In any case though, what was once a hobby turned into a task. And now that I’ve taken some time away from that task, I’m excited to return to a hobby. I’ve read through my manuscript twice, looked at the various comments and suggestions from my editor Sara, and feel a tinge of excitement.

I realize now that I’ve got a good chunk done, but there are missing components. There was that friend I made who I thought I’d be friends with forever, but I’m not. There’s the mistakes I made when it came to being a leader and some harsh lessons that followed. There’s a search and discovery period, a time in which I finally found my love for technology being met by an ability to create and tell stories.

I’ve written the hardest bits. The bits about concern, worry, and fear. I’ve put onto that screen the bits about loss, change, and uncertainty. I’ve also let out moments of joy, laughter, and happiness. A first kiss, a first girlfriend… a first encounter with racism, continuous moments of self-doubt, and even tiresome moments of yearning.

I’m ready to write the missing pieces. I’m not sure about how ready I am for anybody other than Sara to read it.. but I know that when it’s done, I’ll be ready.

So I set back to that wondrous hobby, therapeutic process, and long-time goal of writing a book. Wish me luck.

The photo is my xray. A represents a happy jaw bone, in tact and connected. B represents a mouse. C represents my nose in xray and D represents an unhappy jaw and overlapping bones.

The options aren’t exciting. At the absolute best case scenario, I am on a no-chew diet for at least one month. At the worse case scenario, I will require surgery on my face. We’re hopeful it won’t be worse case, but that will depend on the CT scans and the direction of the break… I won’t go into that, unless it turns out I need it. The idea of the procedure scares me quite a bit.

After receiving the news, my big brother sent me a blog-link to check out and a few tips. I’ve since purchased a blender and am trying to stick to this tedious diet. Energy is lower when not eating solids, I’m noticing. I’m three days in and have already tried a neat assortment of foods (pureed lasagna, pureed rice, pureed chicken, etc.). The milk-shakes, protein powders, and such are in full throttle. In any case though, cravings come about and there’s no real way to satisfy them. I haven’t felt really ‘full’ either, seemingly getting hungry every couple hours.

I am extremely grateful that I was in an accident like that and I’ve only had relatively minor injuries, compared to what might have happened if the airbag didn’t off. I am trying to keep in good spirits, which isn’t always easy, but I think blogging and maybe some videos will help with that. Lots of people go through similar diets, though typically for shorter time periods, when getting their wisdom teeth out. I think I’ll be testing out various recipes and sharing some of the humorous moments with all of you. I’m going to need to appreciate some of the humour that comes with this whole thing to get through it.

So, if you have a wisdom tooth surgery coming up, or if you just want an occasional laugh, please do keep up. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. Creativity is appreciated.

I could make some long-shot metaphor about what it meant to go to the Wizarding World, but instead, I’ll say this:

It was a day where looking at the time was a chore. Foolish fun, good company, good food, and plenty of laughter. Corny? Definitely. True? Absolutely.

Today’s been a good day.

GUELPH — Happy, hopeful, curious and resourceful. They may not be the characteristics you would expect to find among the youth of a tiny African nation buckled by poverty and disease. But find them you will.

Stories of friendship, equality and mutual determination to change the world — perhaps not the storyline you would expect from a documentary film that hopes to inspire young Canadians to think about and assist a poor, AIDS-ravaged country in sub-Saharan Africa.

But the makers of Start With Us think a new, more accurate way of thinking about Africa, and more specifically about Lesotho, is exactly what is needed if we hope to work together as global citizens to make the world a healthier and more equitable place.

“I think we’ve been trained in some ways to perceive the developing world as almost helpless or hopeless,” said Abid Virani, the film’s principal director. “The real drive behind the film is to present a more honest interpretation of what this world is like.”

Virani, 21, is a University of Guelph international development student and cofounder and chief executive officer of the charitable organization I Have Hope In the Fight Against AIDS, formerly Student Reach International.

