For thirty years in South Africa, people have been putting up billboards, handing out leaflets, giving speeches, telling people to get smart and stop getting infected with HIV. And for thirty years the infection rate has continued to rise. Since 2004 the government has been supplying ARV medication for treating HIV, and there has been a lot of testing and treating. And still the infection rate has gone up, or at least stayed level.
A few months ago at Ndawana, we trained people in gender justice, then as facilitators, and we started a different kind of programming to talk about the realities of the behaviours that get people infected, and how we can think about and change our attitudes and beliefs so that our behaviours become more consistent with our knowledge. All our employees, including the driver, maintenance workers, and all the healthcare people are coming and participating and learning and having fun together, and bonding in new ways. There is a new buzz in the village, and no one misses these sessions. Even the nurses say they are learning new things and changing their attitudes. When Chris asked one of our people how it’s going, she replied “We’re having too much fun.”
On Thursday we showed our End Stigma DVD to the teachers in Ndawana, then invited them to form a group like the one we are running with our people. They seem eager to start, and our facilitators will begin to work with that group in about ten days. We left that meeting thrilled, because there is so much stigma in the teachers, and they seem almost relieved to have a new way to think about and deal with that. And, they have agreed to work with us to better support all the children on treatment attending school – almost 50 of them.
Then on Friday we met with about 25 TB/HIV Care community health facilitators and managers in Ixopo, where I proposed a five year program, with them being trained in gender justice, then as facilitators, and running this program all over Sisonke District (500,00 population), first with their employees, then with other groups like teachers, or churches, or young people. Thabi and Busi spoke about how the program has had a major impact on them. Chris spoke about the changes she sees in our people. Some people in the audience were moved to tears as Thabi spoke from her own experience.
Before we left TB/HIV Care managers voted unanimously both to undertake and to pay for the programs we proposed, which we believe could have a huge effect on HIV infection rates. I will train facilitators and mentor the trainers in the programs.
I thought I was ready to retire (again). I guess not.
Jim
