Owl & Panther Digital Storytelling

Hopi Foundation, AZ
October 2008-April 2009
The Owl and Panther Project (www.owlandpanther.org) provides expressive arts, enrichment and leadership development for youth and families impacted by trauma or traumatic dislocation. Each week Tucson youth, ranging in age from 4-22 years old, from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Central America worked with adult volunteers and learned how to produce digital stories about their lives and experiences.

The youth stories explored many journeys – the life of a young Somali girl born in a refugee camp in Kenya, an Afghan girl tormented for upholding her culture, and a young Zimbabwean hoping the future will bring back the past. Ten of their digital stories were premiered at the Arizona International Film Festival in April 2009.