INTERVIEW DANIELLE WOODWARD
I wrote the book for the same reason I make documentaries – to raise awareness and fairly represent what’s going on in the world, so people can make up their own minds about how best to fight back. I don’t assume my work will make a big difference, but I think if I can bring certain topics to an unaware audience, that’s useful. It’s a great feeling when a teenager tells me they had no idea there were child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo before they saw my film – and now they are fundraising. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be able to open people’s eyes.
When you meet people who have committed horrific crimes, it’s tempting to scream at them, but hate doesn’t make children or women safer, so you have to start a dialogue. I’ve learned to put aside my emotions and stay calm; to find out what they’re thinking. Sometimes, people show remorse, but often they don’t take ownership of their actions. The ISIS soldier who killed and raped so many people said it was circumstantial and he had to do it, and why couldn’t I see that? In Honduras, I spoke to a man who cut of his wife’s legs because she wanted to leave him. He said if she hadn’t behaved like that, it wouldn’t have happened. That level of evil is difficult to understand.