Kevin Denney of Canandaigua produces a film that portrays life in the African country of Malawi where AIDS is nearly out of control



Kevin Denney of Canandaigua produces a film that portrays life in the African country of Malawi where AIDS is nearly out of control

Man From Canandaigua Produces Film About AIDS Crisis Watch video of this story.

Gavin Reynolds (Canandaigua, NY) 10/15/04 -- It's a world most of us can't imagine, millions of children without parents, all because of the AIDS epidemic. However, it's reality in Africa and is the theme of a film that ebuted Friday night at the Canandaigua Middle School.

Producer Kevin Denney of Canandaigua said the film portrays life in the African country of Malawi where AIDS is nearly out of control.

"People in Africa they have death all around them," Denney said. "The number of orphans in Africa is incredible; it's estimated there will be 18 million orphans in Africa by 2008."

The film "Juma's Story" follows the life of a young boy who becomes HIV positive but goes on to win at Wimbledon. While this story is fictional, the circumstances are real.

Denny, a former Peace Corps volunteer, has helped care for AIDS patients in a small African village for the past eight years. He said his motivation for producing the move is that kids in Africa lack the education they need to prevent the disease.

"You've got to take your young people in the village, and be willing to talk about AIDS when they're very young, because if we don't, they're going to be vulnerable and because we're going to lose, in Africa, another generation of children," he said.

Denny says the story is also meant to entertain. For many of the African viewers, it may be the first time they've seen a movie. For those who watch in America, it may be their first exposure to the severity of the aids epidemic in Africa.

Money raised by the film will go to Milawi Children's Village in Africa to help care for AIDS patients.

When this story was posted in November 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:

Your vote makes a difference Make a difference on November 2 - Vote. Then take our RPCV exit poll. See how RPCV's are voting and take a look at the RPCV voter demographic. Finally leave a message on why you voted for John Kerry or for George Bush. Previous poll results here.

Kerry reaches out to Returned Volunteers The Kerry campaign wants the RPCV vote. Read our interview with Dave Magnani, Massachusetts State Senator and Founder of "RPCVs for Kerry," and his answers to our questions about Kerry's plan to triple the size of the Peace Corps, should the next PC Director be an RPCV, and Safety and Security issues. Then read the "RPCVs for Kerry" statement of support and statements by Dr. Robert Pastor, Ambassador Parker Borg, and Paul Oostburg Sanz made at the "RPCVs for Kerry" Press Conference. RPCV Carl Pope says the key to winning this election is not swaying undecided voters, but persuading those already willing to vote for your candidate to actually go to the polls. Take our poll and tell us what you are doing to support your candidate. Finally read our wrap-up of the eight RPCVs in Senate and House races around the country and where the candidates are in their races.

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Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview PCOL sits down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before. Plus the debate continues over Safety and Security.

Schwarzenegger praises PC at Convention Governor Schwarzenegger praised the Peace Corps at the Republican National Convention: "We're the America that sends out Peace Corps volunteers to teach village children." Schwarzenegger has previously acknowledged his debt to his father-in-law, Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver, for teaching him "the joy of public service" and Arnold is encouraging volunteerism by creating California Service Corps and tapping his wife, Maria Shriver, to lead it. Leave your comments and who can come up with the best Current Events Funny?

Peace Corps: One of the Best Faces of America Teresa Heinz Kerry celebrates the Peace Corps Volunteer as one of the best faces America has ever projected in a speech to the Democratic Convention. The National Review disagreed and said that Heinz's celebration of the PCV was "truly offensive." What's your opinion and can you come up with a Political Funny?

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