{ giving } Malawi Humanitarian Project

On May 12th, I will go to Malawi, Africa, to begin a four-week oral history and participatory documentary project focusing on child-headed households created by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The epidemic continues to devastate social lattices, as families, communities, and an entire country must compensate for breakdowns in traditional structures. It is a crisis that heavily affects children. At the end of 2007, an estimated 91,000 children in Malawi were living with HIV. In a general population of about 13.5 million, almost one million children are living without one or both parents due to the virus.

Every hour, eight people in Malawi die of AIDS. The country’s rate of HIV prevalence is among the highest in the world. It is the leading cause of death among adults, and is a major factor in the country’s low life expectancy of just 43 years. HIV/AIDS, poverty, and recent famine have created a heightened vulnerability to preventable diseases, food insecurity, low literacy, trauma, and violence.

Through the help of providers from The Pendulum Project, the University of North Carolina, and others, I plan to facilitate a project that is both empowering for participants and valuable to providers and the public in Malawi and abroad. My goal is to raise awareness by honoring the voices, experiences, struggles, and triumphs of the Malawians I meet. Possible means of dissemination might be presentations, documentary works, and/or a website which will exhibit the project.

This work will consist of:

• Visits to homes, community-based programs, and clinics
• In-depth audio interviews with children, families, health workers, teachers, and others
• My photographs and video of participants
• Documentation by the children of their stories, through the use of disposable cameras

Please join the project.

Now that I have my ticket, I need your help to raise an additional $3000 toward the remaining expenses of the project: local transportation, accommodation, food, cameras for the children, supplies, printing, interpreting, and gifts for participants (such as crayons and food staples).

Will you play a part in helping me address this crisis through your donation, in whatever amount that is meaningful to you? Please be assured that you can depend on me to use it responsibly.

Whether or not you feel you can donate at this time, I welcome your questions, interest, and support – and, of course, feel free to pass this onto your friends and colleagues!

In solidarity and gratitude,

Kathryn