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Filming in rural Samoa. children who never speak English, who rarely see a Palagi, let alone a video camera!

Applications are now open for a two month contract as videographer & post-production with the SWAP Foundation. This is a voluntary position based in SWAP HQ, Samoa, open immediately.

The SWAP Foundation assists volunteers to visit Samoa and help with Internet Marketing, raising the profile of Samoa online.

THE JOB

The role with SWAP in Samoa involves filming everyday life in Samoa (e.g. the markets in the city Apia, rural villages, special events) and then compiling video for use on YouTube and TV working in partnership with TV3 (a privately owned Samoan station ).

The two objectives are:

1. To capture the people and stories of Samoa in Samoan and English for posterity
2. To give exposure and insight into Samoa as a tourist destination on the Internet

You will be involved in all aspects of the production including creating storylines, developing the SAMOA STORY™ brand digitally, liaising with interviewees to determine the best angle for the story, taking and processing video, working with our Media partner (TV3 Samoa), and completing all post-production work. This is a very hands-on role, with a high degree of autonomy, working with a flexible hands-off management team, who will resource, guide and assist without micro-managing your work.

NOTE: We do NOT provide product training and you must be competent to complete the work without basic training! While excellence is desired, we do not require Hollywood quality output. The intended audience is local TV, NZ TV, and YouTube viewing.

As this position is currently vacant, the successful applicant can start immediately.

AN ADVANTAGE

It is an advantage to:

• Be able to speak or at least understand Samoan
• Have had experience with the Samoan culture (either by nationality, marriage or through Samoan business or social involvement), or want to.
• Have worked in the film/TV industry or in a job that has had a hands-on practical role with video production.
• Be able to bring your own camera(s), although we do have our own backup equipment available.
• Bring your own notebook, although we do have PCs with CS4 in-house.
• Show evidence of your film-making prowess on YouTube.

REQUIREMENTS

Applicants (you) must be able to speak and write English. You must have a good understanding of Adobe CS4 (or greater) and be a competent videographer.

You will have created your own storylines and have produced YouTube clips containing a combination of computer generated graphics, voice overs, background music and video cuts.

You will have a proven capacity to be flexible, show initiative in your job and to complete tasks on-time, sometimes in a difficult work environment (Samoa can do that to you!) Villages may cancel a visit because of a funeral, or call on you at the drop of a hat to pop on out to do something unexpected and so on.

WE OFFER

SWAP provides basic food, accommodation, airport transfers as well as all SWAP related expenses such as transport to/onsite, gifts/payments to the villages/ Volunteers however are expected to pay for their travel to and from Samoa as well as cover their own personal items such as alcoholic or special drinks, restaurant meals, touristy purchases, medications etc.

We offer the infrastructure and support for you to have an opportunity of a lifetime. An experience that is unique – and very “real”!

YOU CAN EXPECT

SWAP volunteer hut - clean, dry, cool and outdoors living at its best. Just imagine permanent camping in the height of NZ summer.

You can expect to

• Live in a basic open-walled “hut” in the bush (photo). You will share your life with 100million mosquitos, ants, cats, dogs, rats, mice and birds. However your mosquito net will work well and the cats dogs, rats, mice and spiders will all run away in fear when you variously turn on your light, stomp your feet, throw stones at them and.or shout at them! When it rains everything around you gets wet. When it rains and blows, then everything gets wet! Fortunately it is the middle of the dry season and it only really rains enough to bother you once in a fortnight, for 12 hours!
• Drink heaps of water. You will grab a beer as often as you can but orange juice, coke and booze will always fall into second place behind water, and lots of it!
• Go to places and see things that many tourists never do. These experiences are usually always exciting and tiring, but are usually always exhilarating and fun!
• Meet and mix with leaders and see inside the inner workings of an amazing South Pacific Island country. Again, this is a two-edged sword but an extremely valuable experience.
• Be on local TV, radio and/or in the newspaper with your work, so that you will be known by many in Samoa, even you will only get to know a few yourself!
• Be treated as an honoured guest wherever you go, and to experience the real Samoan hospitality from people who will give you anything you want, and yet who have so little themselves.
• Be challenged personally, and you could easily have experiences that may change your view of life, maybe testing you to the limit of your patience – perhaps beyond!
• Be on average 10 hours per week in the field filming, interviewing and meeting people, and 30 hours per week behind a computer, although this can change at the drop of a hat!
• Learn to slow down. Samoans drive at the speed that the people, dogs, pigs and chickens get off the road in front of them – between 25kmh and 40kmh depending on the road and the village. You will learn to walk at their speed in town. If you walk any slower you will fall over. If you walk any faster you will bump into us all and cause us a nuisance!
• Look back on your experience after it all and appreciate your own life so, so, so, very much more!

