FilmAid International uses film and video to inspire and educate vulnerable people, including those in refugee camps, with messages that help them progress their lives in positive ways...

The charity raised more than $30,000 during its recent fundraising appeal, coinciding with World Refugee Day, and that was increased by the charity's "guardian angel" supporter, who doubled the public's donations, generating a final total of more than $60,000 for the charity's educational and training programmes...

FilmAid's programmes consist of informational workshops involving outdoor evening screenings including health and safety issues; as well as community-driven dramas; plus a variety of media and awareness training to empower communities... including employment and skills training...

The charity's films cover issues such as HIV/AIDS awareness, hygiene and sanitation, gender-equality and human rights...

Workers teach filmmaking, helping refugees tell their own stories, and use mobile movie screens attached to trucks. The charity operates in refugee camps, as well as areas of urban deprivation and disaster zones...

The charity's on-going programmes include those in Kenya, for instance at the Kakuma Refugee Camp near South Sudan and the Dadaab Refugee Camp near the border of Somalia... FilmAid also works with Burmese refugees in Thailand, and people displaced in Haiti due to the earthquake.

FilmAid is currently expanding its work in Kenya taking on new staff and recently celebrated a successful project at the Kakuma Refugee Camp which resulted in students at the camp producing films for the 2012 FilmAid Kakuma Film Festival...

This included a student driven drama that highlighted the need to reduce conflict at the camp and develop positive attitudes towards women...

FilmAid's staff say the students' efforts, all of them refugees, is inspirational...