All language subtitles for I AM BECAUSE WE ARE

People always ask me, why I chose Malawi
and I tell them I didn�t, it chose me.

I got a phone call from a
woman named Victoria Keelan;

she was born and raised in Malawi.

She told me that there are over 1
million children orphaned by AIDS.

She said there weren�t enough orphanages
and that the children were everywhere.

Living on the streets,
sleeping under bridges,

hiding in abandoned buildings,

being abducted, kidnapped, raped.

She said it was a state of emergency.

She sounded exhausted
and on the verge of tears.

I asked her how I could help,

she said, �You�re a
person with resources,

people pay attention
to what you say and do."

I felt embarrassed, I told her
I didn�t know where Malawi was.

She told me to look it up on a map.

And then she hung up on me.

I decided to investigate,

and I wound up finding out much
more than what I bargained for.

About Malawi,

about myself,

about humanity.

There is a phrase in the Zulu Language

that says �Amnuntu Abuntu Ubantu�,

I am because we are.

Think about it, I�m
not defined without you.

#I AM BECAUSE WE ARE#

Africa has a glorious legacy.

Africa used to be a refuge.

People came from other
parts of the world,

because they wanted to get food,

they came to Africa when they

were running away from
persecution, they came to Africa.

People ask me, why do
you love it so much there?

And I always say it�s because they
have the highest percentage of people,

I believe anywhere on Earth, who wake
up every day with a song in their heart.

They sing through their
pain and their need,

and the madness of people around them.

It�s almost like an ingrained wisdom

of more than a hundred thousand years.

#FANZIO#

My name is Fanizo,
I come from the Khanda Village.

I am an orphan.

I often think about not
having a mother or father,

this makes me feel uncomfortable.

I feel sad because when
I am with my friends,

they are able to tell me the good things
their parents are doing for them.

For me, there is no one to
give me these opportunities.

I miss the love from my mother.

Most of the time there
is no encouragement for me

to go to school which my
parents would have given me.

One of my biggest
problems is lack of food.

Most of the time
we eat only once a day.

This is not a problem just for me,

but many people in my
village suffer the same.

Hidden from the rest of the world,

Malawi has suffered more than
one can sometimes imagine.

UN statistics estimate
that 66% of the population

lives on less than one dollar a day.

It�s the second poorest
country in the world.

AIDS has left Malawi with an
estimated 1 million orphans.

In a country of 12 million people,

so many children without parents
has caused irreparable damage.

This alone is an enormous problem,

yet there is another aspect
that has gone unnoticed.

We can raise awareness,
we can build orphanages,

we can make medicine more accessible,

and we can help diversify their crops.

These things are essential,
but are they enough?

This is a story about Malawi, but
perhaps it�s a story about all of us.

As technology brings us closer together,

we seem to be a world
spinning out of control,

growing father and farther
apart from one another.

Inequality, disorder,
calamity, and violence,

in the world at large,

in Africa, in are own backyard.

We have reached a moment in
time where it is impossible

to not pay attention to the devastation,

and inexplicable suffering
that surrounds us.

Everyone needs food in their bellies,

and a roof over their head,
and a chance for a better life.

Some of us need guidance,

others needs hope and
a sense of direction.

Everyone needs parents.

But what if there are no parents?

And whose job is it then to look
after these motherless children?

Malawi is often called
the warm heart of Africa,

but that heartbeat is
beginning to slow down.

This is one of the few countries which
can still offer a comfortable life

with free ways and a climate
comparable to anywhere in the world.

And hundreds of families
have settled down here to give

and receive their share of prosperity
growing faster than anywhere else in Africa.

Malawi joined a federal
system of government

between, what was then, Northern
Rhodesia, which is now Zambia�

Southern Rhodesia,
which is now Zimbabwe,

and Nyasaland, now Malawi.

The new state, which is called the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

Nyasaland was a small country.

And I�m afraid its priorities
slipped even though we generally...

we were going to do things for them.

We kept on finding that other things cropped
up which seemed to us, more important.

So, they got left behind.
I think it really is as simple as that.

There was no idea of letting
them down or anything,

but it just failed on
it�s, against other things.

On March the third, 1959, Sir Robert
Armitage declared a state of emergency.

Dr. Banda and thirteen hundred other
Nyasaland activists were detained.

I said I�d come back home
to do two things.

To break their stupid
federation, I used to call it�

and to give you my people,
your own government.

I�ve spoken some of my speeches
what I called the wind of change,

which is blowing through the continent.

The wind of change speech signaled
the British governments recognition

that it could no longer
resist African nationalism.

And then the next big debt
that came is sixth of July 1964

when Malawi became
independent from the British.

The Malawi flag is un-felled.

During the first era of
administration by Africans in Malawi,

we went through 31
years of a dictatorship.

It was a brutal dictatorship.

I don�t believe about
beating about the bush.

Dr. Banda was one of those people

who wanted to present Malawi as a
country that was doing very well.

