The community we live in is essentially suburbia. There is a large Afrikaner population, sprinkled with some blacks and coloreds. Most of my interactions with Afrikaners have been less than positive. I’ve found them to be somewhat closed-off and rude compared to the blacks in the townships who we work and interact with every day. When we talk to local whites about what we’re here for and where we work, they are shocked. They can’t believe that we venture into Zwide on a daily basis; only a few have been to the townships themselves. One guy told us he had driven through Zwide once when he was younger, and that was a pretty big deal. Talking about it later, we realized that whites growing up in this culture really don’t have a reason to just go into the township during their day to day lives. The boys met a couple American students studying at the university downtown and they said they were told not to go anywhere near the townships while they’re here. It’s discouraging to see how wonderful the people are here and know there is this continued discrimination still being propagated.
It’s very obvious that we’re American – not just because of the accent or the clothes and hair, but because we talk to everyone and anyone. Our Indian neighbor, Vassie (by the way, makes incredible curries and samosas) told us that whites here generally don’t talk to blacks and coloreds just to have a conversation. They do business with them in daily life and interact in that way, but they generally don’t mix company outside of work. She commented on how talkative and friendly we are, how we ask questions about her life and how she’s doing when we go get dinner. It’s not something I thought much about in the States; it was always natural to smile at someone and say hello when you walk by, but here just saying hi and asking how someone’s day is going can make all the difference in their perception of us as whites, and particularly as Americans.
The HIV epidemic is a whole other arena that I’m still trying to come to terms with. In the States we hear about the devastation of the disease on the news, but there are rarely enough details to convey the extent of the epidemic to the people sitting at home. We all know HIV and AIDS are wiping out millions of people, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, but putting faces and names to those statistics has rocked me. I just finished Helen Epstein’s The Invisible Cure, which gives good statistical and historical background on the epidemic in Africa, and the Western response to the rise of the disease in the 90s. She writes about Uganda’s success in dramatically lowering HIV incidence when the surrounding countries experienced just the opposite. The book also addresses the current day issues, especially in South Africa, that are contributing to the continuing spread of the disease. Definitely worth reading to get a general idea of what’s going on here.
The HIV rate is 32% in the townships of PE. One in three people have the virus. We have about 40 coaches who are trained in the curriculum and teach kids about HIV prevention and transmission, and statistics say 12-13 of them are infected. Obviously the fact that they’re infected doesn’t matter when it comes to determining whether they’re good coaches. It does throw into sharp relief the fact that a third of these people who I’m getting to know and forming friendships with are infected by an incurable disease. I was driving one coach around doing some errands last week with Sarah and we got to talking about her family life. She has a one year old daughter and lives with her grandmother and sisters. She asked if we wanted to meet them, which of course we did. He daughter was standing at the door when we pulled up, bundled up in a hat and sweater. She had these incredible, big brown eyes and just stared at us, probably wondering why the hell we’re so pale. We got back in the car and the coach bluntly told us how much of a relief it was to find out her daughter was HIV negative when she was born. She then mentioned that she herself is positive. It took a few seconds for that to sink in, to realize how much a part of everyday life HIV is for people in the townships. It scares me a bit to find out who among the other coaches is HIV positive, knowing what the disease does to people; not only to their bodies but their families and communities. One thing we’ve been told by Africans is, “If you’re not infected, your affected,” and it’s the absolute truth.
I haven’t put my thoughts and feelings about these things together on paper yet, so it’s difficult to convey the discomfort and anxiety that I sometimes feel, but also how incredible these people are and how happy I am to be here. We were told at orientation that we will become close friends with many infected and affected people, some of whom will die of the disease. It’s strange going into a place, opening yourself up to people, and knowing that some of them will be killed by this virus that is yet incurable.
One of the biggest issues with HIV/AIDS in Africa is that many countries refuse to address it on a personal level. That is, it is viewed as a virus that affects “high-risk groups,” including prostitutes, truckers, migrants, etc. Westerners came from this point of view in the 90s when they were developing programs to fight the virus. Their methods were largely based on how the virus spread among people in the U.S., i.e. gay men and intravenous drug users. The problem is that in Africa, it’s not just the high-risk groups who are affected, it’s entire communities. South Africa’s former president claimed AIDS was a disease of poverty and malnutrition. Opinions such as Mbeki’s that don’t accept the virus for what it is, blaming other parties and sources, as well as concurrent relationships and transactional relationship (where the girl receives material items, i.e. cell phone, makeup, etc, from her boyfriend in return for sex) in South Africa, as well as other affected countries, are the major contributors to the epidemic.
A concurrent relationship is one where one or both partners participate in multiple other long-term sexual relationships while they are together. It’s not the same as affairs, which occur more randomly and in which one or both participants tend to use condoms. The problem with concurrent relationships is they create a sexual network in which partners are less likely to use condoms due to their longer nature. If one person becomes infected, he or she will infect not only their multiple partners, but also their partners’ partners and so on. You can imagine how rapidly the virus spreads among these sexual networks.
This is really just the basics of what’s being addressed by GRS and other organizations who are trying to educate communities and fight HIV/AIDS. We’re adjusting to the fact that we can’t work as quickly and on as many things at once as we’d like to, the way we could in the States. It’s frustrating for sure, but it’s also helped me to slow down and take my time. I’m taking in more than I would if I were moving at an American pace, and it’s helping me understand where South Africans are coming from and what their mindsets are.
I hope this information helps paint a better picture of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and what we’re trying to do. I have pictures that I want to share, and I’m working on how to upload them and provide some descriptions for all of you. Until then, the pictures below are of all the 2009 GRS interns when we were in Cape Town at the beginning of August, and the four of us from PE at Jeffrey's Bay. Keep the questions and love coming!
-Rosie
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