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Books Etc.

The Pilot  ●  Southern Pines, NC

Photographer and author Chellie Kew
will be at the Country Bookshop
on Friday, Oct. 3 to sign copies of her book

Telling Their Stories

BY FAYE M. DASEN
Features Editor

Upon meeting Chellie Kew, one might assume that this tall blonde woman is a Junior Leaguer who spends most of her time in the social whirl.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Kew, the daughter of Joan Blake of Pinehurst and the stepdaughter of the late Israel Octave Blake, owner of Newport Stock Farm in Pinehurst has recently published a book of photographs and short vignettes called "African Journal: A Child's Continent."

This is a story of hope a story of children orphaned by the AIDS virus," Kew says.  "The children photographed for 'African Journal' do not have AIDS; these are the children who want to grow up to become teachers, doctors, mothers, fathers."

Kew felt that many of the books available were filed with sadness, horror, disease and death.

"I looked into the eyes of these orphans, and I saw life, courage, dignity and spirit."

Kew was a model for two years appearing in national magazines such as Seventeen, Co-Ed and Mademoiselle, but soon found herself on the other side of the camera.

"I have had a camera in my hand since I was a child," she says.  "Photography comes naturally to me.  I have the patience to wait for the 'right shot.  I know the moment I press the shutter exactly which photograph captures the moment, the feeling, the thought, the statement desired.

Kew describers her husband, Kevin, as a "globe-trotting executive." They now have a home in Portland, Ore.

Chellie Kew is the daughter of Pinehurst resident Joan Blake.

"We have two extraordinary children," she says.  "Jeannette is 24 and lives in Scottsdale, Ariz. and Octavio is 22 and recent graduate of the Wharton Business School. He lives in "Philly."

In 1997, the family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where Kevin Kew worked with a computer firm.  The family's home was surrounded by squatters' camps and security guards patrolled the area.

Kew was almost ready to come back to the United States with her children, but a chance conversation with a doctor at her son's school changed her mind.

"He told me about the number of children who had been orphaned as a result of AIDS," she says.  "And I decided to stay."

Kew spent the next two years trying to find organizations and foster homes to help these victims.

After the family's return to the United States, Kew had a dream about a little girl with dark eyes.  She wrote a poem about it and sent it to some friends, one of whom reminded here that she had once spoken of doing a book of photographs of American children with AIDS.

"I knew I needed to return to Africa to record the stories of those children," she says.

Kew visited various countries in Africa over the period of the next few years, taking photographs and writing down the stories of the children.

These journeys were not all easy.

In 2002, Kew arrived in Namibia and rented a vehicle (equipped with a cell phone) for the drive to a town called Sossusvlei.

After an accident about mid-way through the trip, Kew was forced to walk through leopard country after she discovered that the cell phone didn't work.

"I had hit my head on the dashboard," she says.  "And I passed out.  When I woke up, I decided to start walking."

Luckily, Kew chose the right direction in which to walk.

"A male baboon had followed me for some hours on the road," she says.  "I heard the noise the birds make when a predator is close by, and a donkey passed once."

A man, out in the fields inoculating sheep, spotted Kew and arranged for her to be transported to the nearest hospital.

"I made a promise to the children that night that if I survived, I would show their pictures," she says.  "I'd speak of their courage."

Kew founded a nonprofit organization called The 'Q' Fund that supports sub-Saharan orphans affected by the AIDS virus.

All proceeds from the sale of the book go toward the construction of the Chimoza Community School in Zambia which will provide schooling to 500 AIDS orphans, estimated to cost around $30,000.

"We've already raised $35,000" says Kew.

WANT TO GO?

What:   Book Signing
When:  Friday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Where:  Country Bookshop, Southern Pines
Information:  692-3211