Built on Hope: A Textura Documentary

In January 2025, three Bethel University students and their partners spent a two weeks in a brick factory in Haryana, India. They wanted to show the economics and desperation of migrant families who live where they work. What they found was three mothers who made or moved bricks all day and ran their homes all night with little help from their husbands. Manisha traveled from Rajasthan for this work. Paramjeet from Punjab. And Kushbu from Bihar. Her 9-year-old daughter, Nazia, takes care of the house and her five siblings all day. Her future will look like her mother’s unless the economics and political systems change. Her future is built on her mother’s hope.

Textura is an international storytelling project created by Bethel’s journalism and graphic design students. Since 2017, students have reported and designed from locations across the globe, winning several national awards for the quality of their work. In 2024 the first student-led Textura documentary, Border of Dreams, was released and we are excited to release our second Textura documentary, Built on Hope this fall. 

Students, Faculty, Alumni and the Twin Cities community are invited to join the documentary team for the premiere of Built on Hope at Bethel University on October 2, 2025. After the 30-minute premiere the documentary team including Director Kathryn Kovalenko and videographers Devanie Andre and Luca Lombardi will be participating in a Q&A to answer your questions about the project. 

Find out more about the Built on Hope documentary at their website.