When 12 Ontario youth, most of them with Guelph connections, went on a humanitarian expedition to Lesotho earlier this year, they were accompanied by filmmakers. Hours of footage was captured of the Reach Lesotho trip and are now being woven into a roughly 45-minute documentary.

“One thing we wanted to make sure of was, at the end of this program there was something that was going to continue and to make an impact here in Canada, on behalf of the young people that went over there,” Virani said.

He said he hopes the film can reach as large a youth audience as possible.

“And the purpose of the film is to show a different image of the developing world,” he said. “And that image is fuller. It’s got more detail and it is being done so that our young people don’t feel guilted into being global citizens, but they are empowered and they are pumped up to be a global citizen, because that is exciting.”

Reach Lesotho, a program of I Have Hope, had as its central motive the building of bonds of friendship with the youth of Lesotho. The friendships that emerged during the trip are the subject of the film, which will have a private screening on World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, for potential donors and film industry insiders at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.

In the film, the Canadians participate in the day-to-day lives of their Basotho counterparts — fetching water with them, butchering chickens with them, working with them in their gardens and classrooms and, most importantly, talking with them; sharing hopes and aspirations, as friends do.

The youth from Canada and those from Lesotho realize they share much in common.

“What affected me the most was getting to know the people,” said Victoria Lockyer, 18, a Guelph CVI Grade 12 student who went on the trip, and is featured in the film. “Seeing pictures is not quite as effective as having a connection with somebody. That’s what makes you miss it the most.”

She said the sense of being “completely invited into the country” by the people was overwhelming. She was surprised and uplifted by how warm, affectionate and happy the Basotho were, despite the hardships they live with.

“I felt more at home there than I do here sometimes,” Lockyer said.

Virani and a team of about 14 others are pulling consecutive all-nighters and maxing out their credit cards to make a film they believe in. Co-director Jake Chirico and producer Prionnsias James Murphy sunk nearly $5,000 of their own money into quality video equipment for the trip, and more than $15,000 has gone into incorporating the film company and in post-production work.

Virani has not only sacrificed his financial resources, but has also had to neglect his academic career as the film took priority.

“A big part of I Have Hope,” he said, “is being a leader in the non-profit and charitable world by adopting new strategies and methods of engaging and inspiring people. Guilt is not empowering — it creates sympathy and does not create empathy. We are all part of this world, and our neighbours are everywhere.”

The gut punch, the guilt trip, the manipulating of heart strings, all of the elements we’ve come to expect from many humanitarian organizations and their public relations products, are not used in Start With Us.

Instead, it relies on themes and images of mutual friendship and equality between the Canadians and the youth of Lesotho, a tiny African nation entirely landlocked within South Africa, dirt poor, mountainous and stunningly beautiful.

With one of the highest incident rates of HIV/AIDS anywhere in the world, Lesotho is home to a human health disaster that seemed to be turning the corner, but which many fear could regress on news that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is scaling back funding for HIV/AIDS treatment due to ongoing financial instability among donor countries.

Dr. Anne-Marie Zajdlik, a Guelph physician, HIV/AIDS specialist and longtime supporter of HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Lesotho through Bracelet of Hope, the charitable organization she founded, was with the Reach Lesotho project as a mentor, and accompanied the youth to Lesotho in the summer.

Young people in Canada are becoming more astute about the world’s problems and more eager to do something about them, she said in an interview.

“We have a lot of students from that generation who are like-minded in terms of wanting to make a difference in the Third World, and not wanting to jump on the corporate, materialistic bandwagon,” she said. “They are really looking at the world, and they have greater access to it through the internet and information technology. They are very troubled by what they see.”

Youth today are “carrying an extra burden, a global burden,” Zajdlik said. With an unprecedented number of crises afflicting the planet — economic, environmental, political, and in terms of human health — depression and hopelessness are common among young people, she indicated.

But concurrently, the determination of youth to make a difference is also a characteristic of this generation.

“I’m seeing a new kind of student, who has a purpose and a drive, a need to make a difference — a drive to really affect some change in a world that is in a pretty big mess,” she said.