So to admit that there
was a problem of HIV/AIDS

was like accepting defeat,
which is a great pity.

For several years, nobody was
allowed to say anything about it.

The historical aspects of
it are also very interesting

because to talk about sex
in Malawi, family planning,

or anything of that nature was taboo.

We are really poverty
stricken in Malawi,

and with the scourge of
HIV/AIDS it�s even worse

because HIV/AIDS is even taking
the lives of young men and women

who are supposed to
develop this country.

Who are supposed to contribute
to the economy of this country,

to the growth of this country.

But as a result of HIV/AIDS,
the economy of this country

and the development of this
country is being retarded,

because young people, educated
people are passing away.

Every year, every month,
every week in Malawi

people are dying of HIV/AIDS.

Malawi is one of the very
poorest places on the whole planet

and all of the difficulties of
poverty, of hunger, of disease;

they all come together in
this landlocked country.

Without help, they face a crisis

virtually unlike any
other on the planet.

We are now 15 years into the epidemic

and on average your progression

from being HIV positive to
developing AIDS is 10 years.

So in actual fact, more
and more people are dying

because we are so much
further into the epidemic.

In Africa, 70, 80% of people
are still living in rural areas.

So getting the care to them
is really critically important.

That removes one of
the biggest barriers,

which is transportation to and from a point
where you can be, you know, diagnosed.

#EDITH AND SINODE#

It�s very difficult
for us to get to a hospital.

It will cost about 250
Kwacha, US $2, to get there.

How�s she going to get to a district
hospital? She doesn�t have a car of course.

To ride a bicycle, let�s say
fifteen miles to a district hospital,

you have to be in pretty good shape,
and the woman weighs 75 pounds.

If a bicycle taxi was available would
you go to the hospital? - Yes

You�ve got to pay for transport;
once you are in a hospital

you have got to look after yourself
so you need to bring someone with you.

And it�s expensive, and
you�ve got to remember that

in a lot of the rural areas,
there isn�t a cash economy.

Make the services
convenient to poor people.

Make sure that they don�t have to

schlep for five hours on a
donkey, a bike, or on foot.

Let�s do something
to make this better.

We have to provide basic medical
services for people living in poverty.

For a sick person like her to go
by bicycle is just too difficult.

For now, we have stopped
to see if a car comes past.

You can have malaria, bilharsia,
tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS�

all of them potentially
are killers in Malawi

and Malaria you know is one of
the biggest killers in Malawi.

All of them are treatable,
but why this one?

Why is this one so different?

It�s because it is wrapped
up in this social enigma,

because culturally it is not
something you can talk about.

All fatal wasting diseases
for which there is no treatment

are stigmatized, because
death is stigmatized.

I think we more openness.

The government has to come upfront

and start talking about it,
encourage people to talk about this,

as openly and as freely as we can.

And until we have resources, commitment,
and hard work, we are going to have stigma.

The reason why you are in this room

is to get your blood tested,

to check if you have the virus or not.

Are you willing to
get your blood tested?

Yes, I am willing to.

Our results are back.

It shows that you and your child
have the virus that causes AIDS.

They found me with HIV/AIDS

They found out that I have AIDS.

I was found positive.

That�s when they told me I have HIV.

We are both HIV positive.
- I have HIV.

I also have HIV.

This is a chance for us
to get together

and solve problems
that are already having

terrible daily consequences

for hundreds of millions
of people who we don�t see.

They are voiceless, they�re
off the radar screen often,

but they are suffering from the inaction

of a world that promised to
help yet hasn�t moved to help.

She is poor and dying of something
that we know is treatable,

she doesn�t have money;

we have to say humans actually
deserve this as a right.

Disease coming
from ecology causes poverty.

Poverty causes disease.

It goes around in a vicious circle

and by helping the poor to get access
to the things they need to be healthy

in medicines in preventive techniques...

this is the way to
break the vicious circle

of poverty, disease,
to poverty to disease,

that holds so many hundreds
of millions of people

in that trap of extreme
poverty in Africa.

We must now begin to break this silence,

because if we don�t, then all
these problems that we are facing,

HIV/AIDS and so on, the numbers
of orphans will continue.

My future is gone.

I have failed to do what I wanted to do.

I want to look after my child.

He is only 8 years old.

I wish he could grow up,

finish his school
and be well educated.

I wish I could go and walk outside.

If I see people talking,

chatting, laughing,

I wish I could go and join them.

I always pray when I am at home,

so that God should heal me

and that I should be
able to walk again.

I often think about how I
am going to die anytime soon

and how my son is going to suffer.

I can�t compare my
suffering to other children

but when I was six
years old my mother died.

It�s unfathomable, I can�t
explain the pain that I felt

so I think I really have a connection
to children who lose their parents.

