Children of Fire joins #ThrowbackThursday campaign

Developed by its Johannesburg advertising agency, The Jupiter Drawing Room, the #TBT campaign aims to raise funds for the organisation by making people aware that while most of the world’s population find posting reminders of the past, fun and nostalgic, unfortunately, for burn survivors this trend holds painful memories of what life was like before their tragedy.

“In an era in which social media has become the most powerful tool of communication, we have used this platform to generate knowledge about the thousands of shack fires that take place in South Africa on a daily basis, killing at least one person per event," says Dana Cullinan, creative director at The Jupiter Drawing Room.

"By tagging onto such a popular hashtag and conversation, we are introducing the story of child burn survivors into a new and unexpected environment. We hope that it will be disruptive and make people stop to think about how these survivors’ lives were so irreversibly changed.”

Portraits of survivors

The posts feature portraits of burn survivors currently housed at the Children of Fire rehabilitation centre in Johannesburg holding a photograph of their former selves from before the disaster. Each post is supported by a call for donations to enable the organisation to continue offering child burn survivors reconstructive surgery, many of whom have been left without families, homes, clothing, parents or domestic necessities.

To give the campaign traction, interviews with the burn survivors and advice on how to prevent fires, were recorded and posted as podcasts on social media and broadcast on national radio, both in English and Zulu.

“We strongly believe that this campaign will enable us to raise awareness, and most importantly funds, to continue turning child burned victims into child burns survivors. And in so doing, fulfill our vision of helping to improve the quality of life of burn survivors across Africa,” comments Mitta Lebaka, burns survivor at Children of Fire.

The campaign, using the hashtags #throwbackthursday #tbt, #childrenoffire, and #ChiFi can be followed on Children of Fire’s Twitter and Facebook pages. The podcasts will further be available on the IanF Show website as well as on Twitter and Facebook.