Home Theatre Friday: On Malaria, Movies and Edutainment

It was a great evening yesterday at CCHub with some Nollywood guys. They had this new “Home Theatre” initiative where they show a movie in-house that addresses social problems, or so I understood.

Yesterday’s movie was Mary and Martha featuring Hilary Swank. It was about a mother who lost her only son to malaria from one mosquito bite when they made a trip to Africa. The loss led the mother to discover that the deadly malaria was the reality of millions of families and mothers in Africa. Shaken to her core, she led a serious campaign to provide nets and supply for some of the affected areas.

Apart from gaining a huge insight into how deadly Malaria truly is, I was dazed to discover that just one mosquito bite could kill an Oyibo. I told my neighbour Brownie that it means that the mosquitoes that bit me last year can wipe out the whole US!

At the end of the movie, we discussed the Malaria related challenges facing medical practitioners and the public in general, suggesting possible solutions that can spring from the collaboration of all the players present – Tech, Nollywood and Doctors. Top and most prominent on the list of challenges was awareness/information deficit. At first, it seemed like a tech problem but on a second look, the responsibility rests squarely, and with every other shape, on the shoulders of Nollywood.

Nigerian Tech community is doing very well but we still just about 30% internet penetration rate, most of which just know only Facebook. Nollywood on the other hand, has a room in almost every heart in Nigeria and, as IrokoTv has proven, plenty outside Nigeria. Many people not only have TVs and DVD players in their homes but also in their office receptions, shops, saloons, hotels and eateries. Except in corporate organizations tuned to News channels, most of those TVs are tuned to either music or a Nollywood movie, watching up to 10 movies in a week. This sort of addiction gives Movie makers an enormous amount of power to shape people’s lifestyle. That is more reach and power than any newspaper or politician can ever have. Technology in Nigeria is at least 20 years away from this kind of reach.  I had mentioned here earlier that most of what many people know about many things was learnt from the screen, especially since our people don’t like to read.

One movie producers at the event said he wasn't going to do a movie about malaria because he didn't have the money. But he is probably going to do a movie about love or vengeance or militants. All he needs to do is to inject suggestions by having some of the scenes depict the message he wants to pass across. The last contributor for the day gave an amazing illustration about how Joseph Benjamin could be playing a love scene with Genevieve and all they had to do to support the Anti-Malaria Education campaign was to have a mosquito net over their bed. If a few of these anti-malaria best practices like a mother clearing her surroundings of stagnant water or a Malaria Prevention infographic prominently hanging on the wall of a rural home, were injected in 5 of the 10 movies people watch in a week, their lifestyle will subconsciously be adjusted to imbibe such practices.

I have a strong passion for value instilling and informative contents. So man people are largely misinformed or simply ignorant about so many issues that could literally change their lives. I've been thinking about how to work with professionals and subject matter experts to demystify certain topics and break them down into forms that the common man can understand and be empowered into positive action, like a For Dummies series for GDP, Rebasing, CBN policies, Politics, etc. This excellent articlebreaking down the Nigerian Economy and Naira Devaluation for the rest of us is a wonderful example of what I mean.  The most I was probably going to do would be to set up a website where people could access them. But Nollywood holds the key to every home.

There are endless possibilities that can rise from the collaboration of Nollywood with Professional bodies and Creative communities like CCHub aimed at educating people by injecting value and life changing information into movie scripts, or even building a whole script around a topic. Imagine if every single Nollywood production – movies and soap operas - carried one or two chip-ins purposely aimed at educating the public about particular issues, they will change this nation literally. It is completely doable.

Big shout out to Joseph Benjamin for committing totally to the fight against malaria, and thanks to the Nollywood guys for the great time, and the small chops of course.