When you lose your parents
you lose your direction,

you lose your focus in life and you
think �oh my God, I have no future.�

When I see these kids here and I think,
they�ve lost their father,

they�ve lost their mother,
they lost their house,

and yet they still can smile about it,

I think how could I ever
feel bad about anything

and it gives you such
an appreciation for life.

My mother died in 2003,

my father died in 1997.

I knew my Mother had
been ill since December.

I didn�t expect her to die.

I don�t remember my Dad
since I was too young.

I am not the only one.

#FRED#

There are many orphans in my village
who are experiencing the same thing.

We always leave everything
in the hands of the Lord.

It doesn�t make us happy at all.

Everyone needs parents.

I would have been happy if she lived to an
age where I could have taken care of her.

She only suffered for us, and never had
the chance to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

We are left with three of us
in our family.

Thoko, Mavuto, and myself.

#JOYCE#

When my mother was sick,
she stopped working in the field.

I was the one taking care of her.

She got much worse and went back
to the hospital for the second time.

We were left here suffering,
sleeping on the wet floor.

When the rain was falling
our house was leaking,

and we were freezing, even
the door wouldn�t close.

Somewhere, there will
always be someone suffering

because of the loss of their parents.

No one chooses to lose their parents.

When we see other orphans out
begging we go and chat with them.

We try to make them laugh,

to feel a little bit better.

In the future?
The way I see it?

I can�t see anything because
right now I have too many problems.

My request is,

if you are going to be assisting
us to solve these problems,

please help us to forget
that we are orphans.

Just things like making sure
children are happy.

When you link the desire
to help people have a future

and feel good about
their own engagement,

I think that is the most
powerful thing that we can do.

My name is Weize Ulanda.

I�m 9 years old.

My mother is dead.
- Your mother died? - Yes

Weizi is one of 500 orphans
at Home of Hope.

She is one of two and a half million
children living with AIDS in Africa.

Because of the AIDS epidemic,

we have more orphans
living in this home

than we would have
in the past years.

We know that most of the
children we have here,

either their parents, both parents

or one parent has died from AIDS.

Home of Hope orphanage
is crowded and dirty.

The entire time I spent
there I only met two adults.

It felt like a small
city run by kids.

Waize is the youngest of 6 children

and she is the last
remaining alive.

She has no idea of her illness;

she simply knows that she
takes a small pill each morning.

She often suffers from headaches

and constantly has
wounds on her body.

She doesn�t cry but you
can tell she is suffering.

What happens
to someone like Waize?

How do you tell her that
she has the same disease

that took the lives of her family?

And if she grows up, will
she be shunned by society?

What will prepare her for the challenges
she will face being HIV positive?

On the other hand, Weize is lucky.

Her grandmother travels once a
month to collect ARVs for her.

ARVs stands for Anti-Retro-Viral,
these are the life saving drugs

that can keep a person alive
who has been diagnosed with AIDS.

But what about the children that have

no one to make sure they
are taking their medication?

Will they even get tested?

And if they do,
will it be too late?

When I first met Weizi

she was responsible for
looking after three infants.

This is one of the children she
looked after, his name is David.

His mother had died in childbirth,

his three siblings were also dead,

no one knew where his father was.

I realized at this moment the reality,

or rather the insanity, of
children looking after children.

When I returned to Malawi three months
later David�s health had deteriorated.

He had pneumonia, and malaria,

and God knows what else.

There was no medicine
for him at Home of Hope.

Nor any means to treat his illnesses.

What was I prepared to do?

If I was challenging people to open
up their minds and their hearts,

then I had to willing to
stand at the front of the line.

I decided to try and adopt him,

the rest is history.

We are looking, 10-15
years down the road

with a complete generation gap.

A generation where there is going
to be no mothers, no fathers,

between the ages of 25 to 35,
how does a nation cope with that?

A year or so ago,
somebody brought two kids.

One was 9, and the other was 7,
and they were living in a garage

and the 9 year old was
the head of the household.

It�s almost like telling a fable,

I mean it�s just a story.

But these are not statistics
we are referring to.

We are talking about
people of flesh and blood.

The daughter of, the son of,

the brother of.

Put a face of someone you love

on those figures.

What saddens me most is when I see
an orphan when I�m in the constituency

and they come with their grandmothers
or perhaps sometimes on their own

and they tell me that they have been
selected to go to secondary school

and they are looking for money,
say one thousand six-hundred Kwacha,

which is less than about ten dollars.

Sometimes I don�t have the ten dollars
and I say to them I�m sorry I can�t help.

Then they go, and I sit
in my office and say,

�No, I must do something about it."

And then I have to find the money,

the ten dollars to pay for them,
but then that is just a term.

And then I pay, but then I find
that there are so many coming to me,

the numbers are now are
accumulating and I reach a point

where I have to say, �No, I cannot pay
for you and it�s only tne dollars."

The fee for secondary school is
about ten, twelve dollars per term,

to empower a small kid,

to go through school,

four years of secondary education
at about forty dollars a year.

