Today the women from the FEMSCRIPT program returned from their field trips. We had our hopes up because we didn't receive many phone calls with technical questions during the last two weeks. But things had happened that we were not aware of. To be honest, it was a hectic start with a lot of emotions.

The field trip had been one of many struggles. Roadblocks where police officers check the cars and busses make you stop almost every mile. Each time the girls had to explain that they were not carrying a gun, but a tripod instead. But that also meant they had to explain that they were filming. For whom and why? Are you a spy? As much as we wanted these girls to be low profile, carrying so much stuff is not something you can easily hide. The same thing happened within the communities. "Why are you carrying a gun?", people would ask.

It was not the first time the girls went into the communities. They had been there already when doing research. People were very much willing to answer their questions then. But in front of a camera, that's a different ball-game. Either they were shy, or the topics were too sensitive. For example talking about pollution and knowing the people actually causing it, that's not something you want to share easily on camera.

Other challenges had been the timing. Live goes on, definitely in the Niger Delta where people are struggling to make a living. Making arrangements for interviews was difficult, especially within certain time constraints.

Then there was a money issue. Reports about oil leakages, gas flaring and other environmental disasters have been made often. But only after paying community members a lot of money for a few quotes in front of the camera. That lead to expectation, even if you want to make films about awareness raising and improvement of women's rights. But unfortunately we just don't have the means to wave money to everybody and we wouldn't like to "buy" quotes either.

But we saw some of the footage, and despite all the trouble on the way, that looks very promising... well done!