Evelyn so far!

Thank you so much for your support so far. We only have one month left, and PledgeMe campaigns are ALL OR NOTHING, so we really need your help to get it across the line.

Help us get there by sharing the word with your friends, family, and work. Don't forget we have made WILDFIRE available to watch for free if you want to get a sense of how real witches, witchcraft and sorcery still are for one of our largest pacific neighbours.

Best,

Shu Run, Paul, Helen, Hilary

Hello to our supporters and Pledgers,

Our team is getting ready to head over to Papua New Guinea to see Evelyn in late October - that's when this PledgeMe will end!

We need your help for the final push to $6,000. Every dollar counts.

You can help us by sharing our PledgeMe, short film WILDFIRE, or any of our articles,

- on Facebook to your friends and family

- via email to your network

- to your work colleagues who may be interested

Help us reach our goal, and support Evelyn so she can continue her work in the Pacific!

Shu Run, Paul, Helen, and Hilary.

Kia ora koutou,

We published an article with Newsroom.co.nz this past weekend alongside our online release of WILDFIRE.

READ MORE HERE.

You can support our campaign and work by sharing this article with your friends and family. 

Hello everyone, the team behind Evelyn's Safehouse has some awesome news to share this week....

We are super excited to share our short film WILDFIRE with you, this is now free to watch online on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/650412724)!

We co-created WILDFIRE with Evelyn Kunda, our human rights defender.

WILDFIRE explores the rise of ‘sanguma’ – sorcery, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV) is an introduced idea, a new thing to many towns and villages in the Highlands. The film provides direct accounts from those who combat the violence, and from those who have witnessed and participated in sorcery killings. This is a companion film to the feature that directly documents her work on the ground.

WILDFIRE was part of Doc Edge International Film Festival 2022