ADDITIONAL NOTES

A SWAP VOLUNTEER?
This position is a fixed-term, short-term volunteer role living with and working for the SWAP Foundation in Samoa. You will be a SWAP Ambassador, dressed in full SWAP uniform when in public, and fulfilling the stated goals of the SWAP Foundation, in this case developing a series of 6 minute film/video clips about Samoa in partnership with TV3 (Samoa). Visits to private family and for personal reasons are possible but very limited.

PARTNERS?
If you wish to bring a partner (sorry, SWAP HQ is not suitable for children yet – construction of our swimming pool has yet to start) please indicate this in your application and this may be possible.

EMPLOYED?
If you are currently employed and would like to apply for two months fun-in-the-sun with SWAP but have concerns over your availability, we have ways (“Ve haff vays, u kno!”) to assist employers to help you take a well deserved break and join us! Feel free to contact us privately if you think your boss can be “encouraged” to help you come.

CHALLENGES?
Most SWAP Volunteers (as do all Peace Corp and other Western world volunteers entering third world countries) are deeply challenged with cross-cultural issues. Coming from a first-world into a third (developing) world like rural Samoa causes enormous stress for many, both Palagi or Samoans travelling back for the first time. Well traveled people find it easier, however it is always difficult when somebody begs from you in the street, and another lies to you or steals from you when you want to try to help them, and many other challenges.

It is often hard for people to see their own culture’s vulnerability when they see another culture’s strength. Likewise it can also be stressful to have to hold back the desire to change another country when you can see their weaknesses. Sometimes it can be hard to see the “other side” of a country and culture that is presented in a certain way. There are a myriad of issues that can challenge you when travelling to Samoa as a SWAP Ambassador. SWAP provides Ambassadors with a real, natural, raw experience that goes much deeper than just sitting on a white sandy beach and drinking a beer! We also provide the necessary support structures so that if you are committed, honest, patient and flexible, you will not only survive, you will thrive in Paradise!

More information about SWAP and stories from our past Ambassadors are available at www.swapsamoa.com.

We look forward to hearing from you or maybe someone you know who is “perfect” for the job, but be quick, before we close off applications.

Applications online here.

But, the bigger celebration for me was being able to use my new toilet (which finally got a door and some walls today!!!). Had to use it for a few days looking over my back shoulder to make sure no-one came down the driveway and caught me out!! It’s 75m up the driveway so you do need to plan your visits, especially if it rains in the middle of the night! But it is located close to where our eventual units will be built, sometime in the future. Funny how toilets can bring out the passion in people!!!

Now, an update on my garden. We have started to enjoy regular meals of sweetcorn, the tomatoes are ripening fast, and beans still in abundance. I have planted out another 80 tomato seedlings, so busy watering those carefully morning and night, but hopefully with a better water supply this time. Seems my next challenge will be to plant some more lettuces and see if I have better luck with these ones, after the first were a disaster!

Samoan bananas

Well, life has been busy. Dennis has started the building structure to house the new toilet, shower, water pump, and garden things. It is right beside the septic tank – and close to where our eventual accommodation will be, but still quite a way from our tent!

I am busy writing the words for the Samoa Story website, to go with the 20,000 or so photos we have taken over the last 18 months. It is an on-going project and is intended as a useful online resource promoting ‘All things Samoan’.

After such a fantastic start to my garden, I have to admit that I could have lost all the tomato plants to some fungal disease, if Dennis hadn’t noticed it and had me act quickly. I have had to break off nearly half the leaves, as they started to yellow and get spots. Hopefully, the many tomatoes that are there will still ripen and keep us in good supply. I also lost my spinach and silverbeet to some unknown black slime on the leaves that ate them away. Tropical heat? Lack of water? I don’t know, having never been much of a gardener before anyway!

