World Vision videographer: “Why I chose to sponsor”

Jerome Harder has a creator’s heart.

“Ever since I was a kid, I loved art,” he says. His creative leanings—coupled with a curiosity and care for people—found the perfect home in January, when he was hired to be a storytelling videographer at World Vision Canada.

Today, if you scroll our social media channels, you might find him breaking down the pitfalls of fast fashion on YouTube, or chatting it up with fellow Gen Z-ers about social causes on Instagram.

A lot of Jerome's work happens from home: planning, writing, scripting, even filming. But six months into his job, he boarded a plane to Zimbabwe for his first travel assignment, a two-week filming trip with two well-known country musicians, ambassadors for World Vision Canada.

Accompanied by veteran videographer Corey Scarrow, Jerome was about to see World Vision's programs in person for the first time.

He didn't know it yet, but the trip would introduce him to five-year-old Johannes, a child whose story would lead him to become a sponsor himself.

Filming in Zimbabwe

Jerome is no newbie to international travel. He was born in Morocco, lived in Jordan and traveled all over Europe as a child. With a mom from Korea and a dad from Saskatchewan, he’s seen a wide swath of world. “I think that really helped me understand different cultures and care for different people that God created,” he says.

A filming trip with World Vision is a beautiful and demanding privilege. There are children, parents, staff and locals to meet. Stories to learn and honour. The days are usually long, and often hot.

In Jerome’s case, he would be relied on to capture the experiences of the musicians as they visited World Vision’s child sponsorship programs in preparation for an upcoming concert tour where they would invite Canadians to sponsor a child.

“I think the first week and a half, I was thriving,” says Jerome. He figured, “‘I could stay here for like a month or two and just continue filming.’”

But two thirds in, that adrenaline began to wear off. The artists flew home, and the pace changed as Corey and Jerome picked up some extra filming needs. As the trip changed gears, on one extra-special day, Jerome met Johannes.

A connection forged through play

The staff from World Vision Zimbabwe knew five-year-old Johannes and his family. They knew how Kavula, his grandmother, was struggling to raise four young grandchildren—two sets of cousins—after their parents had passed away.

The plan was for Jerome and Corey to interview them and film their current reality, a way to show would-be sponsors about the real and urgent challenges facing people in the community, and how the newly established sponsorship program would bring fresh options and support.

Even after months of working with World Vision stories and days spent visiting families in Zimbabwe, Johannes' situation felt like new territory.

The family had no access to water. No toilet or latrine.

When night came, Jerome explains, “They would put a plastic tarp on the ground in the tiny hut, and they would all just cuddle up, all five of them all together.”

The conditions were extreme, some of the hardest in the community. As Zimbabwean staff member Zenzo took care of logistics, Jerome and Corey went into connection mode.

Earlier in the week, Corey had already picked up snacks, juice and food staples—ready to make friends with kids and adults alike. (“He has a big heart and knows what to expect,” Jerome says with admiration.) For his part, Jerome defaulted to the universal language of children: play. Who can run faster? Who can jump the highest?

“Children are amazing, I love children,” says Jerome. Goofing around with Johannes and the others broke the ice and set the tone for their day. When lunchtime came, they picnicked together. The slower pace felt luxurious after the bustle of the days before.

How was Jerome feeling? “A little bit of everything,” he recalls. “A lot of fun. But then actually, a lot of heartbreak.”

Reckoning with Kavula’s struggle

Kavula described their life. She and the kids demonstrated how they would walk for water, filling a modest bucket for the day’s use. “She doesn’t have time to relax. She doesn’t have time to hang out with her children. She’s always working, trying to provide the little bit that she can.”

Comparing Johannes’ childhood to his own upbringing left Jerome at a loss.

“But,”he says, “the cool thing about this story was that they just got access to one of the community gardens.”

Changes underway in the community

By this point, Jerome had already seen a range of projects supported by sponsors in the area: water systems in schools, sanitation facilities that would radically change children’s health, income-generation projects for women who’d endured abuse, and community gardens watered by new irrigation schemes.

“That was a big one,” Jerome says of the gardens. “Families who have lower income can come to these gardens and every family has a slot where they can plant their stuff and sell their vegetables and make extra money. The area we were in is the driest part of Zimbabwe. So having that garden—having access to that water to plant year-round—is huge for them.”

Kavula and the kids had just been included in one of the garden projects. Seeing what was already happening in the community made Jerome optimistic for their future.

Johannes and Jerome: A connection becomes a commitment

The day had been full of emotion, conversation, sadness and laughter. The hope offered through the sponsorship program was real and promising. But Jerome had made a personal connection, one he couldn’t shake off.

“Walking away, out of there, I wished I could do more for them,” he says. Corey, ever a source of experience and insight, offered, “If you ever want to sponsor someone that you meet—there’s a chance for that.”

“Wait, really?” he remembers thinking. “Absolutely, I want to do that.”

In a matter of days, he had officially become Johannes’ Canadian sponsor.

“It’s a blessing for me to be able to actually have met the child I’m sponsoring,” he says. “I know a lot of people don't have that chance, right? To have that opportunity is just amazing.”

He has a camera roll of treasured photos and videos of his day with the family, and plans to keep communication flowing in the years ahead.

For every child sponsored, four more benefit… for real

I ask Jerome what lingering thoughts he has from his first trip. What epiphanies will stay with him or influence his future projects.

He only pauses for half a moment before he dives in.

“For my first few months of making videos, I've always been hearing statements like, ‘sponsoring one child isn't just helping one child, it's a community and the people around them.’ It's easy to hear that on video and just feel, okay, whatever.

“But to see it and experience it and truly understand that yeah, a child being sponsored actually does help his siblings, it does help his family or the community.”

“One thing I learned was that a lot of the people were willing to help others around them,” he continues. “When you asked people what they wanted to be, it was always something to help the community—to be a teacher, be a doctor, be whatever, to help support their community.

“So when you support someone with that mindset already, you know that your support is going to a child who's going to grow up and want to pour back into the community, right? Pour back into their family, pour back into the people around them.

“To see it in person was really beautiful. To see it in person really, really changed the way I saw sponsorship.”

Become a child sponsor today and help create the conditions for lasting, community-led change.