Pacific MFA wins Emmy Award for AIDS website
Korvell Pyfrom
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: News
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Dawes recently won an Emmy Award in News and Documentary for his work on a multimedia website project, LiveHopeLove.com. The project, which examines HIV/AIDS in Jamaica is based on Dawes's Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting work, HOPE: Living with AIDS in Jamaica, which has also received several awards and honors.
"Winning this award was an honor," said Dawes. "It felt good. I probably don't understand what it all means yet, but it was nice for the work to be recognized."
LiveHopeLove.com is an interactive website that Dawes and his team created to give a face to HIV/AIDS in Jamaica. The site features interviews with men and women infected with the disease, health advocates, students and community leaders around the island. Dawes also wrote several poems that are used on the website to celebrate the life of the people and the culture of the country.
Dawes conducted research for the project over the course of three months. In that space of time he traveled to Jamaica at least five times to solicit participants, conduct interviews and eventually begin filming. Dawes, who was born in Ghana but grew up mostly in Jamaica, admits that his Jamaican roots quickly made the project a personal journey.
"I spend a great deal of time in Jamaica," said Dawes. "Jamaicans are quick to assess people, to determine what their motives might be and to decide how to deal with them. We managed to find a way to share and that way was through trust."
HIV and AIDS have accounted for the deaths of thousands of Jamaicans over the past 25 years. The diseases continue to alarm health officials as each year there continues to be a steady increase in the reports of new cases. Dawes said he was impressed with the willingness of most people to speak candidly and truthfully about their own lifestyle choices and share intimate accounts of their risky sexual behaviors.
"They wanted a chance to tell their own stories because they knew these stories could help others," said Dawes. HIV/AIDS is something of a taboo topic. But there were many people who wanted to talk about it. I did not meet a single person who was unwilling to talk."
Dawes said the response in Jamaica to his work has been positive. The project has grown beyond a website and was recently made into a musical performance consisting of a 14 piece ensemble.
To view the interactive project visit www.LiveHopeLove.com.
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