I still have a crop of sweetcorn ripening, and the carrots seem to be growing slowly. We have had a great supply of bananas from our land – all different sorts – short, stubby, sweet Amasi bananas, palagi (my favourite) and princess bananas (those little ones that look like a tiara as they splay out when they grow). And my favourites – the paw paw – have been ripening a bit slower than I can eat them!!! But we did learn how to use the green paw paw as a stir fry vegetable, and they are lovely – taste and look a bit like a light squash/pumpkin.

Manuia to all (Cheers)

Just before touching down in Samoa

I left behind the freezing weather in Auckland only to meet two days of rain in Samoa. Hot as … stepped off the plane right by the front door of the terminal.

The Immigration team were quite laid back, although they did hassle me about what SWAP was and who I’d be staying with. Maybe they had looked out the door and seen the white limo and the red carpet that awaited me, and Dennis (looking like a shady drug-dealer I had just met online), and that’s why they asked so many questions!

Man it was hot, driving around in the limo all day. It reminded me so much of Papua-New Guinea, my birth place, but also a bit dirty like Mexico. There were tonnes of coconut trees, pawpaw, and bread fruit.

We went into Samoa’s TV3, and it felt like a time warp – equipment out of date, a feeling of inefficiency, a bit like New Zealand in the seventies. They wanted an interview for the news that night, but as it turned out, their camera was faulty, so we had to repeat it all again the next morning!

In fact the whole country was less advanced than I thought it would be. It is quite primitive with houses without walls (it’s just too hot to be walled in). There are piles of rubbish, up on stands to keep the dogs out, but do they ever collect it? But they all walk around with cellphones in their hands, texting each other furiously.

SWAP Headquarters are still in development up in the cooler climate at 250m above sea level, along the Aleisa Road. Dennis wasn’t joking when he told me prior to coming he was just laying the concrete floor for my bedroom (a lean-to in the bush with a tarpaulin to keep out the rain and a mossie net to keep out the bugs!!!)

I was a bit concerned the first night, when all the forest noises sounded loud and so different to the day. In the early morning the chickens wandered past my bed, and a local dog had obviously visited the rubbish bag that wasn’t up high enough!

Samoa has been an interesting start – I miss my washing machine, shouldn’t have packed my sweatshirts, and should have brought more insect repellent! But, it’s early days, and I am up for the challenge.

Samoa enjoying the rain

Personally, I hated the rain in NZ. It interfered with what I wanted to do – I just would rather not get wet when I am fully dressed!

But up here in Samoa, it can be such a blessing. Many a Sunday morning I have seen people walking to or from church in their lovely ‘white’ clothes, in the rain. It’s so warm, that the cooling of the rain doesn’t send you running for cover, but instead, beckons you to put your hands out to catch it and lap it up (literally)!! I did my washing (in the big laundry basin) under the kamaligi tree, in the rain, this morning and hung it out – rain is a good second rinse here!!!

For subsistence farming, rain is welcomed to grow the much needed food (for all) and grass for the few livestock that are here. I have watched my tomato plants grow from seeds to some standing 4ft high now, and some of the little green fruit are up to 2cm in diameter already- this with very little rain and some intensive watering by hand when there has been something flowing in the pipes! But as I sit here and write now, I am glad not to have to spend the hour and a half watering in the morning.

We have an early appointment with the local tv station to rerun some video footage that was faulty from the interview yesterday when our 18th SWAP volunteer arrived at the airport, met by limousine and the full red carpet treatment!!! Such was the pity after all the hype – I stalled the limo eight times outside the main arrival area, in front of ALL the local Samoan taxi drivers, all of whom were giving me advice on how to get my car going!!!! (One even cheeky enough to tell me to check the handbrake was off first!!!!) I left in a fit of laughter – that’s Samoa, at heart they all like a joke and a laugh, especially at someone else’s expense!!

Fortunately I got my driving act together for the tv interview, done in the back of the limo as we drove around the streets of Apia. It’s hard work there to find streets that are smooth enough for the camerman to hold the camera steady, but I managed reasonably well, smoothly gliding over all the speed bumps!!!

