Tell Your Story - the World Voices Project

Brenda Ray is a veteran sound mixer who has long been moved by the threads that connect the human family across national and cultural divides. Whilst traveling the world in search of creative ways to express those connections a few years back, she discovered the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ray thought that by combining her trade and her recent discovery with the human voice, she could express our common humanity while raising awareness about every human beings rights as set forth in the Universal Declaration - and World Voices Project was born. Ray has since spent the last two years recording people from around the world reading the Universal Declaration in their native tongue.

Ms. Ray got in touch with the Every Human Has Rights campaign, hoping to contribute her work to the greater efforts growing human rights awareness and action in the lead up to the Universal Declaration's 60th Anniversary.

So far, she's recorded 50 languages, ranging from Apache and Amharic to Tigrinya and Zulu; and she recently completed an audio exhibition at New York City's popular South Street Seaport. During the exhibit, visitors to the Seaport were greeted by a jungle of headphones hanging from above; each set playing a section of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the reader's native language, and each set marked with information about the reader's native tongue.

Ms. Ray hopes that each person experiencing her work walks away with a with a greater sense of global community and responsibility to one another. You can learn more at WorldVoicesProject.org.

If you have a story about something you or someone you know has done to stand up for human rights, share it with us by uploading audio and video to The Hub, and emailing your text stories to everyhumanhasrights@theelders.org. Join the powerful network of people demanding accountability and standing up for human rights for all.