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The recent launch of Walters Flying Bus offers hope for orphans with special needs dreaming of a place in a permanent and loving home, and the developers, Chosen and Dearly Loved have released background details sure to also inspire.
In 2009, Michael and Mandy Gallagher did a Google search for information on “orphans with special needs.” “To our surprise, very little information was available for our family as we considered adopting a child with special needs,” Mandy Gallagher, co-founder, shared in a statement. “This planted the seeds to someday create a website that could encourage other families pursuing special needs adoptions.”
The launch of the Gallagher’s organization, Chosen and Dearly Loved, is the fulfillment of that dream. In addition, the website created the platform “Forever Families” that is releasing multiple short documentaries to tell the stories of permanent loving families adopting orphans with special needs..
This was just the beginning, as a broader “trans-media” campaign has been launched that includes “Walter’s Flying Bus,” an Animated storybook App available on iTunes featuring direct contributions from the children in Africa.
The idea of an orphan advocacy App was first conceived in early 2010 by the Gallagher’s good friend, David L. Cunningham of Global Virtual Studio (GVS). Cunningham, a studio film director (To End All Wars, 20th Century Fox; The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, Fox-Walden Media), encouraged the Gallaghers to take their vision “beyond,” where the world of new-media production and viewing was heading. The Gallaghers listened.
In 2010, emerging Fresno, California-based filmmaker, Josiah Thiesen, got the call from Cunningham to direct a trans-media project which included a storytelling website, animated eBook, and several short documentaries to aid in their efforts.
Additionally, Cunningham added veteran film producer from Los Angeles, Edwin Marshall (To End All Wars; After.Life) who brought in, Caleb Kerlin, editor from New York, to join the team. Dr. Dennis Sempebwa, a Ugandan born educator handled the narration for both English and Luganda. Through GVS, Canadian children’s author, Ed Strauss, was engaged, as was the animation studio, Metacube, based in Guadalajara, Mexico, which had recently developed a “motion comic” book to promote Cunningham’s new film, Day of War.
In Los Angeles, Clint Nitkiewicz Hernandez of New Element Productions formed a team of animators in India to help complete Walters Flying Bus for a Christmas 2012 launch.
Santa Monica-based App programming company, ISBX coordinated proven programmers in the Philippines. Meanwhile, Grammy Award-winning music producer, Greg Nelson, engaged Disney composer, David Hamilton, and several acclaimed musicians and recording engineers in Nashville, who together created original scores for the App and documentaries under Nelson’s supervision.
Yet through it all, most important to the Gallaghers, Cunningham and the global creative team, was staying true to the real-life children featured in their media. Rather than being portrayed as limited by their special needs, each child was to be seen and celebrated for the whole person they are. Thus nine orphans with special needs, Walter, Debra, Jason, Zeke, Rachel, Mweru, Arafat, Selina and Zak, painted their dreams with Ugandan art therapist, Jaffer Buyinza in Jinja, Uganda at the Ekisa Orphanage. The children’s dreams were fused with those of David L. Cunningham, the Gallaghers, and creative professionals from around the world, and Walters Flying Bus took flight on the Apple iTunes App Store this past Christmas.
