Monday morning, 8th September. Maseru, Lesotho.

I drove across the border from South Africa to visit the mobile cinema team at Sesotho Media. It is partly because of the project that we started (Steps for the Future) eight years previously, a YLE/Day Zero co-production of 38 documentary and short films about people living in the time of HIV and AIDS. Here, as in ten other countries across Southern Africa, the films are still being screened. I met the team, most of whom are HIV+. Thabiso tells me about tests he has had, to try and find out the problem of why his legs are not functioning properly. Moalosi tells me his son, five years old and also HIV+, is doing fine. Thato, 23 years old, who found out she was positive when she lost her first baby, is pregnant again and smiling. I am handed a letter from the Department of Correctional Services thanking the Sesotho Media team and Steps for showing films at their prisons, and asking us to continue this for all prisons - male, female, juvenile - across the country.

It is tough showing films in the prisons, but the Department is very supportative. They send their wardens to the office to get sacks of condoms donated by a German music festival for the prisoners. The facilitators for the mobile cinema have to be very strong during the discussions, because the films let out emotions and often create tense moments. A prisoner stands up after the screening, and says "I am HIV+". This causes his fellow inmates to get angry with him and blame him for putting them in danger. But Moalosi and the others handle the situation and use it to talk about prevention and discrimination. The films are not didactic and so the facilitators need to know all about HIV and AIDS and how to provide that information. The strength of the films is that they bring out people’s questions and desire for knowledge because the audience relates to the characters and the situations they find themselves in. They are also still relevant after many years.

My mission is to find more funding for Sesotho Media so that they can continue to show films around the country. Lesotho is poor, with few roads, and many mountains. Sometimes in the summer the 4-wheel drive vehicle cannot cross flooding rivers to get to the village where the screening is happening. Or in winter it’s too cold to screen at night. But now it is the start of Spring, and it's getting warm and the peach trees have beautiful pink blossoms.

The reality is tough. I visited a newly started NGO, Sentebale and they tell me recent statistics about HIV in Lesotho. 1,7% of the population is dying every year, that is eight times as many as in South Africa. Of the 1,8 million people, there are now almost 400,000 orphans who have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Most of those dying are in the 21 to 35 year old group, and life expectancy is down to an average of 36 years.

It’s vital to reach the youth, those who are still HIV negative, and provide them with enough education to help them stay negative. That is the only way to help save the nation. I propose that we join forces, young people are eager to see films and Sentebale's focus is on the youth. The charity has been started by two Princes - Prince Harry of the U.K. and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, the King's brother. If they can assist in raising funds to keep the mobile cinema running, we can focus our programme more on young people. But we need some more documentaries made with and for the youth.

When I leave Lesotho, Thabiso and Moalosi are running a workshop training people from other organisations how to facilitate film screenings. The Steps documentaries will reach more audiences, and continue to have an impact that ultimately saves peoples lives.