Stephanie Vizi has one of the warmest smiles a person can have.
She’s friendly and polite, and looks right at home in the foyer of the new River Building on campus. Vizi, 22, is a fourth-year student double majoring in journalism and African studies at Carleton.
She’s also the founder of her own non-profit initiative, Persona Non Grata.
Persona Non Grata is the name of the Oct. 10 art show Vizi put together that will display art and photographs done by HIV/AIDS orphans in Lesotho, Africa (pronounced le-so-to).
“It’s my own little initiative, I’m not sure where it’s going to go,” Vizi says. “I hope for it to be an annual event. This is my introductory one.”
The profits from the art show will go towards post-secondary education for the orphans of Rachel’s Home, the Lesotho orphanage Vizi has visited twice since 2009.
On her most recent trip to Lesotho in March, Vizi brought with her disposable cameras, crayons, pencil crayons, and some paint and paper that was donated by the National Gallery of Canada. She says it was her experience with babysitting that taught her how kids respond to arts and crafts.
Once she reached the orphanage, she led an after-school program and taught the kids how to use a different art medium every day. Vizi decided to bring the kids’ art back to Canada to sell as a “pay it forward” mentality. She believes raising money to send the children to post-secondary schooling will help end the cycle of poverty in Lesotho.
“The kids that we finance through school we hope that they’ll come back and help the other kids and the other people of Lesotho,” she explains.
Fellow fourth-year student Heather Burgess, who Vizi calls her “support system,” is both her roommate and a helper.
She describes Vizi as a go-getter with never a moment of spare time.
“Each time it affects her more deeply,” Burgess says of Vizi’s trips to Africa. “I think it’s really forced her to get out of her comfort zone and really do something not many people would do, [to] start a new charity.”
There are two major Persona Non Grata art show fundraisers coming soon: one in Cambridge Sept. 28 and one Oct. 10 here in Ottawa. The Ottawa show will include 14 photographs taken by the kids, as well as their paintings and drawings.
Vizi has also organized a multimedia presentation of Rachel’s Home, spoken-word poetry, and an African-themed band called Cheza for the event.
“I’m just hoping that I can expose Ottawa to what’s happening in Lesotho, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and to connect them with these kids who desperately want to go to postsecondary studies to make the change in their community,” Vizi says.
Vizi says she has raised a couple thousand dollars through Persona Non Grata. She looks forward to getting back to Rachel’s Home and seeing the kids again in the future.
The most rewarding moment Vizi remembers since getting involved, is stepping off the bus in Lesotho for the second time after three years. She asked a little boy if he remembered her and when he said, “Yes. Steph.” She said she burst into tears.
“I just see it as one person helping another,” Vizi says. “For some reason they’ve crossed our paths and they need help . . . and we’re just using our resources here to help them.”
