Anita’s Letter: Dear Studio Executive

Dear Mr. Studio Executive from A Library In Iga on Vimeo.

Posted by Tracy for Anita Adoba of A Library In Iga

The biggest challenge faced in the fight against AIDS, at least from my perspective, is the sheer size of the problem. Problem solving in Africa seems always to be a gargantuan task. As a native it fills you with helplessness. But giving up is not an option. I have come to realize as I’ve grown older and wiser, that a gargantuan task can always, always, be broken up into lots of smaller tasks; and thus the AIDS challenge can be met, a little at a time, one step at a time. This letter is an attempt to make that 1st step in this thousand-mile journey, for a community that I know well; my own. I hope that it catches your attention, and that you help us in our quest to make a difference one person at a time, one village at a time.

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Dear Mr. Studio Executive,

I am writing this letter to a number of studio executives like you, in the hope that it may strike a chord with someone who is willing to help in trying to make a difference.

It is unlikely that you will read this letter yourself – but in the event that your PA or whoever reads letters on your behalf decides that this is something you might be interested in – here is what I am after. Yes – I am after something – aren’t we all?

My parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in 2008. There is probably nothing unusual in that you might say – but here is the kicker – they will be doing this in Nigeria. That is probably still not unusual enough for you – I daresay you’ve had filming locations that are more remote – and probably more exotic. I see from my visits to various zoos around the world (San Diego Wild life park is one of my favourites) that my particular part of Nigeria is probably home to several lions and possibly a few elephants but I have to tell you I‘ve never actually seen one in the wild. Which makes my part of the country a little dull in that regard. But it does kind of grow on you – sort of like a hangnail – but I digress.

My father is the chief of my village – called Iga Okpaya. You should probably just stick to calling it Iga (Ee-GAH – emphasis on the last syllable – and it sort of goes up a whole note Ee would be a C – middle C – and GAH would be an E). I have yet to meet a white person (I don’t mean to offend but it is true) who can make the ‘kp’ sound, as it doesn’t exist in English phonetics. I’m digressing again.

As part of the celebrations I will be putting together a sort of photo documentary of their life together, our lives really. I am putting together a list of items that I will be shipping to Iga in preparation for this auspicious event (I live in Dallas). Items that I probably won’t find readily in Nigeria, at least, not without paying an arm and a leg for it. For the photo documentary I am going to need a projector, and a screen to project onto. Fortunately, technology has put these items within my reach. (Had you going there didn’t I? You thought I was going to ask you to give me a projector and a screen). I did however get to thinking about what would be done with the projector and screen once the party was over. This is when I hit upon what I believe to be an absolutely sensational idea!

My village has a village square that is used for events that generally involve my father making a long speech, followed by his children and all our relatives (immediate family does not mean quite the same thing as it does over here in the States) being asked to dance. We do dance, but in a very self-conscious manner (except for our numerous relatives – they are very enthusiastic dancers) to special music – it’s a special drum and a special beat that is played only for a chief. I generally find it excruciating – I do it though because it makes my father happy and it makes the villagers happy to see how badly we dance (except for our relatives – see above).

My brilliant idea is to turn the village square into a ‘drive-in movie theatre’ with said projector and screen. It would be just like a ‘drive-in’ here, except it would be more of a ‘walk-in’, as generally speaking everywhere in my village is within walking distance and people drive only to show off their cars – which is a little asinine as we really have no roads to speak of so driving on anything other than the main thoroughfare is really like putting the cars’ suspension and gears through a gruelling rally – actually driving on the main thoroughfare is rather like a rally – especially in the rainy season. Main thoroughfare is probably a glamorous description for what is really a two-lane dirt road for most of the time. I’m digressing again.

Let me first of all assure you – there is no danger whatsoever of this ‘walk-in movie theatre’ ever making any money. There is no real employment in my village to speak of – most people farm either to earn a living or to feed themselves usually both. A lot of people work elsewhere and return to the village every so often. The farming is also quite rudimentary, old-fashioned hoes (real hoes not the four letter kind in the street vernacular) to till the soil – no tractors to speak of – not even the mule pulled variety.

Movies are a way to lose oneself – to free people from the tedium and destitution that their lives consist of, for a few hours, so that they can face another day. If this could be provided to my village, such that they can dream, escape their demons for a short while; it would be a great humanitarian service. I have no idea of how one goes about obtaining a distribution rights from movie studios. I imagine it involves a lot of money, which I assure you I have no hope of ever obtaining. If however, this letter has caught your attention, perhaps this is something your studio could do, that could bring some relief to some people who are in dire need of it.

My brilliant idea does not stop there – my brilliant idea also involves using this ‘walk-in theatre’ as a means of providing some much needed education about HIV and AIDS.

I have tried to make this letter humorous – but I will be serious about this particular topic. I truly do not know how many people have HIV and/or AIDS in Africa, or in Nigeria, or in my village. We do not speak about AIDS. If a person dies unexpectedly, or loses a lot of weight, or seems different in any way, AIDS is suspected, but never talked about. There are lots of billboards in the large cities in Nigeria with messages about HIV and AIDS – but I have to tell you they do absolutely nothing – from an education perspective, and certainly not from a tolerance perspective. They basically proclaim ‘abstinence’ as being the key – however there are women of my mother’s generation who contracted HIV from their husbands and subsequently developed AIDS– what does abstinence do for them? When in fact has abstinence been used successfully as a means of achieving anything? The Christian right has tried that and I believe it’s successful only among the home-schooled – until they get to college any way. I have nothing against the Christian right (well actually I do but this is not the place; I should add I am a Christian, it is probably relevant I think) but we live in this world; we need to provide people with the information with which to make the right choices, and that involves providing them with accurate information of the disease, the means by which it is contracted and spread, and the reality of living with AIDS. In Nigeria today, and probably Africa as a whole, there are girls and women who are contracting AIDS because they are too frightened to insist that their husbands, boyfriends, etc use condoms. To pretend that people are going to ‘abstain’ and thus the epidemic will stop is a dangerous lie. As Christ himself said, ‘ I have come to save the world, not to condemn it’. Present the information, with no moral subtext that implies that if you get it, it is somehow your fault for not abstaining! And please provide them with information that allows them to have some semblance of a quality of life, if they do have HIV or AIDS.

One of the key things about HIV and AIDS in Africa, is the fact that all the drugs, all the progress that has been made in holding the disease in abeyance, is singularly out of reach for most of the individuals that need it most. The drugs, even priced at only a few dollars, are far beyond what the people of my village can afford, and the myriads of people in Africa like them.

I do not have all the answers, but I do believe the right information is the beginning. Studios like yourselves could perhaps fund scholarships and/or offer prizes to students of schools of film and drama, to produce low budget documentaries or dramas, that chronicle the lives of people living with AIDS around the world; of real preventive measures, and factual information about the disease delivered with no moral agenda. Such documentaries could be shown at the ‘walk-in theatre’ before, after or during the ‘real’ show.

I do not have HIV or AIDS; the good Lord in that way has blessed me. It is certainly not because I have abstained; I lived through the eighties and nineties and I do not claim any moral high ground. I do however, have a great sense of ‘there but for the grace of God go I’; and thus feel compelled to do something.

This letter is my attempt at doing something. If I have caught your attention, then please let me know, and we can discuss how to make the ‘walk-in theatre’ a reality for the people of Iga Okpaya.

Sincerely yours,
Anita Adoba
Daughter of Och’Iga, Chief Peter Sule Adoba
Native of Iga Okpaya,
Currently living in Dallas, Texas
Employed by Oracle Corporation