One Peace at a Time

In his follow-up to Nobelity (a profile of Nobel laureates), Texas-based actor, writer, filmmaker, and photographer Turk Pipkin travels the world to profile humanitarian organizations. Young girls and boys in school uniforms take turns listing the chapter headings—a series of basic rights—on a blackboard: clean water, nutrition, healthcare, opportunity, shelter, and peace. In India and America, Pipkin interviews Caroline Boudreaux, who founded the Miracle Foundation orphanages, and in Thailand, he meets Mechai Viravaidya, who founded the Population and Community Development Association. Nicknamed the Condom King, Viravaidya strives to educate the public about sex education and family planning. Pipkin also looks at CARE's program for preventing and treating HIV infection in Bangladesh, A Glimmer of Hope's efforts to make clean drinking water readily available in Ethiopia, and Architecture for Humanity's shelter-building activities in Nepal, Kenya, and Ecuador. Other speakers include Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett, and bio-diesel proponent Willie Nelson. Concerning the outlaw musician, with whom he authored The Tao of Willie, Pipkin quips, "In a classic road movie someone generally turns up who you never expected to see." Featuring hopeful songs from Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, and Ben Harper (which inspire viewers to think about trying to help change the grim statistics about hunger and disease related here), One Peace at a Time's title comes from Bishop Desmond Tutu, who quotes an African proverb: "There is only one way to eat an elephant...one piece at a time." Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Fennessy)