Angels in the Dust

"ANGELS IN THE DUST" is a story of healing in the face of a staggering crisis that is leaving entire South African villages decimated and thousands of children orphaned. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called HIV/AIDS "the new Apartheid." By the year 2010, 100 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa will be infected with the disease and 40 million children will be orphaned as a result of the virus. In South Africa alone, six million adults and children are infected. But amid the despair there is hope. "ANGELS IN THE DUST" is the inspiring story of Marion Cloete, a university-trained therapist whowith her husband and two daughtersfearlessly walked away from a privileged life in a wealthy Johannesburg suburb to establish Boikarabelo (formerly Botshabelo), an extraordinary village and school that provide shelter, food, and education to more than 550 South African children. The tale of Marion and the orphans she cares for is echoed in a dramatic parallel saga of the orphaned elephants of Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. The longtime government practice of culling killing adult elephants to control herd sizestore apart the complex social fabric of elephant culture, a fabric that is not unlike that of the traditionally close-knit African village. As a result, orphaned elephants grew up exhibiting unusually violent behavior, such as attacking and goring rhinos. But elder elephants were recently introduced into the Pilanesberg population to resocialize the young. The experiment is workingand it offers a resonant reflection of the healing taking place for the human children being "reparented" by Marion at Botshabelo. "ANGELS IN THE DUST" is the story of a courageous, self-sacrificing, fiercely loving woman who chooses a spiritual path over a material one; it tells of the life-changing power of one compassionate heart. For a nation overwhelmed by an epidemic of HIV/AIDS, orphans, rape, violence, and Apartheid's legacy of social and political unrest, the film offers a clear pathway of hope and a replicable paradigm for the future. Learn more about the film at Dream Out Loud Films