Start Here explains the news. We help people around the world navigate the complicated world of international news and current affairs by breaking down big stories so they’re easy to understand and engaging to watch, through deep-dive YouTube episodes and shorter, vertical content on Instagram and TikTok.
It’s hosted by Sandra Gathmann, a seasoned journalist, whose calm, neutral presenting style inspires trust and loyalty from our audience.
In this video we wanted to contribute to the online conversation around International Women’s Day by highlighting the particular challenges that women in Gaza were facing after five months of war.
Our strategy with this video was very simple - on a day when a lot of people around the world were talking about what it meant to be a woman, we wanted to highlight what it meant to be a woman in Gaza.
We took a dual approach - on one hand highlighting top level statistics that shed light on the particular challenges women were facing – for example, as mothers trying to feed their children; in coping with pregnancy; or in dealing with menstruation without access to basics like water and toilets. And on the other hand, interspersing these statistics with messages from women in Gaza - for those women to tell us directly how these conditions are impacting them and what they feel about it.
The hardest part of executing this project was reaching women in Gaza who would be willing and able to go on camera and record their story for us, along with the practicality of them being able to send their videos when the internet connection allowed. This was all done via Whatsapp and involved a lot of back and forth between several women and producer Harriet Tatham over the course of more than a week. Once we had their testimonies, it was a case of scripting and editing the video in a sensitive, powerful and informative way.
The final video was sensitive, powerful and informative, as we’d aimed for. It was watched 3.7 million times and generated around 700 comments on Instagram. These comments overwhelmingly expressed sorrow and solidarity for the women featured. In just 3 minutes, this video helped to crystalize and humanise one aspect of the pain and suffering that comes with war and conflict.
