Having presented the night before, I hoped to speak to more people about my puppetry film, 'Risalo', based on the poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. It's difficult to walk into a crowd, on your own, and try to ask for help. It certainly helped that a good number of people had at least seen my presentation. It's not always about trying to gain the support of hundreds of people. I feel that getting the support of key community members can really help to advocate for this effort.I went to El Dorado park at the tail end of the SANA picnic there. I thought that was a pretty great idea, to have a fun outdoor portion of the event. The weather was great and it is a beautiful park. I managed to follow up with a few people and got some suggestions on how I can leverage SANA's help a bit further. Every bit of help is appreciated. I'm really working on this by myself as I push for outside momentum to help me. There is a great deal of interest in the work that has been completed and the potential for what remains, but translating that into the resources needed to shoot the film is challenging. We take pride in culture, but what does that culture mean to us? How do we define it? What are those symbols and representations that are vital to its definition? To me, it is a support of the ideas and practices that are unique and beautiful within a community. That support must take the form of forward thinking action that takes care of those practitioners and exemplifiers of these ideals, or it will vanish into the homogeny of our every day race to make money and assimilate into purely capitalistic goals. Not everything that has value makes money. Therefore, it is up to people to value by supporting. It is very much of an up hill battle, and I do often question how much longer I should fight for it, before wrapping things up and moving on. For if a community does not place value in the future of its culture, who am I to resist it?Well, thankfully I am extremely stubborn and I tend to piece together every kind word, or thought in the direction of my efforts to motivate me to keep working, on top of every person that has made any bit of effort to help along the way. None of these people can be forgotten and neither can the value that I place in them. So I continue.I went to the evening dinner and enjoyed company with some more well wishers. Every idea and even the smallest bit of help, will inch this effort forward. There was a musical program featuring Humaira Channah, a well respected Pakistani singer. In addition to that, there was a wonderful fundraising effort, to support SANA, and even more so, educational scholarships in Sindh. It made my heart happy to see the generous outpouring of support. I taught in Universities in quite a few cities in Pakistan. I have met students from rural backgrounds for whom theirs is the first journey to higher education in their families. These students are often there despite the odds, while more financially able students don't always have the same sense of appreciation for that opportunity. It truly is life changing.I hope that in time, with continued effort, that I can complete my film, 'Risalo' and continue my efforts to support those artists who preserve, represent and share our culture, for they too work despite all odds stacked against them, to remind us of who we are and what we can become. Thanks to SANA for welcoming me and giving me a chance to share.