The troupe Kaani-gui is a collective of young Senegalese performers from all social ranks. In the wake of post-colonial, consumerist, tradition -breaking changes, the young find themselves in a city-scape of unemployment and poverty. Walking the streets of Saint-Louis, frustration, confusion, and despair are as tangible as is the feeling of loss of cultural identity and pride....few are those who don't succumb to it. Ten years ago, a local club was formed to offer kids an identity and a physical space in which they could interact, free from external direction. The local amateur football team, the pride of the neighborhood, encouraged those who could dance, or drum, or sing, or even act, to put together "soirees" which would attract and seduce audiences enough to raise funds for the purchase of football uniforms and bus rentals. Word soon spread about the theatrical sketches and choreographed dances being put on by the A(ssociation) S(port) et C(ulture) Kaani-Gui (which translates as "the pepper") and before long, these "soirees" became the hot ticket in town. However, there came a time when the troupe felt the need and the ability to do something more gratifying; as Babacar Faye tells it, a few of them asked the club organizers if they would support them in their effort to write and produce a play about AIDS. The answer from above was an emphatic "no."

The troupe went ahead anyway, and researched the disease of AIDS; they spoke to doctors, hospital workers, AIDS victims, drug users, and wrote a play which tells the story of a promiscuous businessman who brings the HIV virus home to his family. The drama is unrelenting in its coverage of the details of the disease: the test which reveals his HIV+ status, his subsequent denial, his shame, the education which his doctor friend forces him to undergo, and the nefarious effect it has on his wife and children (one of whom turns to drugs in an attempt to escape the familial tension, and who learns about another means of AIDS transmission). The play is as universal and powerful as a classic Greek tragedy, and a comprehensive introduction to a disease which is decimating the ignorant.

With the play finished, Babacar and another member of Kaani-gui dared to go to the mayor of Saint-Louis to request that they be allowed to perform the work in the central square, under lights, and with chairs for a non-paying audience, in a month's time...December 1st,1994 (World AIDS Day). They did, and it was a great success! One indirect result of their success was that the Senegalese Minister of Culture issued a competitive challenge, nationally, to all cultural organizations, to write and perform plays about AIDS: of course Kaani-gui won, with the finals held in Dakar before the President of the Republic. Their reward was to perform the play in villages all over the country for a month, and for which the troupe members were paid two dollars a day.

Kaani-gui are still performing this play when and where they can. They often cannot, for lack of funds. When I first met Kaani-gui, they were rehearsing, in a space the size of a changing room, under the concrete stands of the local football stadium. They were not acting when I walked in; three "griot" drummers were pounding out a wild rhythm, and ten dancers were moving with the grace and joy of a sophisticated modern dance corps. It was explained to me that to put on a play like theirs without an epilogue of music, dance and song, went against all tradition and sensibility. "When there is a message as heavy as ours, we need to follow it with music and dance so that it can be digested, and remembered without fear." So, the members of Kaani-gui work four or five hours a day, five or more days a week, to perfect and invigorate their craft: Baymor, who until he joined was a street-fighter who "disrespected everyone"; Best, whose father is the chief Imam of the neighborhood and who no longer speaks to his son since he gave up his Koranic studies for the troupe; Babacar, once a gardener at the University of Saint-Louis, who, six months after the play's premier, was offered a teaching post there and is now called "Prof." by his dance students; Mirieme and Soukheina, who are not allowed to rehearse until they've finished all the housework and cooking for their large extended families, and have to be escorted on longer journeys.

The name of the play and that of our film is "Funu-Jëm" which means both "where are we going?" and "what's going to happen to us?" First of all, it's our intention to film the play exactly as it's performed in a small village, using several cameras to capture not just the actors in close-up (as necessary), but also the audience who walk up to ten miles to witness the "spectacle", and the occasional cock or lamb that crosses the "stage." Secondly, and in keeping with the lesson that we've learned from our friends, we'll include some dance and drumming, and songs, to allow for some "digestion," but also to highlight the dynamics of the troupe itself as we show them in rehearsal and "en route" to the village.

We fully expect that this film will be televised in many nations, and of course in Africa, our primary target. But to leave it at that would be to ignore those who most need to see it: villagers who live in the most rudimentary villages must have the film taken to them, by truck or camionette; secondary school children, whether in Africa or in urban areas closer to us, under the guise of "cultural studies," or"art" programs, must be given a chance to learn the realities of AIDS from an unexpected and non-governmental source. We hope to spread and accelerate the message of Kaani-gui, with respect to AIDS...."learn and live".

We need money to return to the Saint-Louis area to complete our shooting, and to post-produce the video; we need sponsorship to help us to raise those funds, and we need assistance in distributing the finished product. Any ideas? Click here to let us know how you'd like to help.