Project Pericles travels to Namibia to record effects of
AIDS
Candace Buckman / Features Editor
The statistics are real.
An 11-year-old boy stands alone in his family home in
Namibia. His eyes might tell you he is waiting for his family
to return. But inside he knows this is impossible. The young
boy’s parents have died of AIDS and left him an orphan,
fending for himself.
In January, Elon’s own Project Pericles group traveled
to Namibia where members came face-to-face with the young
boy, as well as the country’s AIDS epidemic.
The Project Pericles team, led by director and Elon
sociology professor Tom Arcaro, set out to produce a
documentary and public service announcements addressing AIDS
in Namibia.
“We wanted to focus in on Namibia,” Arcaro said.
“It was the most hard hit by the epidemic.”
An estimated one in four people in the country are afflicted
with AIDS.
Arcaro worked alongside senior video producer Jay McMerty
and senior audio producer Bryan Baker and a team of Project
Pericles and communications students that included Rachel
Copeland, Katrina Taylor and Samantha White.
During the 21 days the group spent in Namibia, team members
interviewed many in the country who are suffering from AIDS
and also spent time with AIDS orphans. The footage will be
used to produce several documentaries in a series titled
“Faces of Hope.” “The Shining Lights of
Opuwu” was the first documentary debuted by the group
in Namibia.
“One of the biggest concerns was to get footage that
could really explain the situation in Africa, and at the same
time become a part of Namibia and its people,” said
Katrina Taylor, a student member of Project Pericles.
“We hoped to gain a real understanding, a first hand
account of the HIV/AIDS issue in [the country].”
In order to produce an accurate representation of the
effects of the epidemic, the members of Project Pericles put
their cameras down and got to know those who are living their
documentary.
“I would spend hours coloring and playing with the
beautiful children of Namibia,” said junior Rachel
Copeland. “I got to see the orphans being children for
a little while, not adults dealing with the world of
HIV.”
With the determination of team members to get at the
issue’s core, White, also a junior, felt that they
“were able to understand the dynamics of the country
and how different people and cultures are affected by
AIDS.”
There were times when the group found it hard to face the
tragedy in front of them.
Arcaro and McMerty spent a day at a Namibian hospital
visiting with AIDS patients. While interviewing an AIDS
patient who was “on his deathbed,” Arcaro began
to experience the difficulties that would come along with the
group’s mission.
“It was one of those moments that was so intense that
we felt we would collapse,” Arcaro said. “It left
us physically incapacitated and emotionally drained.”
Moments such as these also impacted the students on the
trip.
“The hardest part was just seeing all the statistics
come to life,” said Katrina Taylor, a student member of
Project Pericles. “To see children orphaned at 11 years
old, with a household to raise on their own.”
Rachel Copeland agreed, “It was hard to not become
overwhelmed by such emotional stories that we heard over a
period of 21 days.”
However, the team managed to stay focused on its project.
“Both playing with the children, trying to learn more
about Namibia and the various languages motivated and
distracted me to a certain degree from everything we were
experiencing,” Copeland said.
After the 21 days were over, the group returned with a new
outlook on life and a message of awareness to send out to the
world.
“I think one of the most important things is to
remember how connected we all are,” Taylor said.
“That just because we don’t actually see the
conditions other people are living in doesn’t mean they
don’t exist. If there is a problem in Africa, there is
a problem here. The United States has such an impact on the
way others live, that it is absolutely vital that we are
aware and conscious in our involvement with the rest of the
world.”
At the end of the trip, Arcaro said he realized he wants the
world to become more aware of the impact of the epidemic.
“If I had a message, it would be to have people open
their hearts to those around the world who are our brothers
and sisters,” Arcaro said.
The footage the group gathered will be used in future
documentaries and in public service announcements that will
air across Namibia. Proceeds from the documentary will also
be sent to the country to aid the fight against the disease.
The group’s completed Public Service Announcements can
be viewed on its Web site at
http://www.elon.edu/community/pericles.
“I now can tell part of the story of the Namibian
people and have a more intense drive to make a difference on
Elon’s campus,” Copeland said.
| 
