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Groundbreaking Charity founded by Media Graduate HIV/AIDS Education Project run by Katherine Lee

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I graduated from Bournemouth in 2002, with a BA (Hons) New Media Production, which is now called BA (Hons) Interactive Media Production.

The course equips students with the necessary basic skills to apply in any number of contexts and it enabled me to recognise the power of the tool beyond a conventional function.

The course created an opportunity for third years to develop their own media product as a major project. Although plenty of support was provided, there was never a sense of prescription which allowed me free reign to really get creative and combine my two passions; education in Africa and media.

The three years at Bournemouth nurtured my passion for media and also broadened my opinion on the potential and role of new media in so many ways.

A voluntary teaching experience in Zimbabwe, prior to my degree, opened my eyes to Africa; its cultures, values, riches and of course the problems obstructing development and jeopardising human rights. The little teaching experience I'd had in that time certainly influenced my decision to develop a teaching tool as my third year project.

I began to conceptualise a CD-ROM based, interactive teaching/learning tool for schools to enhance life skills and HIV and AIDS education. South Africa was my target country due to its leading infrastructure on the continent - therefore an IT based learning tool was more realistic.

On a research trip to South Africa, I learnt that teachers and students were experiencing a fatigue of AIDS messages and there was a need to initiate more engaging and relevant forms of communication on this life or death topic. Animated stories combined with entertaining activities and games was used as the vehicle for learning - after all, children learn most effectively when the tasks at hand are fun and attractive.

I began to conceptualise a CD-ROM based, interactive teaching/learning tool for schools to enhance life skills and HIV and AIDS education

South Africa has the largest number of people living with HIV in the world (5.8 million). Over 10% of all new infections worldwide occur in South Africa. 1 in 4 women are HIV + before reaching 25, 900 people die of AIDS related diseases every day resulting in over a million orphaned children. HIV and AIDS will continue to have devastation of immense scale for generations to come.

It eliminates the economically active population, orphans millions of children, reverses development and gives momentum to the cycle of poverty. These are all grave issues that the entire global village is responsible for resolving and I felt that the media had a role to play in reaching the Millennium Development Goals to alleviate poverty.

After graduating from Bournemouth University I pursued the CD-ROM concept I had developed in my third year and following research trips to SA confirming a need for such tools I have since established a charity called the African Pulse.

The charity strives to provide innovative educational resources to equip young people with the life skills to be able to make informed choices in a world affected by HIV and AIDS.

The charity strives to provide innovative educational resources to equip young people with the life skills to be able to make informed choices in a world affected by HIV and AIDS. Having moved to Cape Town, South Africa in 2003, the charity now produce a multitude of educational curriculum based resources, including CD-ROMs, comic books and videos, for schools across the country.

Bournemouth University has been very supportive of my initiative as a graduate and has provided opportunities to fundraise and raise awareness of the work through the Global Perspectives Group on campus.

For further information about The African Pulse please contact:

• BA (Hons) Interactive Media Production
• MA Interactive Media
• Media Production Student Showcase