View The
Montage
(Quicktime
required)
H . E . A . R . T .
(Health Education Africa Resource Team)
ĘSTUS in Africa: Brian Hamm, Myself, John Drew
The half hour documentary "Scratching the Surface: A Journey with H.E.A.R.T." is now complete and in the rounds of festival submissions. A trailer will be available shortly.
The DVD is in the process of mass replication; H.E.A.R.T. will be making these available on their website (See below).
In June of 2004, ĘSTUS had the immense privilege of documenting the efforts of HEART in Kenya. Myself, my director of photography Brian Hamm and my location sound man John Drew all made the 40+ hour journey overseas; I must say, the flights were far worse than any ordeal we endured in country,,,
Here is the press piece I wrote in regards to the documentary we filmed.
In 2004, AIDS claimed the
lives of three million Africans, raising the total number of deaths to the
neighborhood of twenty million since the epidemic began. It is a crisis of
horrific proportions, yet the majority of the world is unaware of the sheer
scope of the problem.
In 2002, after attending a Health Education Africa Resource Team benefit,
the burden was lain upon my heart to provide this organization, comprised of
only a handful of members, with the greatest tool I could as a filmmaker:
the ability to have their efforts made known in a global scale, that others
might join them in making the difference I have seen with my own eyes.
And make a difference they do. In 2004, 110 Americans from all walks of
life-doctors, pastors, students and artists, accountants and
mechanics-traveled with HEART to Kenya, reaching over 27,000 villagers,
doctors, politicians and leaders in their ongoing effort to educate the
people of Africa on how to combat the deadly spread of HIV. They provided
water for two villages who had none, assisted with Operation Smile in
providing the means for children to undergo critical reconstructive surgery
at no cost, and touched the lives of thousands throughout Kenya with
compassion and selfless dedication to educating all who hear on hygiene,
HIV/AIDS awareness and the cessation of female circumcision. It is not only
their efforts which touched me, but the receptiveness of the people; they
simply need the information, and with HEART, they have teachers willing to
impart it at no cost.
It is the fourth such year HEART has reached out in such a manner, and each
new year the numbers of Americans traveling with them increases
exponentially. It is a privilege and great honor to have accompanied the
group into the most beautiful and the most desperate areas of the country of
Kenya, and to find that, no matter the clime or conditions, the joy and
graciousness of the people receiving the information was consistently
overwhelming.
One does not 'direct' a piece like this; one merely reacts, praying that
what need come before the lens be graciously provided, and that our eyes be
finely tuned to see beneath the surface to its heart. It is my prayer that
all who view our offering become just a bit more aware of the reality not
only of the severity of this epidemic, but of the amazing people who bear up
under it with a strength and indomitability of spirit most uncommon.
This piece is less a documentary and more a testimony of the power we humans
have in making a difference if we only allow ourselves to step out of our
comfort zone for the briefest of moments. It is my intention to present the
people at their best, when the circumstances would often dictate the worst;
that we might find something to not only identify with-but to reach for in
earnest desire to embrace as our own.
I first confronted the concept of HEART and Africa at a benefit fundraiser for the organization nearly three years ago. I say confronted because, since childhood, I've sporadically prayed that God would never send me to Mexico or Africa. Bugs, you see. Spiders, specifically.
At this same fundraiser my friend David, one of the leading members of HEART, told me a story of bedding down for the night in his sleeping bag only to awaken sometime later in the darkness with the feeling that he wasn't alone. He turned on his flashlight to find scores of spiders descending from the thatched roof in the dwelling he occupied and realized he had a choice. He could flee, screaming into darkness of the nocturnal African jungle. Or he could do what he did: he zipped his bag over his head and went back to sleep.
Yeah.
Ok.
So at the end of his little story I said my little prayer again, saying something to the effect of The heck with Mexico, just make sure I never go to Africa. Amen.
And within an hour I saw a short video piece of HEART's efforts over there--in part, video by HEART team members and part borrowed from another association in order to present the 'plight of Africa.'
The borrowed segment followed an on-camera spokesman about as he visited the dying, the sick, the infected and needy. The camera focused on the flies and sores, and it may sound callous but it was everything I expected and had been desensitized to since Sally Strothers inundated the airwaves with her tears and broken voice night after night in the early '80s. I felt rather angry as the camera did a slow zoom on an open boil on a baby's back for over a minute because I can't abide what I equate with negative manipulation: If you find yourself disgusted by zooming in on this festering sore, you need to do something.
Then came the HEART piece.
The segment by HEART focused on building the water project, visiting the slums and schooling the children and administering immunizations. On meetings with the Vice President and testimonials by locals affected by their work. The audio was rather poor, the video jerky and shot on Hi-8--unfortunate, because it was provocative. The need was apparent, but this wasn't the focus--the focus was on the lives being changed. The joy. The hope.
And then I saw the little girl, smiling, happy-dying of AIDS, but unmindful of the spectre of death.
I saw my little girl's eyes looking back at me.
That's when I got it/ I understood that my notional belief of a primitive nation killing themselves off with their traditional ways was more ignorant than I believed those Africans to be, that these were people just like me, as intelligent as I am, as willing to learn and in some areas more grateful for life than I: they simply lack education in matters that we take for granted. Sterilization of water, inoculations and vaccinations, abstinence and birth control and personal hygiene-all of these things I take for granted are as conceptual to these people as balancing a checkbook was to me as a teenager; until it was explained to me in a way that I could understand how important it was, I didn't embrace it as anything but an optional convenience.
Except in Africa it isn't about checkbooks, contrary to what some of the larger relief agencies seem to believe. It's about simple education and implementation-something the indigenous people are not only ready but are hungry to embrace. They're dying in droves, millions of them, and genocide of this proportion is going largely unnoticed here in the States.
At that moment, looking at that little girl, I realized I was going to Africa.
I gave David a look and said 'You need a better video.'
He said 'Yeah, I know. When are you coming?'
I sighed, thinking I guess it's entirely up to God, because obviously His plans supercede mine.
'Africa,' I said. 'Darn you, Dave.'
---------
HEART's goal isn't to raise money. It's to raise awareness. They're there to teach, and they need people to help them. Yes, funding is vital-but more often than not, Vickie Winkler (the founder) will ask you to come along rather than simply take your money, so you can experience firsthand the effect it will have.
Come along, and see.
My goal is to get the world to see what Vickie, David and the other team members-teams comprised of you and me, of ordinary people with ordinary lives-are able to do under the radar of the corporate giants raking in the feel-good money from the people assuaging their consciences by throwing money at the problem as a write-off; money that rarely touches the problem at the source and never defeats the cause of the symptoms of disparity and need.
HEART is about fixing the problem, not merely dressing the wound.
The montage below is a presentation I put together for HEART's benefits and awareness presentations, assembled before I ever went. I intended it to present Africa how I believe it should be presented: The magnificence, the people, and the brilliance of hope despite the incredible adversity facing a continent on the brink of destruction. The documentary I feel reflects this wholeheartedly, if not adequately--and there will be more to follow.
I encourage you to visit their website. www.africaheart.com
If for nothing else than to learn a little bit more about our world, and about the power we have to affect it.
