WMU News

Show chronicles four-year trek across Africa

January 8, 1998

KALAMAZOO -- A multimedia show chronicling one man's four-year trek across Africa will be presented at Western Michigan University Wednesday, Jan. 21.

"Footsteps into Change," the story of Patrick Giantonio's 4,000-mile journey across the continent, will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Brown Auditorium of Schneider Hall. It is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a discussion session with Giantonio.

The presentation involves a combination of three large screens and nine slide projectors. The dynamic soundtrack incorporates the sounds and interviews that Giantonio recorded in the rain forests, savannas and villages of East and Central Africa, along with traditional and contemporary African music as well as a song that Richie Havens wrote and performed for the show.

The 90-minute presentation recreates Giantonio's walk from Mombassa, Kenya, to Douala, Cameroon. The show has been on the road for about four years and has been presented on college campuses, at festivals and at civic gatherings across the country.

Giantonio first traveled to Africa in 1979 and witnessed the poverty and injustice there. After spending several years working with community service groups in Woodstock, N.Y., he decided to raise money by walking across Africa. His trek lasted from 1984 to 1988. Several years after returning to the United States, he created "Footsteps into Change."

The presentation at WMU is being sponsored by Alternative Winter Excursion, a part of Student Volunteer Services in the Lee Honors College, and by the Residence Hall Association. For more information, persons may contact Rolland Elliott at (616) 387-9877.


Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
616 387-8400
univ-rel@wmich.edu

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