Tombs
Every crumbled building is a tomb.
We step over grey crushed bricks
and the entanglement of steel.
Every crumbled building is a tomb.
We step over grey crushed bricks
and the entanglement of steel.
As many as 120,000 people live with HIV in Haiti. Many have been displaced since the earthquake that devastated the country, in conditions that experts warn may lead to a health disaster.
Photographing and telling the stories of HIV positive Haitians after the earthquake requires sensitivity, earning the trust of the subject and allowing their common humanity to show through.
In his fourth video diary, poet and reporter Kwame Dawes discusses the dramatic rise of gender-based violence and rape in camps in post-earthquake Haiti, and the potential for a related rise in HIV/AIDS cases. Filmed by Andre Lambertson.
In his third video diary, award-winning poet Kwame Dawes discusses an HIV/AIDS information hotline outside of Port-au-Prince. Receiving between 3,000 and 5,000 calls per month, mostly from men, the center is a vital source of information for Haitians about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Filmed by Andre Lambertson.
Raped and pregnant, a fourteen-year-old child in Haiti is pushed into a life of prostitution and poverty.
In the second edition of his video diaries, Kwame Dawes discusses the increasing sexual activity in the IDP and refugee camps in Haiti. Rooted in boredom, overcrowding and lack of privacy in the camps, some experts wonder whether this will contribute to higher rates of HIV/AIDS. Filmed by Andre Lambertson.
"Precious are the Feet of Those..." is the second in a series of visual poems chronicling challenges faced by Haitians infected, and affected, by HIV/AIDS in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Precious are the Feet of Those...
Poetry by Kwame Dawes Images by Andre Lambertson
Poet and reporter Kwame Dawes discusses HIV/AIDS in Haiti and the tensions between two different schools of thought on how best to address the problem.
Homosexuals and HIV-positive Haitians struggle for acceptance and adequate care in their country, where the earthquake has made their anguish many times worse.
An interview with Dr. Jean William Pape, who founded GHESKIO, a leading center for the study and treatment of HIV/AIDS for the past three decades.
"Boy in Blue" is the first in a series of visual poems chronicling challenges faced by Haitians infected, and affected, by HIV/AIDS in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Near the finale of Wisteria, a multimedia performance based on Kwame Dawes' poems about the memories and experiences of African-American women growing up in the segregated South, Dawes stepped away from the microphone inside Hanes Auditorium on the campus of Salem College. He then gazed upon the five singers, musical collaborator Kevin Simmonds and the seven-member ensemble that helped bring his poems to life with a look that could best be described as a mixture of reverence and pride.
Tim Clodfelter, The Winston-Salem Journal
Poet Kwame Dawes provided the words for HOPE & Wisteria, two back-to-back performance pieces that explore different aspects of the black experience. But his contribution, vital as it is, is only one part of the puzzle. Each production is a multimedia piece using music, images and Dawes' poetry.
Join us at a pre-performance private reception to honor the creators and cast of Wisteria & HOPE -- and to support the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the innovative non-profit journalism organization dedicated to engaging the broadest possible public in critical global issues. Hear about upcoming projects on food insecurity, climate change and more!
Where: Rondthaler-Gramley House, Salem College
WINSTON-SALEM -- Poetry, music and photography combine to explore HIV/AIDS in Jamaica and the experiences of Southern black women in "Wisteria & HOPE," a dual production tonight at the National Black Theatre Festival.
The evening opens with "Wisteria," based on a series of poems that Kwame Dawes, the University of South Carolina distinguished poet, wrote in 1995 to document the lives of African-American women.
HOPE is a multimedia performance based on poems by Kwame Dawes, poet in residence at the University of South Carolina and set to music by composer Kevin Simmonds. The work grew out of a Pulitzer Center commission to report on the impact of HIV/AIDS on Jamaica, the country where Kwame Dawes grew up. While in Jamaica Dawes wrote poems in response to the stories he heard.
PERFORMANCE DATES:
When: August 6 and 7, 8:00 p.m.
Where: Hanes Auditorium, Salem Fine Arts Center, Salem College, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Sponsored by: Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, in partnership with the National Black Theatre Festival
PRIVATE RECEPTION:
featuring light supper, wine and beer
Published: July 30, 2009
Images, music and the words of poet Kwame Dawes will be featured in two multimedia productions being shown together as part of this year's National Black Theatre Festival.
Wisteria is about a group of women who grew up in the American South in the years before the civil rights movement. HOPE: Living & Loving With HIV in Jamaica follows people coping with HIV/AIDS in modern day.
Join Kwame Dawes on July 12 to celebrate the launch of his new book of poetry, Hope's Hospice, inspired by the people he met while reporting on HIV/AIDS in Jamaica for the Pulitzer Center. The event will be held at 11 am at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica.
Kwame Dawes' work will also be showcased at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, NC on August 6 and 7. Learn more about this event and how to attend.
LiveHopeLove.com was one of 38 interactive websites selected from over 2084 entries to receive recognition by Communication Arts as "best interactive of the year." LiveHopeLove.com was recognized alongside 10 other sites in the Info Design category.
Jon Sawyer and Nathalie Applewhite celebrated LiveHopeLove.com at the 2009 Webby Awards Gala in New York City on June 8 and 9.
By Lam Thuy Vo
Communication Arts, the graphic design magazine, selected "Hope: Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica," as June 4's "Web pick of today."
Dawes traveled to Jamaica in the winter of 2007 to record — in both poetry and prose — the lives of Jamaicans living with HIV/AIDS. "Hope" feautures recordings of Dawes' poems and the video, images and voices of those who inspired his writing.