Steps for the Future Video Collection - Southern Africa

The films form part of a media–advocacy campaign, which is intended to promote debate and discussion around HIV/AIDS, as well as related topics such as disclosure, discrimination, treatment, and living positively.

Diverse perspectives are presented through the eyes of a range of people and communities. "These stories celebrate the strength of the people who share and reflect on their experiences of HIV/AIDS. Steps for the Future not only challenges fear and stigmatisation with stories of hope, but also dismantles discrimination and ignorance by cultivating tolerance and promoting the belief that actually, life is a beautiful thing."

Many well recognised professionals in the international field of documentary filmmaking have collaborated to create this. "The films have been screened at a wide range of festivals, and are available for organisations to use." To maximise the use and effectiveness of the films, an accompanying facilitators guide was developed.

HIV/AIDS

"Southern Africa is the new centre of the global AIDS crisis. Nowhere else in the world is it spreading as fast as in this region. Statistics are alarming. The average life expectancy of around 65 years is said to drop to 40, or maybe 30, within ten years. Every second a fifteen-year-old in South Africa could die by 2010. Already every fourth university student in many of the universities throughout the region is HIV positive. There are 12 million AIDS orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the part of the story, which has been receiving all the attention. But there is another one, happening now, which has another focus, other than the impending tragedy. Most people are still living with HIV, not dying from AIDS."

The project aims to show the living, rather than the dying, and their struggle to avert the tragedy. "Living with HIV is an incredibly intimate and personal experience, and yet it is an experience that needs to be shared if families, communities and the public at large are to fully understand the reality and consequences of the disease. This understanding is needed in order to demystify and destigmatise HIV and those affected by it, and thus remove the veil of secrecy that arguably sustains the virus' spread."