Jeff Camden

Calgary is known as home to Big Oil, but a group of medical students from the University of Calgary and visual arts students from Alberta College of Art and Design have teamed up to show it also has a big heart. The students are spearheading a lofty campaign called Project Tinman that aims to raise $1 million to help people living with AIDs in Africa access HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) drugs and medical treatment.

The idea came to Breanne Everett, Evan Minty and Thomas Stark after they invited Stephen Lewis to speak to fellow medical students last year and were motivated by his passion and dedication. “We asked ourselves, What kind of space can we fill that we don’t see existing right now in the charity market?” says Minty.

Taking the name from the famed Wizard of Oz character, the trio decided to create the world’s largest AIDs ribbon. For $10, anyone can purchase a 10-foot section, using their name, company logo or dedication. ACAD students will then create a graphic for the ribbon. They have also been scouting locations to display the finished product and are eyeing Nose Hill Park, among other public spaces.

“Calgary is the richest city in the richest province and one of the richest countries in the G8,” says Minty. “This is a way of taking a distant problem and lending a sense of obligation to it. It lends a sense of political consequence to broken promises. Big promises are made but are substantially under funded,” he adds. “When the cameras aren’t on the politicians anymore, (these programs) are subsequently underfunded or disregarded altogether.”

The group has also created T-shirts emblazoned with Have Oil, Need HAART and is selling them on the Project Tinman website (www.tinman.ca), and has already raised $15,000 through various fundraising efforts including bake sales. "It’s a local movement that contributes to a global cause,” Minty says.

All the money raised from the website will be channelled to Dignitas, a non-profit working with AIDs patients in Malawi, Africa. Led by Dr. James Orbinski, former president of Doctors Without Borders, the group is advocating for access to HAART drugs and implementing followup programs for those living with AIDs and HIV. Minty says Dignitas is the only group with a viable system for tracking the progress of patients in a climate of upheaval.

Minty notes he is encouraged by the leaps in medicine here, adding they have made it possible for those infected to live healthy lives. "The way the western world responded to the AIDs epidemic is amazing. We’ve gone from a disease that in 1981 had no known cause and no known cure to being able to manage it within 20 years. It’s quite remarkable.”

Despite the advances made in the western world, the treatments are not yet widely available in Africa. Minty notes the disconnect is part of the group’s motivation. "We can’t seem to find a way to direct those kinds of resources overseas. It’s a social problem more than a medical one at this point."