Guerrilla Trust

It is only a few years after the end of devastating civil war. Tribes slaughtered each other. Atrocities were committed with violent frequency on the most defenseless members of the nation; the women and children. Today, young man men missing limbs beg on the streets of the capitol city. Shunned by by many, feared by others, they are the obvious results of the war. The hollow buildings and lack of infrastructure are another. Not so obvious is that 7% of the people in this country lost their lives in the war, that 15% of the babies born today will die before their first birthday, that the average life expectancy is only 40 years and that every shred of trust has been destroyed.

The UN, USAID, Doctors without Borders, and dozens of other NGOs and GOs are working on the list of problems. But how healthy can a nation be without trust among it's citizens?

scene: A dirt street in a small town. A few shops line the street and traditional homes and family farms stretch back from the road.

A stranger approaches a middle aged man on the road:

Stranger: Excuse me Sir. I have been told you are a man who can be trusted.

Man: What?

Stranger: I've been told you're a man who can be trusted.

Man: Who told you that?

Stranger: Someone with a high opinion of you. I would like to ask you to do something for me.

Man: What is it?

Stranger: This is an important letter that needs to be delivered to someone you trust. I would like ......

Man: Ha! The only person I trust is myself.

Stranger: Yes, I understand. Perhaps there is someone you would like to trust or think you might be able to trust?

Man: Hmmmm, I don't know.

Pause

Man: Maybe David Kamakai, he's always given me an honest price for my peppers..

Stranger: Thank you. Will you deliver this letter to him?

Man: Okay, yes.

Next page. Next day.

The office of David Kamakai is a small room with a worn wooden table and two chairs. He's sitting on one of them. A boy lounges in the corner on a flattened cardboard box. There are no decorations on the wall to hide the fact that the top half of it has been recently rebuilt.

The man approaches David Kamakai in his office

Man: Hello David, a stranger asked me to give this letter to you.

David: A stranger, did he tell you his name? What did he look like?

Man: No, he didn't tell me his name. Here's the letter, good day.

David: Goodbye.

Next Scene:

We see the letter over the back of David's head:

The letter says:

Greetings,

You have been given this letter by a person who believes you are a person that can be trusted.

Now it's your turn. Will you deliver this letter to a person you can trust?

The Stranger

Next scene:

David sits pondering.

Then hands the letter to the boy and says, "Take this letter to Ma Hannah, she helped my wife when our baby was sick." Maybe .....