But even that people cannot afford.

You�ve got a million kids in trouble.

You�ve got 12 year old headed
households that should never be.

Imagine your own 12 year old
running a home, it�s not possible

and yet these kids are expected to
be kids and adults with no education,

and no family environment
to nurture them.

When I visit say, a child headed family,

and I find there is
nobody assisting them.

Perhaps it�s just a 13 year old

with maybe three other
children to look after,

and you ask them, and
they have nothing to eat.

Literally nothing, they
don�t even have a house�

I saw a family where there was
a blind uncle with the children�

and I had to go home and I thought
that I shouldn�t leave the children�

I thought I needed to take them with me,

but I thought I had nobody
to look after them at my house

because I move around all the time.

The infectious disease
burden is huge globally

and the deaths caused by infectious
disease are really overwhelming,

especially among
children and young adults.

Once you turn over the
rock, look at one problem�

AIDS in Africa, say, then you get to
think about a lot of other problems.

#NSANJE DISTRICT HOSPIDAL MALAWI#

#JOYCE AND AARON#

My child died with AIDS.

I also have it.

I lost my child, I will
never have him back.

When death comes upon us like this
she needs to be cleansed.

The person who has to cleanse this
woman is referred to as a �Wapadera�.

This person comes from
outside the village.

This man already has a wife, he
is the one that sleeps with her.

No one in the village is allowed
to have sex until she is cleansed.

When the man is about
to have sex with her

he says �Ndikupita
kufa�. Cleansing death.

It is important that they have
sex 3 times on the first day.

In the morning the man
says, �Ndikupita unyalumbi�,

you have been cleansed.

I am just a child, I do not have the
authority to change their decision.

That�s the way it is.

Yes this process
continues to spread HIV,

but this process also does
not continue to spread HIV.

These two are very separate

because this cleansing ritual
was around long before AIDS.

AIDS is the guest.

This tradition started a long time ago.

Before me, before our ancestors,
and our ancestors before that.

It is the AIDS that wants
to disturb our tradition.

Actually, it has
already disturbed us.

It�s not good.

Because my child has died,
I must go through with this.

After she has been cleansed,
her life can go back to normal.

Will I live like this forever?

Most village headmen do
not teach against HIV/AIDS

and the fact is that can�t they
understand and they can�t even teach.

The people you know, are really
hardcore believers I should say

in their traditional cultures,
they don�t want to change.

The chief is the custodian
of the tradition and culture.

For most of the chiefs,
it�s an economic benefit.

When you stop people from
doing what they are doing,

you need to give them an alternative.
Training for chiefs,

they need to have an
income in order for them

to stop looking for
income from anywhere else.

So we need to empower the women, we
need to send the children to school,

but we need to focus
on the chief as well.

How much?

One can attribute to the underdevelopment
of Malawi to a number of reasons.

The big issue overriding is vision, where
there is no vision, the people perish.

Two is a leadership vacuum that has
existed in many countries in Africa.

The third one may sound
strange but it is superstition

we have seen in Malawi,

a worsening of a situation.

Increasing incidents of
witchcraft, superstition,

things of that nature
and it�s not surprising

because of the deepening
of the poverty.

There could be a linkage with
the deepening of the poverty

and the desperation shown on people

in order to try and address
the issue of poverty.

I feel safe on this road today
because you are with me.

Many bad things have
happened along this road.

Things taken by robbers,

people have even been killed.

It scares me to think we could be
killed or have our body parts cut off.

In the initial days we
thought it was just folk tales,

but now we have seen it
with our own naked eyes.

Our boy�s even girls

are under threat of being mutilated

by people who believe
that they will get rich.

#LUKA#

It�s OK, we�re not going to hurt you.

Calm down, calm down.

The incident happened, not
on the first, second or third,

but the fourth trough in the field.

We found this by following the footsteps
and finding where the blood was.

Luka's brother: We found him
coming out from the fields.

He had blood all over him.

I was sent to go and buy paraffin.

I got given the money and was
told I could keep the change.

I never got to buy anything because
these people started chasing me.

They grabbed my arm and
dragged me into this field.

Don't cut me! Don't cut me!

Then they removed
my private parts.

It�s been a year since Luka�s attack.

I wanted to know if this was an
isolated incident or a common occurrence.

I went to his village.

His entire family lived in one room.

His father told me he could
not control his bladder,

and was no longer going to school because
he was being teased by other children.

Its now the whole country.

The danger is that there is
so much secrecy surrounding it,

so much that we don't
know how bad it is.

The first thing we had to do
was find Luka proper medical attention.

Not easy on the outskirts of Lillongwe.

We found a pediatrician
that would operate on him.

Unfortunately it was a six hour drive.

When arrived the hospital was closing,

but the doctor was kind enough
to stay open and do the procedure.

After a series of operations,

Luka has been able to function
like other little boys.

I have seen him kicking a football
around, and laughing with his friends.

