By Susan MacLaury

Hi Everyone,

I hope this letter finds you safe and well. As you know, every year we send out a video describing what we’ve done. If you’ve not yet seen our 2020 videos, I hope you will and in fact… here’s one of them now:

I love it, and am especially moved by Dominic, one of the three young protagonists of our first film, War/Dance, who recalls how during the darkest days of civil war and threats by the Lord’s Resistance Army, when families were forced into overcrowded IDP camps to survive, he had only hope. And it was enough.

Our capacity for hopefulness has been sorely tested this year. In my personal efforts to mitigate this, I’d forward videos to friends that I hoped were inspirational/funny. I think overall they enjoyed them but some made it clear that while they appreciated my optimism, they didn’t share it. I understand this but wish they could, because I’m with Dom… we’re nowhere without hope.

Hope is the core of the work Shine Global does – from the films and series we create, to the educational materials we write to extend their reach, to our film and Q&A series that we hope brought thought-provoking beauty into our viewers’ lives.

To all of you who’ve donated to Shine Global this year, taken the time to let us know you’re with us, that you, too, have hope…. thank you.  If you’ve not yet donated to Shine Global, please consider doing so now. We have exciting plans for expanding our storytelling to include both animated and scripted films and we’d love for you to be part of our continuing journey.

And let’s continue daring to hope in 2021. Albie, Alex and Sean join me in sending you our very best wishes for a spectacular new year.

Take care,

Susan MacLaury
Executive Director and Co-Founder of Shine Global