Profiles

Close-Up with William Ingaga: HIV Chronicler and Cameraman Extraordinaire

Internews

(Dec. 1, 2008) William Inganga, whose title is Film Officer at the Kenya News Agency, is working on his 42nd story about HIV in Kenya in less than 18 months, since a training workshop opened his eyes to the impact he could have on the issue and to his own latent reporting talents.

William was a TV trainee in July 2007 when Internews Network’s Kenya office introduced a role swapping exercise aimed at fostering teamwork between TV journalists and camera people. The exercise made it clear that the two play equally important parts. Camera people learned to appreciate the rigors of having to think on your feet and look presentable at the same time, while journalists learned there is no story without good pictures. The journalist who swapped places with William learned to focus, hold steady and create poignant moments on video, while William discovered his news nose and scriptwriting talent.

“Finding that first good HIV story was a big hurdle,” recalls William. He spent weeks “sowing seeds” wherever he went – making contact, asking around, telling people what kind of story he was looking for. And then he found it: an HIV-positive man on death row, receiving life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs.

“Here is a man waiting for the hangman’s noose. And he knows his HIV status is a second death sentence. Then he gets drugs, he gets better and this makes him realize life is for living – and he starts getting hope that his appeal may succeed,” William says. The case is still being appealed.

The poignancy of this circumstance convinced the authorities to open the prison doors to William’s camera. “Once those prison doors opened, more HIV doors opened, and HIV stories started looking for me!” says William.

They say knowledge is power, but William believes knowledge is passion. He shares that what he learned about HIV in the workshop made him want to know even more. And over the 15 months of HIV storytelling, the subject has become ever more interesting.

“To be honest, HIV was like any other story to me,” he admits. “Internews offered me the break from news and boosted my confidence and ability to tackle features. The fact that the topic was HIV was a bonus – it opened my eyes to how big the subject is, and the joy of making an impact in peoples’ lives is indescribable.”

William is busy with story number 42. It’s about a prison warden who has gone public with her HIV status. “When people in public office open up like that, it makes a huge difference and it normalizes HIV  – that’s why the story is important,” says William.

Internews Network’s Local Voices program in Kenya trains practicing radio, print and TV journalists in HIV storytelling. Trainees have produced over 1,500 quality features, which combine accurate science and the voices and experiences of ordinary people living with HIV.

Internews’ health journalism programs in Africa are funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief. 

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