this deadly pandemic using an unusual remedy, performance art. This individual desire to make positive change grew into a voluntary organisation called Tutuma. The organisation uses different methods based on arts and drama and movement therapy to work with HIV/AIDS victims on the impact that the disease has had on their lives.
“Early last year UNICEF released some truly horrifying statistics about Zimbabwe and the effect of HIV/AIDS, this was a real turning point for me. I started researching the situation and what I could do, or how I could use the arts to help. With the assistance and expertise from Dr. Ingrid Landman – who is Chairwoman for HIV Clinicians Society for Zimbabwe and founder of Well Woman’s Clinic, the project began. I researched the use of Drama and Movement Therapy, and started working with a number of people from businessmen and women, artists, educationalists and writers from Zimbabwe and the UK,” explained Janelle.
Tutuma has already been involved in a number of outreach programmes in Zimbabwe, where some of its members have been working with children and youth affected by HIV/AIDS. In their first tour of Zimbabwe last year in October, the group visited Chitungwiza where they facilitated dance workshops with groups of young girls affected by the virus. Performance art is not only a form of escapism, but good therapy as well, with curative powers to keep people away from the painful realities of death and suffering.
In April this year, Janelle led a talented cast of actors and actresses to Zimbabwe, this time to perform at HIFA Patrick Marber’s award winning play, Closer, which was warmly received by a mostly appreciative global audience.
“I don’t believe that the consequences of promiscuity change according to country or continent, because at the core we are all the same, we all have the wonderful ability to love passionately and bleed and bruise,” she said. The main reason why AIDS is spreading like a bush fire in Africa is lack of adequate information on relationships and sex.
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy, speaking in Johannesburg last year aptly captured the devastating effects of AIDS in Zimbabwe. “Every day children in Zimbabwe are dying of HIV/AIDS, every day children are becoming infected, orphaned, and forced to leave school to care for sick parents. The global generosity towards tsunami victims was inspiring, but it has dried up for Zimbabwean children who are facing a deadly crisis every day of their lives”, she said.