We found a private school for
him to walk to with his brothers.

And we were also able to
find his family a new house,

with floors, and a door.

This is our house.

The sitting room.

That�s my bedroom where I sleep.

This is the mat I sleep on.

I know I haven�t solved
all of his problems,

and who knows what will happen to him
when he begins to go through puberty.

But at least, it�s a start.

The desperation we are
seeing in our society

is extremely dangerous,
and destructive.

Kids are abducted,
their body parts removed,

in the name of witchcraft,
superstition and things of that nature.

Horrible, unacceptable,
sad what poverty can bring.

The inhumanity of man
to man is terrible.

Horror cannot be the
end of the reaction,

it�s got to be the beginning of it.
Where's it come from? Why is it horrible?

Of course there are crazy cruel
things that happen all over the world,

but a lot of the things that are
dismissed as cruel, are cruel,

but they come from somewhere that is
again related to poverty and inequality.

And I think that
understanding these beliefs

and doing something to palliate the
suffering is the way to move forward.

Generations do not cease to be born,

and we are responsible to them.

Because we are the only
witnesses they have.

The sea rises, the light fails,

lovers cling to each other,

and children cling to us.

The moment we cease to hold each other,

the moment we break
faith with one another,

the sea engulfs us,
and the light goes out.

When you look at the
desperately poor places,

at the places in extreme
poverty; we see instability,

we see violence, we see the
spread of disease, we see despair.

This isn't because
people are bad or immoral,

they are living in desperate conditions.

They don't have the
productivity, the tools.

We are now in Gowa, it�s a slum
area in the city of Lilongwe

its what we call a peri-urban area.

It has a population of
approximately 47 thousand,

of that population two thirds
would be youth under the age of 15.

You can see that every
time you pass young children

that should be in school,
but they are not in school.

This area has got a very high
rate of HIV AIDS prevalence,

most of the people are migrant,

and they come and go they
don't live here permanently.

It�s an area that has
very poor sanitation.

These are houses people live in this.

And this is their garbage
disposal, which will remain here.

You can see that there is
no government intervention

because if this is happening
the first thing the city would do

is come and look at the
garbage disposal in this area.

The place is just filthy,
it�s just a sewage mess.

This is a toilet, an open toilet.

The children, they are walking
around, they are sitting in the sand,

They get worms. Its all sorts
of things, its one after the other.

The rains are coming in November
and soon all this will come apart,

the sewage will start coming
up, and people will die

of malaria, typhoid and cholera.

It�s hard to understand how
these areas continue to go unnoticed.

They are neither villages
where people live off the land,

or urban areas where people
have job opportunities.

They are more like death camps.

In-between poverty traps
where people come to die.

What's happening, why
is everybody silent about this?

And this is not the only slum area,

but people keep saying
there are no slums in Malawi.

The poverty that we have in Malawi,

it had created other problems,
serious social problems.

But yet there's a sense of denial.

This is dangerous stuff.
- Dangerous stuff, why do ask?

We are trying to find people that
can do some construction work.

It�s a seasonal job, but at least
they will have some job to do.

Rather than come and
sit here and just drink

because drinking is not
going to do anything for you.

Honestly this is not worth it.
- What does the word entertainment mean?

It's enjoying yourself, so
aren't you enjoying yourself?

But you are enjoying yourself at the
expense of your children and your wife.

You need to go home.
Sleep. Wake up.

Smile with your wife, spend time with
your children, and have a good family.

Show that you are the man. You are there
to protect, and to nurture your family.

I appreciate that, I appreciate that.

You don't appreciate if
you are still sitting here.

That's the life isn't it. They come straight
home from work, into the drinking place.

They don't go home.

Shaddup! - They end up...
- Yeah you!

I think one of the
biggest problems we have,

I know not just in Malawi,
but mainly across Africa,

is this what I can call
this Victim Mentality.

In other words, people play victim.

They look for causes elsewhere, outside
themselves, other than themselves.

So there's a tendency to do what I call
scape goating, blame everything else.

For example if a person
got drunk last night

and they have a smashing
headache in the morning,

the best explanation would be they have
been bewitched by someone overnight.

What that means is that they
are not willing to change

because you cannot change
what you don't accept,

you can only change what you accept.

Please, please can I have some money?

Your whole body stinks of beer.

Then only give me a little bit
of money, so I cannot afford beer.

But then you will ask someone else
for money and still use it to buy beer.

The other side of
victim hood is entitlement.

It means you actually do not
have a sense of responsibility.

I am an adult, I have responsibility,

yes I may have rights,

but I certainly have... obligations.

There's a sense of denial that says,
we are not responsible for this.

Even if we acknowledge it,
how do we address the problem.

Is it a sign of failure, if we do
accept that we do have a problem.

I want to tell one
African Proverb that says

"no one can shave your
head in your absence."