Like I said, I don’t like the rain, but I prefer getting caught in the rain in the tropics to getting caught in a snowstorm in Auckland!!! Until next week … Faa sofua (goodbye)

Attention: TV1 News, TV3 News, Samoa Observer

Date: 27 July 2011

Interviews are available with Steve Fawcett (SWAP Ambassador) on the afternoon of Thursday 28 July 2011. We will be bringing Steve to Apia in the SWAP limo and film/interview him and Dennis while driving around town for a Thursday night TV3 News article (confirmed) and Samoa Observer or TV1 article if required. Still photos from the airport will be available online at www.samoalimousines.com on the afternoon of Thursday 28 July 2011.

Background: SWAP brings volunteers to Samoa to assist with Internet Marketing. We generate stories (words and pictures) for the Internet using short-term international volunteers (similar to Peace Corp Volunteers), who take photos, write stories, articles and blog posts and then put them on the Internet.

Steve is a web developer from Tauranga, New Zealand who wants to check out Samoa as well as help as he can. He will be working with SWAP and TV3 on the SAMOA STORY website. This will include videos of villages in Samoa. We will also be working with TV3 to document village life as well as tourist attractions and destinations.

Steve will be staying at the new SWAP HQ being developed up by Aleisa, and looks forward to meeting with any one or any village that has a story to tell or that wishes to have SWAP visit. He can be contacted on Ph 777-4444 or at www.swapsamoa.com.

Updates about and from Steve will be posted regularly on the SWAP website: www.swapsamoa.com.

UPDATE (9 September 2010):

Steve has now left the SWAP Foundation. His role as videographer/post-production has been re-advertised.

Steve is a web developer who over the years has helped many churches and charities with their websites (www.godfuel.org).

He will be working on the SAMOA STORY website, as well as doing video post-production work (using CS5, for the technical people). One of his first projects will be working in partnership with TV3 to develop video documentary series about life in rural Samoa that will be suitable for YouTube as well as for TV viewing.

Welcome to Samoa Steve!

Bravo!

J.P.

Thanks for your support and encouragement!

Headstand Guru, Carsten Dausel performs for his camera at Faleolo Airport

(And now for something completely different!)

International Headstand Guru, Carsten Dausel from Germany set heads turning at Faleolo Airport last night when he took photos of himself posing in his favourite position – you guessed it – upside down!

To look at him you might think modern hippie – neatly trimmed, full black beard; an array of tattoos covering his feet, legs and other parts of his body all from the places he has travelled; cool sunglasses and peaked cap – back-packing his way around the world.

But there is much more to this young man than meets the eye.

After ten years of travelling, this 31 year old German carpenter (apparently they are ‘built’ to travel!) has seen five of the seven continents with plans in mid 2011 to visit the last two – South America and Antarctica! He has done all sorts of work as he travelled – a ski-instructor in Austria, a chef in Japan, a dish-washer in Australia, a WWOOFer* in New Zealand, and most recently, a SWAP volunteer in Samoa.

SWAP’s latest guest and volunteer was of course delivered in style to the airport in the SWAP Limousine, and duly performed to his trusty camera on the red carpet in front of a curious crowd of onlookers.

Apart from his German connection, Carsten wanted to visit Samoa to add some South Pacific islands to his list of countries visited, and he wanted to add more photos to his current file of over 700 – doing headstands at unusual and well-known tourist spots all around the world.

When practising Yoga a few years ago, he found that the headstand position was also a novel way to “map” his travels and the photograph collection blossomed. His photos are usually taken with a simple time-delay setting on a small tripod mounted camera. He has collected photos doing headstands outside the Taj Mahal; with Canadian Mounted Police during the Vancouver Winter Olympics; imitating a column at a famous Italian building; at sunset on Falealupo beach; and most recently – on the red carpet outside the SWAP Limousine at Faleolo Airport, Samoa.

He says that headstanding always attracts interest from the locals. “This gives me a lovely way to connect with them, something I love about travelling. One day I will probably publish another book and share my photos and experiences with the world.”

While in Samoa, he worked hard for his food and accommodation helping get the SWAP Headquarters in Falelauniu started, clearing land and getting vegetable gardens under way.

