Outreach to Africa
In the time
Thomasin
Holly has been
a USC student,
it is estimated
650,000
children have been
orphaned by AIDS in
the African country of
Malawi. With the help
of USC alumni, Holly,
a junior visual communications
major, and
a class of students are
traveling to Malawi this
summer to participate
in a service learning
study abroad program
that will help some of
those children.
"I didn't want to
study abroad just to
sightsee; I wanted to do
service, too," Holly says.
The service learning
component of the 11-day Malawi expedition
stuck out to alumna
Rev. Janet Tarbox, as
well. "I'm really proud
of the university for
being such a hotbed of
involvement," Tarbox
says. Rev. Tarbox and
husband Tal LeGrand
donated five $1,000
scholarships to go to
five students participating
in the trip led by
associate professor of
visual communications
Van Kornegay. 
The USC students
will travel into Malawian
villages to launch
mobile medical clinics. The clinics are set up to
provide communities
with medical tests, vaccinations
and basic care.
Students will assist with
the clinics and document
the work they
are doing with photos,
video and written word.
"They won't just be
observers, they'll be
participants," Kornegay
promises. The content
produced will be used
to promote a Malawian
non-governmental
organization, Ministry
of Hope. "It's great not only for the organization
because they get
promotional material,
but also for me because
I get to put things in
my portfolio," Holly
says.
Malawi is known as
the "warm heart of Africa,"
but also for being
hard-hit by the AIDS
pandemic. "Thinking
about being an orphan
anywhere is bad; thinking
about being an orphan
in Africa is awful,"
says Kornegay. Without
any safety net or formal
government assistance,
children orphaned by
AIDS often have to
rely on the assistance
of organizations like
Ministry of Hope.
The Malawi-based
organization will use
the student produced
content on their website
to tell the story of the
work they are doing to
help AIDS orphans.
"Sometimes a photograph
can encapsulate a
story," Rev. Tarbox says.
"I'm hoping that is a
piece of what happens
to one student, or five
students, or however
many have that moment
where they realize
how important the
visual is in addition to
words." Though not
journalism alumni
themselves, Rev. Tarbox
and LeGrand have a
history of giving back
to the J-school through
the Buchanan Scholarship.
The scholarship is
in memory of former
School of Journalism
and Mass Communications
Dean George
A. Buchanan and
Charlotte Buchanan
LeGrand.
The Malawi contribution,
however, was personal
for Rev. Tarbox. "I
did want to make some
kind of contribution to
photography with the
school of journalism,
because photography is
what I enjoy," she said.
Photography is important
to Holly, one of the
five recipients, as well.
Holly hopes to work
as a photographer after
graduating and says this
financial aid is making
her trip to Malawi
possible. "It would have
been really difficult to
find the money for this
trip on my own," Holly
says. Participating students
pay a program fee,
tuition and cover the
costs for the required
travel vaccinations to
enter Malawi. Kornegay
has traveled to the
country five times in the
past six years. He serves
on Ministry of Hope's
U.S. executive committee,
so he knows the importance
these students'
photographs and other
work will have on the
organization's success.
"We saw a huge
growth in fundraising
once we started doing
things like websites,"
Kornegay says. That
website was designed by
visual communications
students as a class assignment.
The Ministry
of Hope promotional
video was filmed largely
by Amanda Tatum, a
Magellan scholar and
2010 graduate. A
spring 2013 public relations
course pitched PR
campaign ideas to the
organization. "There is
really a J-school story to
this group," Kornegay
says.
Reprinted from InterCom, the college alumni magazine
Story & Design By: Chris
Brown
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