Now what they means, is
that you must always see

your role in whatever happens,

there's a role that you play either

by acts of omission,
or acts of commission,

but there's something there that
you have to take responsibility for.

This then will move us away
from this victim mentality.

We are raising children
in this situation

and we expect them to be good citizens
at the end of the day, I don't think so.

We really need to empower people.

External solutions are
okay as a temporary measure

in the way like a band-aid, if somebody's
bleeding you put a little bit of a band-aid

but you must go to the
root cause of the problem.

It's easy to make judgments
when you come here,

and think that it�s
a hopeless situation.

And that Malawians are
suspicious, indifferent,

or not interested in changing.

After years of poverty, famine,
and unnecessary suffering,

it�s normal to be suspicious of
the outside world�s intervention,

and to want to cling
to what is familiar.

Even though you know
it�s holding you back.

The question is, how
do we break this cycle?

How do we prevent this next generation
of children from repeating history?

And accepting that they
cannot change their destiny.

The next question is, aren�t we
all entrenched in this behaviour.

If you do something consistently,
the same thing, over and over again.

Getting one type of result and yet you
are expecting a different type of result,

there's no better definition
of insanity than that.

I'm a single parent I've
raised five children on my own,

and I know what it is,
to go without, to lack,

and I also know that if you do
something about it you can get out of it.

Society gets decimated,
we are losing our children,

the youth, the most progressive and active
part of our society, that's unacceptable.

We either change, or we die.

I mean, that's the choice.

But how?

Malawi needs change desperately.

And yet there are so many things
I would never want to change.

The people that live here are amazing.

I often feel like we are
the ones that have it wrong?

In spite of all the
hardships and devastation,

they have a sense of community and extended
family that I haven�t seen anywhere else.

Look around you... If someone on your
street lost a member of their family

would everyone in the neighborhood
get together and cook a meal,

to make sure the children
were looked after?

Or to simply share in
the burden of grief.

When you travel around Malawi, you
see how diverse the landscape is.

Couple that with the
resiliency of the people.

It�s hard to understand why
there is so much suffering.

Life is a paradox, and
there�s duality in everything.

And on the one hand you can come
to Malawi and you can say wow,

these people are so caught up in these
traditions that are thousands of years old.

But on the other hand you
can walk down the street

and you can wave to people and you can
smile and there�s a sense of humanity

that you don�t find in places
like America, or England.

It feels like modernization
equals no humanity.

You get trapped when you come here,
and you get caught up in this dichotomy

where you think if they could
only understand what I understand

then they could fix everything,
then I look at they way they live

and I think, Oh god,
they have illnesses,

and they have cultural traditions
that seem antithetical to life,

and yet they�re happy.

And you could drive down
a street in Beverly Hills,

you can drive down Central Park West,
you could drive down Park Lane,

and you don�t see that kind of joy.

You don�t see that kind of happiness.

So who�s right?

Being in Africa has made me understand
that suffering is subjective,

there is an enourmous amount of
suffering here that is really tangible.

People are dying if illnesses, they
are hungry, they don�t have parents,

they don�t have a roof over their head,

they don�t have so many basic
things that we take for granted,

and yet they have an
appreciation, and a joy

and a gratitude that we
could never understand.

Sometimes people look at
the situation in Africa

and think it�s hopeless,
and that it�s overwhelming.

But when you look at
the spirit of Africans,

you see not only is it not hopeless, the
solutions are right there in front of us.

It starts with the Africans,
wanting to be empowered,

ready to take up the challenge.

They just need the tools, to
get themselves out of poverty.

The Africans are more eager today
to tackle their own problems.

And they're looking for people
who will empower them to do that.

Give them the means,

to setup a fabric of life

that will enable them to take
on all of these challenges.

Very basic techniques of
modern farming at very low cost,

can triple, or even raise by five times,

the yield that a typical
small farmer gets.

I will continue with
this new farming method,

because I know that food is life.

Africa can grow more food,
Africa can fight disease,

Africa can overcome economic isolation.

It requires investment, it requires
help, it requires partnership.

You go in to treat AIDS, you
use a community care base model,

you create jobs for poor people
where there's huge unemployment.

You start training people to understand
HIV, you give jobs to people with HIV.

People can be agents of change, people can
be involved in improving their communities.

If you look at the population of
Malawi, it has over 12 million people.

Out of which, over a
million people are orphans.

And these are kids. and these are the future
generation that will build this country,

that will make a decision as to whether

this is the direction that
Malawi is taking or not.

So if we don't tell them what to do now,

what are they going to
do about their country?

All of those emptiness�s,
if they are not dealt with,

are going to leave us with people
who are damaged psychologically.

Who will frequently be very insecure,

will then tend to compensate
for that by being aggressive,

because they don't
have a sense of worth,

they don't feel cherished.

#MALAWI JUVENILE PRISON#

When I began my career
I was focused mostly

on working with law enforcement
and criminal justice agencies.