Of his experiences in Samoa, the ones that stick in his mind are some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, especially those at Fanuatapu Island where he stayed alone one night after being dropped off by a local fisherman. (Fanuatapu was originally a leper colony and now just houses the main lighthouse for shipping in the Aleipata coastal region).

How it is done:

1. Travel the world – into every continent
2. Seek and find a famous or interesting tourist location
3. Get up before dawn to catch the sunrise, or calculate the best lighting, position and time to get the best photo
4. Set up your camera on tripod and 10 second timer
5. Race back to your photo location
6. Perform a headstand
7. Smile and wait for the Click!
8. Check the photo (and repeat if not perfect)
9. Move to the next country or destination for the next photo

SWAP is proud to have hosted such an enterprising traveller and wishes Carsten well on the snowfields in Wanaka, New Zealand, and then at his next stops, Chile and hopefully Antarctica.

High Resolution images:

carsten-dausel-headstand.jpg

carsten-dausel-camera.jpg

This was the first “outing” by the limousine and was a great success. Our thanks to Corey and Etu from Majik FM, Y-Not and V-Bar for making it all happen.

The SWAP Foundation is pleased to generate online exposure and action for Samoa and looks forward to using the “SWAP Limo” for many more adventures in the future. Pictures and story are available online at Samoa Limousines Hall of Fame

International Facebook connections map. Beautiful colours and a serious message that the world is now "Connected", with a capital "C"!

Debbie and I (Dennis) were invited to give the Minister of Communications and his team a presentation this week.

In it we explained what SWAP is all about . . . essentially Voluntourism based around Internet Marketing.

You are sure to enjoy it!

BACKGROUND

Following the recent elections, Prime Minister Tuila’epa has appointed Tuisuga to be the Minister of Communications and Information Technology. Tuisuga was previously the Minister of Public works, and fully responsible for the major recovery and reinstatement work following the 2009 Tsunami. Word from the street is it that he is “a doer” and “an achiever” and is highly respected in Government circles.

That Tuilaepa has selected Tuisuga to oversee Internet matters indicates that Tuila’epa truly recognises the importance of the Internet to the future of Samoa. We predict that Samoa is about to gain major traction online.

DENNIS, DEBBIE & SWAP

I am an Internet Marketing Strategist. I help people, companies and in Samoa’s case, the country to visualise how they can structure their businesses to engage with the Internet technologies so that they achieve their online goals. Prior to emigrating to Samoa I was a major web developer in New Zealand and in 2006 I established the Web Developers Association of New Zealand.

Debbie is a teacher with a BBS (Accountancy) and a Masters in Education specialising in Gifted Education and Online Learning. She joined me in Samoa this year.

SWAP is a Samoa registered Charitable Trust, established to lift post-Tsunami Samoa through education and developing partnerships with local businesses. We seek to increase tourism and foreign investment through the use of voluntourism and Internet Marketing.

OUR VISION

In the early 1990s Ireland, previously a predominantly agricultural economy, with high brain-drain and low morale, marketed itself as a knowledge-based economy, drawing major investment from Intel and other technology companies including Microsoft and later Google.

GDP per capita in the OECD prosperity ranking rose from 21st in 1993 to 4th in 2002. Between 1985 and 2002, private sector jobs increased 59%. Economic growth averaged 10% from 1995 to 2000, and 7% from 2001 to 2004.*

Leaders from around the world flocked to the country to ask the question, “How did you do it?”

Our vision for Samoa is that within a few short years, leaders from around the world will flock to Samoa to ask the same thing about Samoa’s Internet presence, ”How did you do it?”

SAMOA’S SECRET WEAPON

In Aikido, an Eastern martial art, the small guy will often win against the bigger guy by deflecting the larger force intended for his harm and turning it to his advantage. We believe that post-Tsunami goodwill towards Samoa is enormous, and that if tapped into, International goodwill can be a secret weapon that Samoa can use to its advantage.

The Samoa Tsunami in 2009 was the biggest event to occur in the South Pacific since Pearl Harbour and most people living in Samoa at the time have little idea how deep and how long-lasting this international goodwill is. I believe that with the equivalent of a billion dollars of negative press around the world in just three weeks in September & October 2009, if you would just mention the name Samoa in ten years, even people in Uzbekistan will likely just say, “Tsunami!”

