The documentary “What Matters?” premiered in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union on Nov. 12 and was followed by a discussion with the film’s creators.

The film follows three friends, Dan Parris, David Peterka and Rob Lehr, as they hitchhike from the United States to Africa and then through Africa while trying to live on just $1.25 a day.

The trio wanted to see if they could experience the poverty that much of the world faces to find out how to work against poverty.

The title of the film poses a question: What really matters in life?

The answer? People matter. Life and relationships matter.

“Throughout the course of this film, I realized that it’s people that matter,” said Rob Lehr, filmmaker and one of the three hitchhikers. “My religion is people and happiness at this point.”

“What Matters?” director and creator Dan Parris and co-producer Rob Lehr discovered that life and people matter early in the journey when their four-man plane crashed, killing the pilot and co-pilot.

As Parris and Lehr mourned the loss of their pilots, they realized the focus of their journey through Africa. It’s the people and the relationships with those people in poverty that they should focus on, not the poverty itself.

“We should be doing all our work with relationships,” Parris and Lehr agreed. “It’s just about knowing what people need.”

From there, anyone can help battle poverty.

“Aid is like getting people to the first rung of a ladder,” Parris said. “What we need next is empowerment so people can climb the ladder, so stuff like education and microloans to help people take the next step is what can really help.”

Parris emphasized that giving basic aid is sometimes helpful, but is dangerous more often than not.

“When you are helping people do something they could potentially do themselves, you are robbing them of dignity,” he said.

The film focuses most on the extreme poverty that is widespread across Africa. Lehr warned the audience not to generalize Africans, however.

“Most people look at Africa as one place and with one mindset,” he said. “Africa is so many different places and so many individual scenarios.”

Parris said to really realize this, everyone needs to see for themselves.

“People need to travel,” he said. “They will realize that the people elsewhere are just like us. They want the same things we do — like love, family, purpose and just to survive.”

Parris added a quote by Mark Twain, who said, “The best cure for ignorance is travel and experience.”

One thing all of the places in the film share is the innate optimism of the different African peoples.

“Just walking around Africa and seeing how these impoverished people have such great faith, it kind of almost put my relationship with God to shame,” said Peterka, who is the third team member and creator of non-profit organization When the Saints.

An interviewee in the film talked about how the wealthy people of the western world are often unhappy, while many of the African peoples evoke a sense of happiness despite the extreme poverty. Peterka was able to capture that sense while fimling.

“[Petereka] just takes the camera and puts it in the middle of life,” Lehr said.

Peterka continued on through Africa with his brother Tim, who is an extra cameraman for the film, after Parris and Lehr had to return to the United States with injuries from the plane crash. He still wanted more answers to combat poverty.

A simplified explanation to solving poverty is through the depth of work relating to basic aid versus full empowerment.

“It’s an inch wide and a mile deep, not a mile wide an inch deep,” Parris said. “That’s what’s great about something like child sponsorship. It’s a holistic view on the child’s life and it even trickles down to the siblings.”

Peterka also believes that sponsorship is a great way to help people “climb the ladder” and focus on the relationships that truly matter.

“Sponsorship is great because you really get to build a relationship by writing letters and sending gifts to a child that you will befriend and watch grow,” he said. “It’s only like $38 a month, or about what you would spend on coffee in a month.”

Similar to a sponsorship for a child’s food and education, anyone could give loans for an adult’s business or investment.

“A simple thing you could do is go online and give microloans to people who just need a little bit to get their business started,” Peterka said. “And once they get going, along with others, you’ve really helped start to shape a country’s economy.”

An example of an online loan site that Lehr gave is kiva.org.

Peterka knows that small things such as loans are what will help because he is asking Africans what they need. His non-profit focuses on areas in Malawi, located in southeastern Africa.

“I believe in ownership for Malawians,” Peterka said. “The committee for my non-profit is Malawians. Just about everything is run locally. They are right there, they know what the problems are, so they are the best people to deal with it.”

Once businesses get started, there are still problems with industry and trade, however.

“Africa doesn’t have the infrastructure or highway systems to trade among themselves, Parris said. “They want to be able to trade with each other.”

Parris added that infrastructure issues such as roads are things that the United Nations are working on to help African countries.

Peterka started his non-profit to begin work related to poverty in Africa. Paris, for his part, started a film company, Speak Up Productions, to get people to listen to issues and to spread messages.

“How often can you just talk directly to someone for a couple hours and they don’t talk to anybody else or look at their phone?” Parris asked. “It’s like, wow, what a great way to spread a message.

Film is Parris’ way of using his talent to help others.

“What I love about documentary filmmaking is that it tells real stories. You can get people fully engaged and start a conversation,” Parris said.

In order to wrap up the film and end with discussion, Paris challenged the audience to answer a final question and follow their own talents as they decide what they want to do after college.

“What breaks your heart and what makes you come alive?” Paris asked. “You know, an injustice you feel passionately about and then something you do that time just flies when you do it.

“At the intersection of those two things is where you’ll find your purpose.”