wfn.org | Documentary depicts AIDS' impact on an African family

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Aug. 29, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-31-71B{367}

By United Methodist News Service

Executive producer Jeneane Jones set out to examine a little-seen side of
the AIDS crisis when she began working on the upcoming television
documentary, "Ngone's Story: A Tale of Africa's Orphans."

"The driving force behind this was that Africa is seen primarily as a
continent that is being driven to its death on the horseback of this thing
called AIDS, and there is really very little that can be done to turn it
around," said Jones, with United Methodist Communications in Nashville,
Tenn. "What doesn't come through is that it is not a lost cause.

"There are people on the continent who are striving mightily to prevent that
from being the case, and we don't get to see that part of the story," she
said. While AIDS is a serious crisis for Africa, the story of the pandemic
must "be inclusive of the very powerful love that is present, that is ... at
the fulcrum of this move to battle back."

Jones also wanted to focus on children, millions of whom have been orphaned
by AIDS, and show what they are facing as parents and other family members
die from the syndrome.

"Ngone's Story" documents how a Senegalese woman and her two daughters are
living with the awareness that the mother has HIV. The family is eking out a
living in a society where people with HIV/AIDS are often ostracized. 

Jones developed the concept and worked with producer-writer Denise Hamilton
on making it a reality. 

The documentary, produced by UMCom for the National Council of Churches, is
being distributed by the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission. NBC will send
it by overnight feed to its affiliate stations Nov. 28-29, in time for World
AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The affiliate stations will decide when to air the
program. Ele Clay, with the Interfaith Broadcasting Commission, is
encouraging people to call their local NBC stations about the program.

"That approach is helpful in terms of getting programs on the air in an
area," she said. "... Viewers can make a difference."

"Ngone's Story" is about a 16-year-old girl who doesn't know her mother is
dying. Ngone's mother, Kine, has already lost her husband to the disease.
When Kine learns that she has HIV also, she doesn't want to tell Ngone.

AIDS is not discussed openly in Africa, so children are often hit with a
bombshell when their parents die, Jones said. "They're not equipped yet
because they're not talking about it."

However, in cases where parents tell their children about the situation,
doctors have seen a rise in the parents' immune system, she said. The
parents gain energy and are better able to plan for the child's future, she
said.

Jones chose Senegal for the documentary because it is one of the few African
countries confronting AIDS head-on. The medical and religious communities
are promoting education about the disease, the government is making drugs
available at low costs, and a great amount of research is under way. One
percent of the nation's population is infected, while neighboring countries
are battling higher rates, Jones said.

The stigma of AIDS is great, and finding a family that would talk on camera
was a challenge for Jones. She was able to meet Kine through Dr. Salife Sow,
an AIDS specialist in Dakar. Jones is protecting Kine and her daughters by
not showing their faces or using their real names.

The program follows Kine, Ngone and her older sister, Fatou, in their daily
lives. Kine, who had been cared for by her husband and has no education,
gets money by selling fish in the market place. Without a license, however,
she is constantly forced to change locations. 

The program also shows doctors and others involved in fighting AIDS in
Senegal, and it contains a parallel story about an HIV-positive Los Angeles
woman who, moved by Kine's situation, reveals her condition to her daughter.

"Our faith as Christians is not something that's defined either by our
complexion or our ethnicity or our geographic location," Jones said. "It is
also not defined by other religions. We are beneficiaries of God's love, and
this is an opportunity for us to look and recognize in another culture that
we may not always have access to to see that same kind of love.

"It 's my hope that this is one of those opportunities to not only recognize
that kind of love but also learn from it and to take something away that can
enhance our own relationship to God and, in turn, our own relationship with
God's children."
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United Methodist News Service
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