This determination and desire for change, Zajdlik added, also runs through the younger generation in Lesotho. There, a revolutionary attitude is becoming pervasive and, with it, the resolve to overcome their problems on their own, perhaps initially supported by community partners in the developed world.

“A film that conveys those messages is very important at this time,” she said, “a film that takes us away from the belief that all the kids in Africa are starving and covered in flies, and have death all around them. This kind of film, which shows that equality, and shows the same drive and determination to make change, is very important.”

Lesotho is a tragic country. A place of indelible spirit, great beauty, and human warmth, it has one of the highest incidents of HIV/AIDS anywhere in the world. Nearly 24 per cent of the population is infected. About 14,000 citizens died of AIDS in 2009, and 130,000 children have been orphaned by the disease in the country.

Start With Us explores the AIDS epidemic through the stories of the Basotho youth, but the grim realities of the disease are not the thread that holds the film together. And AIDS only comes into the story later on, after the stories of friendships and shared humanity are first articulated.

“The images we often see on television or online are of desperation, disease and despair,” Virani said. “We know what these look like. If anything, we are getting tired of seeing these things.”

I Have Hope in the Fight Against AIDS is fighting against desperation, disease and despair — against AIDS. But what it is fighting for is as important, he explained.

“We’re fighting for people, for youth, for opportunity, for the potential they have,” Virani said.

“What we are trying to do is show that in this part of the world there are people, there is a culture, there is wonder and excitement about education, and there are incredibly hard-working people,” he said. “And then there is this big, overwhelming, overpowering thing that is unfortunately having a huge impact.”

Victoria Lockyer said she has high hopes for the documentary.

“I hope it is shown across Canada, and I hope it makes students, adults and everybody see that it’s really important for students and youth to believe that they can do something — not just sit back and watch others do something,” she said.

roflanagan@guelphmercury.com

Abid Virani is a University of Guelph student who has missed almost all his classes this semester. He has probably maxed out his credit card. And, he is hoping for something approaching miracles on a few fronts – including striving for passes on the university courses he’s largely ignored through a big showing on his pending exams.

He allows that the thing that has seen him put his studies to the side and his finances in a bad way is also likely to cost him somewhat in a series of relationships he developed with several people he has come to know and admire as friends.

But he has no regrets about the latest risks he has taken and what they might cost him.

He’s done everything in the sincere belief they could help improve the world.

How can you not be somewhat moved by that?

In a culture where youth his age are frequently demonized for living as though they’re entitled to success, he has been extending himself to deliver positive change and to urge others of his age to do the same.

He’s immersed at present in overseeing a film project arising from a student expedition he helped put together that saw a cluster of young people venture this summer to Lesotho, as part of his I Have Hope In the Fight Against AIDS organization. The film, and contouring it to what he hopes are to maximum effect to help in the battle with AIDS, are what has consumed him and much of his time and resources this fall.

Instead of being a field trip-style video chronicling the mission of the I Have Hope students’ trip or a documentary digging into the crushing challenges faced by Lesotho’s people, his Start With Us film is cinema entrenched in hope. It’s an attempt to show a side of the developing world that most of us never see or appreciate — a perspective that these people are just like us and that we share so much in common.

Virani thinks and wants this film to move people to have hope and to act in a different way — not through guilt, but through seeing new possibilities for strangers like us a world away.

It’s not a safe bet. It has come at considerable personal expense. But we hope it works out — and that Virani remains moved to take risks for this purpose.

In less than two weeks now, the film I’ve worked on since an October evening in 2008 will be released. Quite likely, tomorrow, the trailer will go up and boy oh boy, I’m just about as nervous as I’ve ever been.

In the end, I hope those closest to me understand and enjoy the film. I hope it inspires them and I hope this opens some dialogue regarding how to share any message with young people.

