HEAL Concluded its Third Workshop in the Catapults to Cameras Series

19-21 August 2024

We have just concluded our third workshop in the Catapults to Cameras series, and it has left us feeling full of hope!

Over three days in August, our newest participants—Gurucharan, Muchiram, Rahul, Rupchand, and Rohit—were introduced to photography by mentors from the first batch. These children from the hunting communities of southern West Bengal engaged in nature-based activities, watched wildlife documentaries, and went on field excursions to see wildlife with newfound appreciation. This series of workshops came out of an experiment documented in the film Catapults to Cameras.

Suvrajyoti Chatterjee, HEAL’s Secretary interacting with the children

In 2022, Green Oscar-winning filmmaker Ashwika Kapur teamed up with HEAL’s Suvrajyoti Chatterjee to inspire empathy for wildlife in five children from Jhargram’s hunting community by replacing their catapults with cameras. With its heartfelt message, the film made in partnership with Roundglass Sustain has garnered widespread acclaim, both nationally and internationally. Catapults to Cameras showcases the transformative power of photography to ignite curiosity and foster a deeper connection with nature in children.

Children displaying objects that they have collected from their surrounding nature
Children engrossed in trying out their photography skills

In this southern West Bengal, children from hunting communities grow up with catapults as toys, learning to see wildlife as targets. As adults, they go on to organise and participate in illegal hunting festivals. Every year, over 40 such events are organised in at least seven districts of Bengal, where thousands of animals, many endangered, are killed just for recreation. HEAL has been working for eight years to combat this crisis through a multi-pronged approach.

The screening of Catapults to Cameras

Following the success of the first workshop and the film, HEAL and RoundGlass Sustain expanded Catapults to Cameras into a full-scale conservation initiative. Through innovative, hands-on workshops, the programme seeks to turn children from hunting communities into protectors of wildlife, empowering them to “shoot” wildlife with cameras instead of catapults.

With each batch, Catapults to Cameras aims to reach more children, shaping a generation that protects wildlife rather than hunts it. Wish to support this campaign? Reach out to us or visit: https://roundglasssustain.com/…/film-catapults-to-camera.