IBC Blog

Posts by Shawn%20Small

  • The Hunter & The Beast
    Formed

    The Hunter & The Beast

    Our safari was a dream-come-true-ending to our time in South Sudan. I was directing a short documentary for Water is Basic about a twelve-year-old girl, Jina, who walked six miles a day to collect enough water to keep her family alive. After two intense weeks of shooting footage with my small team in a remote Sudanese village, we were ready for an adventure. Every day we took in nature’s masterpiece. Breakfast on the plains in the cool of the morning as migrating herds passed without a care or sitting silently in stopped vehicles during the dead of night observing two dozen elephants crossing in front of us with nary a peep was magnificent. My favorite experience was the lion hunt.

    Sitting in the dusty truck on the Maasai Mara in Kenya, I watched a mother lion stalk and capture a baby warthog with surprising stealth and speed. Picking up the flailing, screeching piglet in her jaws, she violently shook it until it lay limp. I thought she had shaken it dead.

  • Wonder is a Moonflower
    Formed

    Wonder is a Moonflower

    My favorite plant in my garden is a moonflower. Its thick green vines wander freely outwards and upwards. In late spring, large white flowers that look like porcelain trumpets bloom only under the light of the moon. They offer a delicious fragrance during their lifecycle, which only lasts a few hours. If you don’t see the moonflower the night it blooms, you’ve missed the miracle. In the late fall, the vines wither up, curling in upon themselves until the plant looks like a russet-colored tumbleweed.

    The first year I planted moonflowers I was sad to see our gardener cut away the dead plant, leaving no proof it ever existed. What I did not realize was that the seeds of the moonflower remained dormant.

  • Mercy for South Sudan
    Chatter

    Mercy for South Sudan

    Shawn Small explores the wars, the devastation, and the hope for reconciliation in one of the world’s youngest countries.

  • Diving In
    eLetter

    Diving In

    All eyes were on me, willing me to jump. The perception of danger was palpable enough that several people took out their cell phones, ready to record if the blue waters turned crimson.