DocHouse Double Bill: Solar Mamas & Education Education

DocHouse Double Bill: Solar Mamas & Education Education
Thursday 15th November, 2012 at 8:00pm

A 'Why Poverty?' Screening

Solar Mamas
Dirs. Mona Eldaief & Jehane Noujaim

Are women better at getting out of poverty than men?

Being the second wife to an unemployed Bedouin has not afforded Rafea many opportunities to better herself, her family or the women in her community. But the Barefoot College in India takes uneducated middle-aged women from poor communities and trains them to become solar engineers, and Rafea has been selected to attend the six month programme. Solar Mamas follows Rafea and a hand-picked group of other illiterate mothers and grandmothers from around the world as they learn about electrical components and soldering without being able to read, write or understand English.

Education Education
Dir. Weijun Chen

What does an education get you?

China's economic boom and talk of the merits of hard work have created an expectation that to study is to escape poverty. But these days China's higher education system only leads to jobs for a few, educating a new generation to unemployment and despair.

Weijun Chen's film looks at the realities of Chinese education through the lives of Wang Zehziang, a tutor at a private college, Wang Pan, high school graduate and would be student, and Wan Chao, graduate job seeker who goes from one unpromising interview to another.

As part of Why Poverty? A ground breaking, cross-media event, online and on TV, using films to get people talking about poverty.