Overtime as I was exposed
to more of what's out there

and what the situation is
and what the problem is,

I began to see that the solution
doesn't lie in locking people up,

the solution really lies in working
with kids before things actually happen.

I went to my uncles.

On a windowsill, I
saw a camera and money.

I took it and was caught by
a boy who shouted, "thief!"

When I was caught, people
started beating me up.

After beating me up,
they called the police.

I am in prison for a
house breaking crime.

When my parent's died,
my way of living changed.

Life in prison is hard.

Most of these have no parents, or an
extended family to pay for a lawyer,

so they will be moved into an
adult prison when they turn 18.

And most likely spend the
rest of their lives in jail

for crimes as innocuous as stealing
a camera, a car, or a radio.

It�s not about right and wrong,

that is going to make a
child be successful in life.

Its about creating a certainty,
a belief in their future,

in where they're going,
a direction in life.

Looking at the extremes
of a place like Malawi,

of course its necessary to provide
basic needs for these children.

No one can deny that.
But the question is,

is that enough when you have
a situation as extreme as here.

While it is as important to
meet their external needs,

food and clothes, and
home, and schooling,

it is so desperately important
that their emotional needs,

their psychological needs, their
spiritual needs are not overlooked,

in-fact they ought to be stressed
even more than the others.

SFK stands for Spirituality For Kids.

We're really talking about a child
being able to tap into who they are,

seeing their gifts and strengths no
matter what's going on in their lives,

as well as an orientation
towards the community, to others.

Every problem, there is
a solution you can choose.

I know in this world there�s many
challenges, but every challenge.

I know there is a solution
to solve that challenge.

You can take charge of your life.

My job is to tell them that
they have got something to do,

and they've got the power, to change
their community, to change their nation.

When I see the children
to think positively

to say I've got the
power to change my nation,

my heart will be happy forever.

I think what's at the
core of SFK, is that

we are all in control
of the world around us.

For so many years I
played the victim card.

When you tap into that consciousness
it keeps you from moving ahead.

You get into a cycle of
self-destructive behaviour.

If I could think of a phrase that
summed up Spirituality for Kids

its more like, you are
somebody, believe in yourself.

You are not the sum total of your
surroundings, you can change your destiny.

And more than anything
that�s what these kids need.

The bottom line is accepting that
I am responsible for my actions,

really understanding that there
is a system of cause and effect.

Let�s look at this green domino.

It should be the cause.

The yellow piece is the effect.

So the one's on the middle, we
should look at these as time.

The things we have done
are like seeds,

and they will have their
effects right up to the end.

Its understandable, that they've
developed that feeling of helplessness.

They've developed that belief system that
they can't go anywhere with their lives.

So if I touch this one, will the
last one on this side still fall?

Yes!
Let us see.

When you understand the
concept of cause and effect

you choose to do actions carefully,

knowing for sure to
say whatever I do today,

has an effect at a
certain point in my life.

We all belong.

And what hurts the one,

whether we are not
aware of it immediately,

affects the others as well.

I�ve been working with
similar initiatives,

for kids in disadvantaged
communities, around the world

it began in eight school in
Tijuana and because of it�s success

it exploded all over the world.

It went country wide in Mexico, then
Columbia, Peru, El Salvador, Lebanon.

The kids these universal
tools they�re learning about,

and apply them to their own lives, their
own neighbourhoods, their own families.

A vision is needed,
a sense of direction,

coming from these tools of
empowerment, for the children,

and this is the generation
of future leaders.

We can see therefore how we
can change society itself.

I have always wanted to
do something with my life.

There's one voice inside me that says

"you cannot finish school as
you come from a poor family."

Another voice tells me that "I
should work hard and I will finish."

I realize now that if you
don�t believe in yourself

people will be discouraged
and they won�t want to help you

because they think
you are a failure.

If someone sees that I am
hardworking, they will want to help me.

Aren't these the fears of every child,

and isn't it our job to help
them understand their fears.

And encourage them to find
ways to realize their dreams.

Resiliency is a universal concept.

Its not something that one
child has or another does not,

these are strengths inside
each and every one of us.

My mother passed away.

My father's not around.

Where I am from they tell me

I am too old to go to school
and that I should stop going.

But I just persevere.

An inner resilience enables you

to stand up to quite a lot externally.

You don't have to be rich to be good,

to be generous, to be compassionate,

to care about the other.

With that basic foundation in the
children, how much better off could they be

if we could support
them and provide them

the tools and the skills and
the resources to move forward.

Across Africa individuals and
communities are showing by their actions

and telling in our conversations
their hope for the future,

their determination, to get
out of the trap that they're in.

And what's amazing, the
human connection is immediate.

When people have hope and
determination, thats the contagion.

Send! Sharing love
through sending messages.

So they wrote different
messages on the piece of paper,

and time I was saying send they were
sending that message to each other

What was your message?
- Missing you and I wish you all the best.

