With 5 million albums sold and multiple awards under their belts, the hugely popular Newsboys can add one more credit to their resumes: filmmakers.
The band teamed up with Ethnographic Media to help with the filming on a portion of the documentary, "Miss HIV," which released on DVD back in August. The film looks at the issue of HIV and AIDs in Africa, and how the of ideology of AIDs prevention from both inside Africa and the Western world have collided.
The Miss HIV pagent took place in Botswana, and featured only women who were HIV positive. In the film, they talk about the stigma associated with their disease and the dangers of keeping it secret. The pagent hopes to help women overcome the stigma so they will receive treatements and live fuller, healthier lives.
The film also includes insight from experts in the field of AIDs education, including Harvard anthropologist Dr. Ed Greeh and Dr. Norman Hearst, who has been active in condom promotion.
Ironically, both Dr. Green and Dr. Hearst raise important doubts about the success of condom promotion, citing the success of Uganda's abstinence education, which helped Uganda go from having the highest infection rate in the world in 1990 to one of the lowest in 2006.
Central to the discussion is the fact that the international community views AIDs as human rights issue, while countries like Uganda viewed it as a public health crisis. The president of Uganda, for example, literally went from village to village with a bullhorn and told his people that HIV would kill them if they didn't change their behavior. He then went to the church community to ask for help spreading his message. That's a distinction that needs to be made, because opponants of the ABC ideology - Abstain, Be faithful, and use a Condom - cite religious connections as reasons why they refuse to accept it. In Uganda, the abstinence model didn't start in the church. It started with the government.
The film offers a lot of information about HIV and AIDs, and raises serious issues about how Western methods of AIDs prevention may not be the best solution for Africa. It also considers some questions that can't be answered easily - how to help a woman who doesn't have control over an unfaithful partner, or where rape of women is common.
But it does bring to the table some very real issues that should be part of the AIDs prevention discussion, but that are often dismissed as moralistic programs that violate human rights.
The Newsboys joined director Jim Hanon in Uganda and served as part of his film crew, carrying equipment, holding lights, and doing whatever else was required of them. The film ends with the video below from the band's concert in Uganda. The bonus "Making of Miss HIV" features Newsboys drummer Duncan Phillips sharing about the band's experience.
The Newsboys are no strangers to missions work. For years, they have partnered with Baja Christian Ministries to build homes in Baja, Mexico for poor families, for example, and have always encouraged their fans to dig deeper into God's word and live like Jesus.
The band recently released their "Houston Here We Go" live DVD, and are on tour in support of their latest project. On November 8, the band will host a free night of music and message in Tucson, Arizona's 10-thousand seat Electric Park.
"Miss HIV" is narrated beautifully by Della Reese, and is available on DVD from Ethographic Media. To learn more about "Miss HIV" and HIV, visit the Ethnographic website.
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I helped with security at tonight's FREE Newsboys concert in Tucson, and best estimates are that over 14,000 crowded into the stadium for this great event! Many decisions were made to follow Christ, and lots of commitments and donations came in for GlobalTribe. Tucson was privileged to be the FIRST in their series of "REACH" events across the nation and around the world.
Dale, don't you love how the Newsboys can completely entertain a crowd in top notch form, and share Jesus with the same enthusiasm? I just love them. Thanks for the update! I'll get some more details and do a post on the event!
Joanne
host of the GS blog
Great! The main sponsor for the event was FamilyLife Radio (see http://www.myflr.org/ for contact info), so they would be your best source for details (and photos). Surprisingly, I don't think there was any local news coverage of this huge event, even though it caused traffic on the interstate to be backed up for miles and miles, as the 14,000 people waited patiently to get to Tucson Electric Park... So it would be wonderful if you could do some kind of story! I found your article in a Google search. :)
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