From the earliest days people have been telling and recording their stories. These stories provide us with valuable links to the past and bring history to life. But life stories can also be a powerful tool in raising awareness of injustice, inequality and suffering. Hassocks resident Keren Ghitis has spent 15 years travelling all over the world capturing stories of ordinary people faced with unimaginable adversity. She now lives in the village and works as a psychotherapist in Brighton and Hassocks.

By Claire Cooper

Keren was born in Israel into a Latin American family. “My dad is Colombian, my mum Brazilian and our spoken language was Spanish,” she said. “I was brought up in a Latin culture in the Middle East!” With her multicultural upbringing, Keren knew from an early age that she wanted to work with marginalised communities. “As I grew up I became aware of the many different kinds of social injustice and the divide between rich and poor, particularly in Colombia and Brazil, which made me determined to work in those areas,” Keren recalled. “The political situation in Israel had also sparked my interest in social justice and human rights.” The opportunity to make a difference came when Keren joined PANOS, a London based company leading the way in using media and communication for development, shedding light on unreported issues and providing a voice for the poor and marginalised. Keren was a member of the Oral Testimonies team. “Our role was to equip people to record their life experiences and present their stories to inspire change,” said Keren. “I worked with people living with HIV and Aids, victims of war, survivors of trafficking, domestic slavery and communities in poverty. “When people tell their stories it has a huge impact on raising awareness and conveys a reality stronger than statistics.” Keren’s work with young people living with HIV and Aids in the Dominican Republic highlighted the spread of the virus and its impact on the poorest people. “I worked From the earliest days people have been telling and recording their stories. These stories provide us with valuable links to the past and bring history to life. But life stories can also be a powerful tool in raising awareness of injustice, inequality and suffering. Hassocks resident Keren Ghitis has spent 15 years travelling all over the world capturing stories of ordinary people faced with unimaginable adversity. She now lives in the village and works as a psychotherapist in Brighton and Hassocks. with one young girl living with HIV whose grandmother refused to use the same cutlery and dishes. The girl lived in a room away from the rest of the family. As you can imagine, this experience of constantly being rejected affected her very deeply.” Keren travelled all over the world gathering stories. “We would teach local people how to document their life stories, starting with how to use a tape recorder and progressing to videos. “When you consider that many people we trained had never seen a television, learning to hold and use a video camera was a completely new experience! We would transcribe the recordings into English and show the videos at global conferences and in international media to promote change and policy innovation.”

To read more please find the article in this month’s (July) issue of Hassocks Life!