When I first met Fanizo
the only future he could see

was where his next meal
was going to come from.

But as time passed,
his confidence grew.

He had the courage to ask me to
help him get into a good school.

I told him I would help, but
he would have to study hard.

No free rides.

We shook hands on it.

At the beginning of the summer he took
his first exam at a prestigious academy.

The results came in.

The headmaster said he was bright, but his
English wasn�t good enough for enrolment.

He spent the next three
months with an English tutor,

and then went back for the
second time to take another exam.

This time, he got in.

Today we are visiting Kasungo where I�ll
be learning school at Kamuzo Academy.

This is my room where
I will be sleeping.

To me it�s very expensive

and I didn�t believe it
that it�s me who is here!

I will try my best to study
hard, and I will never give up.

If I go back to that very
profound African concept,

to say I Am Because We Are, so,

here in Malawi, I am because there is
somebody in America who is part of me,

there's somebody in the
UK who is part of me.

We are all part of this
problem, the global problem

and we must address it
head on, together, as one.

That is the big issue.
- I am because we are

John F. Kennedy said in the
most beautiful words,

'for in the final analysis
our most common link is that

we all inhabit this same small planet,

we all breathe the same air,

we all cherish our children's
future, and we are all mortal.

He knew, we have a common fate,
this is not an 'us versus them' fate.

I am because we are.

I am, because�
- We are

I am... - I am...
- I am...

Because we are.
- Am I because

I am, because, we are.

I am because we are, is really
seeing the world as one unified whole.

It�s an understanding of the
interconnectedness between all of us.

And that there is no difference
between the children of Malawi,

the children of Eastern Europe, the children
of India, or the children of Palestine.

We are all children of the world.

And we are all responsible
for one another.

I Am Because
- We are.

I am because we are makes us
see the silliness of anyone

who thinks that they are better
or separate from anyone else.

When you de-humanize the other,

whether you like it or not,

inexorably, you are de-humanized.

You need the other person
to be all they can be,

in order for you to be
all you can be.

And when we do think in those ways,

the things we can solve
together are beyond imagining.

I Am Because We Are!

And that way, these
problems become our problems.

And therefore the solutions themselves

also will involve all of
us in solving these issues.

You cannot say and think
about the phrase Ubuntu,

without acknowledging
just by uttering the word,

that what we have in common is more
important that our interesting differences.

If you were walking somewhere, you find
somebody on the road lying helpless,

you might want to ask
yourself a question.

If I stop, what will happen to me.

That's the wrong question.
The question should be,

if I do not stop, what
will happen to him.

There are ways to improve the world,

there are ways that each
of us can contribute.

You have to find you own way.

Maybe it is making a
donation for a bed net

so a child can sleep in safety.

Its certainly learning
about these problems

so that one can help
educate one's own community.

For a student it may be
choosing to study these issues,

spend the gap year abroad, go
to a village, it changes a life.

Most important its to understand
how interconnected we are

and find ways to live lives that
reflect that interconnectedness,

and the strength we
can have on our planet

if we look after each other.

We are living in a world
where we have a choice.

The choice is a world
that spins out of control,

or a world that together
solves its problems

and finds a path to peace.

I hope and pray that the work we
have begun to do here in Malawi

will have a lasting effect
on the children here.

And the stories I have
shared in this film,

reflect not only the
challenges that Malawi faces,

but also the courage and resilience that
I have witnessed in so many of the people.

I know the current government is doing
it�s best to right the wrongs of the past,

and to respond to this
state of emergency,

I also hope that anyone
watching this film

will feel inspired to help
in anyway that they can.

While I have been outraged by many
of the things I have witnessed,

I also take great comfort in knowing

that people are the same everywhere.

We all bleed the same colour,

we all want to look after our children,

and we all want to love and be loved.

#IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP
ME OR ANYONE ELSE IN THIS FILM#

#CONTINUE TO DO THEIR WORK IN MALAWI#

#PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE#

#WWW.IAMBECAUSEWEARE.COM#

Please convey the message, to
the States and the world at large.

#SINODE IS CURRENTLY RESPONDING
WELL TO HIS ARV TREATMENT.#

#MAVUTTO LIVES WITH HIS SECOND UNCLE AND
HAS BEEN IN SCHOOL FOR ONE YEAR NOW#

#WEIZI IS STILL LIVING AT HOME OF HOPE
ORPHANAGE, AND CONTINUES HER ARV TREATMENT#

#THE BOYS OF THE JUVENILE PRISON
HAVE JUST FINISHED LEVEL ONE OF SFK#

#AND CELEBRATED WITH A PARTY#

#MERCY RECEIVED A SCHOLARSHIP TO
ATTEND AN ALL GIRLS ACADEMY IN MALAWI#

#LUKA�S HEALTH IMPROVES EVERYDAY.#

#FANIZO CONTINUES HIS
EDUCATION AT KAMUZU ACADEMY.#