At 64 Sofía Arivilca has endured more than a lifetime of suffering.

At 25 she married an older man who frequently beat her and threatened her life. Sofia eventually fled married life, leaving her husband without notice. She then lived with her mother until she too “began to hate” Sofia.

Sofia was forced to live house-to-house for eight years.

Finally, with the assistance of Heifer International, Sofia received the materials to construct her own home. With dogged effort and the help of her neighbors, she set out to build a place of her own.

In This House is the story of a woman with an undying spirit, determined to set things right.

For this project, Harbers Studio commissioned MediaStorm to work alongside Ripple Effect Images to tell the story of the organization Heifer International and their work in Peru.

Ripple Effect Images’ purpose was to gather still imagery for use by Heifer and for their archive of images made available to other nonprofit organizations and NGOs. Our goal was to create a short, cinematic narrative that intimately captures the work of Heifer in Peru for their promotional purposes as well as to create awareness for the issues they deal with as a whole.

With an organization as large as Heifer, which has a breadth of programs spreading across various issues, it can often be difficult to find people that encompass the whole of what the organization does. The big challenge with this project was finding two people that more represented the essence of what Heifer is trying to accomplish in Peru, rather than trying to cover all of their specific programs.

With this issue came the challenge of finding two people whose stories would be cohesive enough to blend together in a stand-alone piece. This can often be a big challenge, especially when dealing with different characters who are in different areas and have no connection to each other.

In the end we decided that the two characters we had chosen were so individually unique that they were better off as two stand-alone pieces. We found that weaving the two narratives together was just too distracting in the end and that the individual messages of each of the women came through in a more compelling way if each stood on its own.

When facing this situation in the field it is really important to gather enough content for each person to create a stand alone piece. This can be extremely challenging with a tight time schedule and requires more thought and organization on the front end, but it can be essential in the post-production process, especially if you are facing a situation where you find out in post that you need to produce them individually.

The result is two short, character-driven video pieces that intimately show the life-changing impact that Heifer’s programs have had on the lives of these Peruvian women. The pieces extend beyond the surface of what the organization provided and speaks to the psychological effects of empowerment.

This film was a collaboration with Harbers Studio and Heifer International.

Harbers Studios turbocharges the efforts of charitable entrepreneurs by helping them tell their stories. Our goal is to help them articulate and share the value of the work they do so they can inspire others to help them do it. Working with some of the best filmmaking talent in the world, we create compelling visual narratives that enhance the endeavors of organizations working to make the world a better place.

Heifer International’s mission is to work with communities around the world to end hunger and poverty and care for the earth.

Moved by the plight of orphans and refugees of the Spanish Civil War as he ladled out meager rations of powdered milk, Dan West, an Indiana farmer, volunteer relief worker and Church of the Brethren member, grasped that the people needed "a cow, not a cup"—cows that could produce milk so families would not have to depend on temporary aid. From that simple idea, Heifer International was born.

By giving families a hand-up, not just a handout, Heifer empowers them to turn hunger and poverty into hope and prosperity. By bringing communities together and linking them with markets in their area, they help bring sustainable agriculture and commerce to areas with a long history of poverty.