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I am adding some pictures to my blogs (backdated), so be sure to check them out!
Today we began to delve more intensively into issues regarding HIV in Botswana in addition to our Setswana lessons. Dr. V. Chipfakacha from SADC (Southern African Development Community) came to speak to us about his approach to HIV/AIDS. In addition to an overview of what HIV/AIDS is and how it is affecting southern Africa, Dr. Chipfakacha gave us some special insight into the disease in this context.
He had us begin by making a tree. At the roots, we wrote the causes of HIV: poverty, mother-child transmission, sharing needles in drug users, unsafer sex practices (he stresses that there is no "safe sex"), lack of sex education, gender inequality/violence, etc. At the trunk, we wrote effects: girls forfeit education to run households, gender inequality, rape as treatment, stigma/discrimination, morbidity/mortality, poverty/lower productivity.
Amongst the branches, he made us put flowers. The flowers, he said, were the positives of HIV. We sat silent for a while--we often do not think that there can possibly be a positive to something like HIV/AIDS. However, after a little coaxing, we did come up with four flowers: women's empowerment, a multi-sectoral response, multi-billion dollar industry, and bringing countries together against a common threat.
With these causes, effects, and "flowers" of HIV in mind, we went on to discuss more about the disease. Dr. Chipfakacha stressed that "mass killer are nothing new to Africa." Malaria is endemic and still kills about as many people as AIDS in Africa. Mass killers are also nothing new to the world: he gave examples like the AD 541-542 plague in Constantinople where 10,000 people died daily and the Black Death where 25 million people died in three years from AD 1347-1350 and 137 million died by AD 1700. The pattern that we must observe, he argues, is that "epidemics follow development."
Earlier, I wrote that Gaborone's growth contrasted starkly with the HIV pandemic. Understanding that this is a normal pattern helps me to comprehend how the fastest growing economy in Africa can also have the highest HIV prevalence rates.
We also discussed the nature of germs. A germ of any kind cannot kill off ALL of its hosts--because if it doesn't have hosts, it will die too! This is why epidemics follow an S curve. They get bigger and bigger, but eventually level off.
These two understandings are vital to redefining our views of and approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, education, treatment, etc.
Dr. T. Maudeni came to speak to us as well. She has intensively studied sociocultural factors that place males at risk of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. She is a UB professor, but the research was funded by OSSREA (Organization for Social Science research in Easter and southern Africa.) She discussed the seven main factors that she found in her study:
1. Males learn about sex from peers and media
2. Sugar-Mummy Syndrome
3. Absence of community and family based socialization agents
4. Inadequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS
5. Views about vulnerability
6. Views about sexual relations with females
7. Silence of the family
In her brief discussion of "ways forward," she noted that empowerment of families and engaging teachers are important steps to combat these vulnerabilities in men.
Both of our speakers were very informative, but our day was long and we were ready for some fun! We went back to Riverwalk to do some shopping (I got jelly flats for P17.50--about $3--each) and to have dinner. We ended up eating at the same restaurant that we ate at in South Africa. It was just as good the second time around. I did realize to a larger extent the political incorrectness of the restaurant's Native American logo. It would never fly in the US!
I am adding some pictures to my blogs (backdated), so be sure to check them out!
Today we began to delve more intensively into issues regarding HIV in Botswana in addition to our Setswana lessons. Dr. V. Chipfakacha from SADC (Southern African Development Community) came to speak to us about his approach to HIV/AIDS. In addition to an overview of what HIV/AIDS is and how it is affecting southern Africa, Dr. Chipfakacha gave us some special insight into the disease in this context.
He had us begin by making a tree. At the roots, we wrote the causes of HIV: poverty, mother-child transmission, sharing needles in drug users, unsafer sex practices (he stresses that there is no "safe sex"), lack of sex education, gender inequality/violence, etc. At the trunk, we wrote effects: girls forfeit education to run households, gender inequality, rape as treatment, stigma/discrimination, morbidity/mortality, poverty/lower productivity.
Amongst the branches, he made us put flowers. The flowers, he said, were the positives of HIV. We sat silent for a while--we often do not think that there can possibly be a positive to something like HIV/AIDS. However, after a little coaxing, we did come up with four flowers: women's empowerment, a multi-sectoral response, multi-billion dollar industry, and bringing countries together against a common threat.
With these causes, effects, and "flowers" of HIV in mind, we went on to discuss more about the disease. Dr. Chipfakacha stressed that "mass killer are nothing new to Africa." Malaria is endemic and still kills about as many people as AIDS in Africa. Mass killers are also nothing new to the world: he gave examples like the AD 541-542 plague in Constantinople where 10,000 people died daily and the Black Death where 25 million people died in three years from AD 1347-1350 and 137 million died by AD 1700. The pattern that we must observe, he argues, is that "epidemics follow development."
Earlier, I wrote that Gaborone's growth contrasted starkly with the HIV pandemic. Understanding that this is a normal pattern helps me to comprehend how the fastest growing economy in Africa can also have the highest HIV prevalence rates.
We also discussed the nature of germs. A germ of any kind cannot kill off ALL of its hosts--because if it doesn't have hosts, it will die too! This is why epidemics follow an S curve. They get bigger and bigger, but eventually level off.
These two understandings are vital to redefining our views of and approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, education, treatment, etc.
Dr. T. Maudeni came to speak to us as well. She has intensively studied sociocultural factors that place males at risk of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. She is a UB professor, but the research was funded by OSSREA (Organization for Social Science research in Easter and southern Africa.) She discussed the seven main factors that she found in her study:
1. Males learn about sex from peers and media
2. Sugar-Mummy Syndrome
3. Absence of community and family based socialization agents
4. Inadequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS
5. Views about vulnerability
6. Views about sexual relations with females
7. Silence of the family
In her brief discussion of "ways forward," she noted that empowerment of families and engaging teachers are important steps to combat these vulnerabilities in men.
Both of our speakers were very informative, but our day was long and we were ready for some fun! We went back to Riverwalk to do some shopping (I got jelly flats for P17.50--about $3--each) and to have dinner. We ended up eating at the same restaurant that we ate at in South Africa. It was just as good the second time around. I did realize to a larger extent the political incorrectness of the restaurant's Native American logo. It would never fly in the US!
Also, I should note that on the way to the mall, some of the men waiting for Combis decided to yell, "White people! White people!" at us. As we continued along, they yelled, "Hey Whitey!" at us. We are REALLY starting to feel what it's like to be a part of the very small minority!
Our jellies are awesome!!!
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