Youths make dramatic AIDS documentary

By Jasminee Sahoye 
A group of talented young people from Canada and Jamaica is spreading the message in a 20-minute documentary about the experiences and struggles of those living with and affected by HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean.

The documentary is funded by the government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency. It explores the links between the two countries while acknowledging the bond that ties everyone together.

One Blood: Youth Linked in Actionis produced in partnership with the Interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development, the African and Caribbean Council on HIV/AIDS in Ontario, Somerset West Community Health Centre and the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition in Jamaica.

At one of its three screenings in Toronto, the producers and presenters from both countries were on hand to answer questions and provide their personal insights.

Ninnera Channer, a communications graduate is one of five Canadian youth who worked on the documentary. She served as one of the writers and interviewers of the documentary. She is of Jamaican heritage and lives in Ottawa. She admits that she didn’t know how much HIV/AIDS impacted the lives of Caribbean people until she went to Jamaica to work on the documentary.

“It had never been discussed in my school system…. It was never even aware to me that it even was an issue that impacted youth where I come from. I think going away (to Jamaica) and seeing what the issue really is, the impact that it has, the kind of stigma that attach to it, the issues to come along with that on a personal level and then relating to me and youth in my community and to see that there is a need and to see how I can be involved and how I can have an impact and raise more awareness and really be like an outlet for who are dealing with it in my community and that kind of made a big difference to me, it is not only a local issue, it’s a global issue…,” she said.

Layla Rich, Senior Program Officer, interagency Coalition on AIDS and Development told The Camera that the documentary was created because of a lack of innovative tools to engage youth in talking about HIV in the Black community in Canada and the Caribbean, particularly in Jamaica.

She added that the project partners decided to bring a group of youths together from Ottawa, Toronto and Jamaica to produce and present the documentary. There were five from Canada and seven from Jamaica. “The purpose for producing the video was to raise awareness in the Caribbean community in Canada about HIV/AIDS both in the Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora in Canada.”

The documentary can be viewed on Vimeo and on YouTube as well as the websites of the partners involved in the project. Rich said screenings are being arranged with the black churches, community health centre and educational institutions.

There are a growing number of HIV/AIDS cases among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Jamaica. According to Marlon Thompson, one of six Jamaican youth on the project who was at the screening in Toronto, there is still a taboo when it comes to talking about MSM. Discrimination and homophobia are very prevalent in Jamaica.