Alumnus' documentary on poverty to screen Nov. 26

Four young men sleep on a dirt floor of an adobe shed in a small Guatemalan village. No access to clean water and the constant itch of fleas is a pressing reminder of their situation. But they are not alone.

Of the children and adolescents living in rural areas, 76 percent live in poverty. This high number is one reason that Western Washington University graduate Sean Leonard and current Western student Ryan Christoffersen lived in Guatemala for eight weeks.

Two of Leonard’s friends from Claremont McKenna College in California asked Leonard and Christoffersen to join them in Guatemala during the summer of 2010. The goal was to document four friends living on one dollar a day in Guatemala, and the reality of the situation.

Never having learned Spanish or visiting a third-world country, Leonard didn’t know what to expect when he arrived in Central America.

“I was completely shocked at the struggles and pure hardship of what someone like that has to go through,” Leonard said.

Leonard graduated in spring 2012 with a creative writing major from the English department. He used his experience as an English major to tell and craft the stories of the people who lived in the village.

Leonard said he owes a lot to the English department, because it gave him the skills to think critically about how to develop a story.

“It is really about the stories down there, the day in and day out struggles, and how they survive,” Leonard said about the documentary. “Their dreams, aspirations, and how they achieve their goals.”

Leonard encourages everyone to step into someone else’s shoes and have empathy for someone else.

“How can you help without understanding what they go through?” Leonard asks.

The basis of the documentary isn’t to build a guilt-based media. Instead, Leonard advises students not to feel guilty but rather to feel empowered with a college education. He said that students should use all of the resources on campus and make changes with what is available.

Leonard is the creative director and co-founder of “Living On One.” He said it was an incredible journey to work on the project, which took two years to complete. The “Living One One” movement has been on tour, showing their documentary, since early September, and has visited 13 states.

The documentary will be screened at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 26, at the Pickford Film Center on Bay Street. Entrance to the film is free.

The film is being screened in partnership with AS Films, KVIK and the Econ Club, which will be introducing the filmmakers.