/ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-AFRICA: Camera, a Powerful Tool in the Fight against AIDS

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

DAKAR, Jul 22 2003 (IPS) - "I am determined to push through my message, that we must tackle urgently the danger that faces us all, and that is the HIV/AIDS epidemic," says Adams Sie, a 24-year-old Sierra Leonean filmmaker, who lives in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.

"I want to send this message through my films, and I hope Africans would take it seriously," Sie adds.

When Sierra Leone’s civil war broke out in Mar. 1991, Sie fled to Senegal. Unlike many other refugees in Dakar desperate to move on to Europe or America, Sie chose to settle down and explore his talents.

Though born in Sierra Leone to a Sierra Leonean mother, Sie found it easy to discover his paternal parentage; his father is Senegalese. And he was warmly embraced by his grandfather, when he made his first visit to Senegal.

"My grandfather has been an inspiration to me. He spends several hours narrating stories of all sorts, including my lineage and social issues, to me," Sie adds, describing himself as the old man’s "new-found grandson".

To set his feet firmly in Senegal, Sie, who comes from English-speaking Sierra Leone, is trying to perfect his Wolof and French, to enable him carry out research on sensitive subjects and to reach out to his Senegalese audience, with his message.

The main theme of his message is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. "In one of my late evening conversations with my grandfather, I brought up the issue of AIDS and he blamed it on the reckless behaviour of young people," he says.

But Sie did not stop at that. With camera in hand, he visited a number of countries in the sub-region, including the Gambia, Guinea and Mali, to learn more about the social factors that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

As a refugee, he is broke and has his only investment in his camera. His efforts at soliciting assistance from government went nowhere, but he later found a helping hand in Forut-Senegal, a non-governmental organisation, in Dakar. He was granted a scholarship to further his studies in advanced cinematography at the Forut centre.

His first screen play is "Rama, la Pauvre Fille (Rama, the Poor Girl)". Since then, Sie has been exploring themes of child abuse and HIV/AIDS, but found it challenging to deal with issues of attitude change. "Some people can still be stubborn . some still believe that HIV/AIDS is an American myth designed to discourage sex and control child birth in Africa," he says.

"Rama, la Pauvre Fille" captures the picture of a young girl sexually harassed and abused by her uncle, and this screenplay shows the promising talent that Sie is. He depicts child abuse and HIV/AIDS as important issues that pose a threat to both young and old.

"In Africa, they will always continue to be major issues as long as people turn a blind eye to them," Sie adds.

Sie possesses only one small camera in his fight against HIV/AIDS and child abuse, but he is determined to prove that those who do not believe in the existence of the disease are wrong.

He has started work on his second screenplay about the relationship between HIV/AIDS and the refugee crisis in Africa. His dream is to some day screen his movies at regional and international events, having in mind his native Sierra Leone, as far as film-making goes. = 07220634 ORP007 NNNN ZCZC ORP008 QD CAT-AE AF CR ROMAIPS /ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-AFRICA: Camera, a Powerful Tool in the Fight ag(2-E)

Sie’s focus will be the about 4.17 million refugees scattered across sub-Saharan Africa.

The fight against HIV/AIDS has taken a new impetus since U.S. President George W. Bush visited Africa on Jul. 7-12. During his five-nation tour of Africa – Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria – Bush pledged to support Africa’s fight against the pandemic.

Over the next five years, the United States will spend 15 billion U.S. dollars to fight AIDS around the world, with special focus on Africa, Bush said.

”We will work with governments and private groups and faith-based organisations to put in place a comprehensive system to prevent, to diagnose and to treat AIDS. We will support abstinence-based education for young people in schools and churches and community centres. We will provide comprehensive services to treat millions of new infections,” he said.

The initial beneficiaries of Bush’s HIV/AIDS package are Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Nigeria Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Nearly 30 million people in Africa are living with HIV/AIDS, including three million children under the age of 15.

Sie, who was in Dakar when Bush visited Senegal on Jul. 7, will be part of that campaign. "My camera is an important tool to educate people about the sensitive issues of child abuse and the reality of HIV/AIDS," he says.