Speaking of dialogue, it was very cool to hang out with Justin Trudeau in Ottawa last week to work on a video project. I Have Hope is exploring the possibility of a ‘dialogue series’ of videos… A tid-bit of that will hopefully also be released this week, in preparation for the first test screening of the film. Justin’s a hell of a guy and while I don’t know all the politics, I will say that I find him incredibly genuine, and he truly does have faith in the fact that young people can do incredible things.

Onto writing now… while I traveled this summer, I spent a fair share of time working on my book. I wanted this thing to be done by the same date as the movie, December 1st, 2011, but it just didn’t happen. If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few months though, it’s that you shouldn’t rush out something important and artistic. When I returned for the summer, I handed my manuscript over to my editor and then went on a binge of sending out emails about the issue of HIV/AIDS and guilt-marketing.

Dear Abid, thank you for writing.
I would love to have your voice on HuffPost about this important subject, if you are interested.
I’m ccing our blog editor Stuart Whatley to follow up.
All the best,
Arianna

A week after this, the Guelph Mercury kindly re-invited me onto the Community Editorial Board for the City of Guelph for 2012, and it looks like I’ll also be writing a piece for the Mark News. World AIDS Day is coming up, and so I’m trying to gather my thoughts and put out three different pieces.

Sara has returned my manuscript and I’m hoping over the Christmas break, I’ll be able to dive into that a bit and make a plan for finishing the book.

I have every intention of finishing the book, it’s just not something I can rush out… I’ll get back to working on it soon.

Thanks for reading,

A.

It’s odd to miss somebody when you’re with them.
And it’s tiresome to think of that other chosen choice.
But without the slightest of intention, there will continue to be this repetitive sign.
It’s that one thing doesn’t change everything, despite what you think.
That’s just a hopeful thought, a thing people say…
It’s a line.

Who’s Dickson? Well, this past year, much of my time was spent with Dickson (who treats me like a brother, for which I am forever grateful) and the boys at Mtoto Mchoraji. Mtoto is an awesome organization, a true cooperative of artists trying to empower youth in their community, and the thought of them brings me a lot of peace of mind. We all worked on this video for them, and hopefully it will prove to be a useful tool for them in getting the word out about who they are.

That was the last video I made with Luna, my Nikon D5000… but that’s a story for another post. In fact, there will be another post about Tanzania, as there are so many brilliant little videos from the trip that I will have to organize the next chance I get. I plan on tackling this country by country. So, here I will also post my favourite pictures taken in Tanzania this year. One of the best days was renting bikes with Ali and Dickson, Christy and Brittany, and heading on a little adventure to see some crocodiles (or were they gators?) and just enjoying the coastline of eastern Africa.

Despite the joy and happiness that comes to mind when I think of Tanzania, my mind these days is heavily wrapped up in education, economic development, and HIV/AIDS. Truth is, Tanzania is one of the countries where I’ve met and spent time with some who are directly impacted by this disease. It’s sad each time I go, hearing the story of somebody having passed away, which now that I think about it… has happened every time.

I hope that Tanzania can be the gem that is should be, yet I truly do believe that before we can see a country like Tanzania truly share what it has to share with the world, the health concerns surrounding HIV as well as malaria need considerable improvement. This is one of those countries, like many others, that is working hard – day in and day out – to battle the circumstances they are facing. If anything, Mtoto Mchoraji is a perfect example of how they are doing this… by being a community, by tackling it together, by supporting each other, and by working hard.

Long story short, amidst the start-up of a production company alongside Prionnsias James Murphy, Jake Chirico, and Ryan Lessard, I’ve invested in some new gear. Never done video from a DSLR before but love the look of it and even made the jump from Nikon to Canon… So, this was my first night out shooting with the 60D, using just a 18-55mm lens while Teresa, my dear friend, used my 18-200mm lens. We made this up on the go, and just made an evening of it. Shot, went home, warmed up, and edited it.

In the spirit of Halloween, of course.

The upload to YouTube didn’t work perfectly, glitches on my favourite shot.. and some weird stabilization stuff that I wont’ be trying again. I’m just learning at the moment, getting comfortable with the gear… Improvements to come! Thoughts appreciated!