SWAP’s business model is to tap into this “hidden” resource.

THE PIPE

Click for larger image

As with any new technology, the difficulty is to know how to best use it.

Finding the best way to use our resources is the mark of a good manager.

An important concept for leaders and managers to understand is that the Internet is simply like a pipe. People need a pipe but they want to drink WATER, not a pipe.

But we need systems to get the water to work, or to get to us from the pipe.

If the Internet is compared to a pipe (B), then people want water (A). Achievements and wealth (D) come through brands and systems (C) not the pipe.

BRAND & INFLUENCE

Click for larger image

I shared a concept called Web Thought Leadership on my personal website www.dennis.co.nz recently. In it I explained that the ‘movers and shakers’ create brands and generate influence, rather than owning and controlling a given market.

An excellent example of this is Google, who provide a strong brand and “Search Technology” (a system). They effectively manage the entire world’s information without owning it and therefore gain their business success.

Groupon is another success story.

Groupon has tapped into global markets by combining two existing concepts, group purchasing power and coupons (discounts) and with a well-branded web-based system established the fastest company to a $1b valuation in history.

THE SWAP BUSINESS MODEL

Click for larger image

SWAP brings volunteers to Samoa to assist creating value – specifically tourism and foreign investment using modern Internet technologies.

We work with existing Samoan businesses and joint venture partner with those wishing to value-add or to achieve Internet objectives.

Just like Google, Groupon and other well-structured businesses . . .

SWAP is a well-branded system that leverages Samoa’s greatest post-Tsunami resource, international goodwill.

We are a system that helps bring volunteers to Samoa, to assist in Internet Marketing (and/or other complementary roles).

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Republic_of_Ireland#Celtic_Tiger

With sunsets like this one, Falealupo beach is very likely to be a major part of the Go! Go! Go! SAMOA and SAMOA DAY promotion. It is the last place in the world to see the sun each day.

The team will be checking out the tourist sights and friends along the way. They will be reporting back with their experiences in a day or so.

The Samoa Land Corporation has granted the SWAP Foundation 5 acres for their headquarters in Tafa’igata.

General Manager of SLC, Peseta Malouamaua Afoa Arasi Tiotio says that 5 acres in Tafa’igata has been allocated for the SWAP Foundation effective 9 May, 2011.

Dennis A. Smith, CEO of the SWAP Foundation, says that his team is “totally stoked” to now be able to start building their headquarters and upscale their operations.

“Securing land suitable for our requirements has been a real challenge”, he says. “We have previously been renting in Lotopa and Satapuala but we’ve been actively looking for a more secure longer term option for our base for a while”.

He says that locating suitable premises for a charitable organisation was a real challenge.

“Our staff and volunteers needed to be within reasonable driving distance to town for business meetings, yet we were also seeking sufficient space for projected growth. We established fairly quickly that we were unable to afford commercial rents in town, and then we experienced some pretty large challenges with renting customary land.”

“The SLC land has been a godsend to us, and we are deeply appreciative of the support received from the SLC Chairman and Prime Minister, Tuila’epa”, Dennis says.

SWAP co-founder, and wife Debbie Smith believes that the Prime Minster was supportive because of SWAP’s Internet Marketing expertise and their efforts to lift Samoa online.

“We know that the Prime Minister’s support of our application was in a large part due to our work on the Internet. We really look forward to developing the SWAP programme into something that we can all be proud of.”

The SWAP Foundation is a Samoa registered Charitable Trust founded by Debbie and Dennis A. Smith, New Zealanders who relocated to Samoa post-Tsunami. They bring volunteers to Samoa to assist with Internet Marketing and work with local businesses wanting to lift their game online.

Their website is www.swapsamoa.com.

They provide free training, networking and mentoring at a monthly SWAP Trade Night and one-on-one.

Permalink: http://www.swapsamoa.com/2011/05/media-release-swap-headquarters/

Media Contacts: Dennis A. Smith 777-9999 dennis@dennis.co.nz or Debbie Smith 777-4444 debbie@debbie.co.nz

High Resolution Image: http://www.swapsamoa.com/images/swap-logo-highres.jpg