Workshopping

On a serious note, I am doing some work here and one of my biggest tasks at the moment is to help develop a Strategic Plan for my organisation (DATF) to show what it wants to achieve over the next five years. Possibly in the UK this might be led by only a few individuals, however, in Mazabuka we have to involve our numerous HIV and AIDS stakeholders, particularly as they will have a much greater influence on the district through their national and overseas funding compared to what my organisation can do. So we held the first of hopefully a series of workshops to kick start this process, which I am pleased or relieved to say went well. Aside from not achieving half of the things that I wanted us to do in the two days, and very few participants arriving on time, everyone was very positive about the discussion and ideas coming out.

Without going into too much detail, much of our time was spent talking about the six main drivers of HIV and AIDS in Zambia and how they relate to Mazabuka. In summary, the drivers are:

1. Multiple and concurrent partners (MCP) – evidence shows that the bulk of new HIV infections are coming from casual and concurrent multiple sexual relationships

2. Low and inconsistent condom use – the use of condoms has not risen enough to impact significantly on HIV transmission

3. Low rates of male circumcision – studies show that male circumcision can offer at least 60% protection against HIV infection. However, male circumcision is not widely practiced in Zambia

4. Mobility and labour migration – there is evidence that this factor can destabilise regular, long-term partnerships and lead to multiple and concurrent partners, and relationships with sex workers

5. Vulnerable and marginalised groups – such groups including sex workers, men who have sex with men, prisoners, OVCs, migrants, people with disabilities are more at risk of HIV infection

6. Mother to child HIV transmission – 10% of all HIV infections occur in children under 14 years and most of these infections are as a result of a mother transmitting HIV to her child

Birthdays and Goodbyes

Drinking, dancing, smiles, tears and hugs. The usual weekend out in Lusaka. On a happy note it was Marco’s birthday and the photos should show him modelling some tasteful (or amusing) new clothes. Sadly, Kristen left this weekend to return to Canada and her studies. She will be greatly missed but is already planning to return next year as Zambia seems a hard place to leave for many people.


 

New arrival

My few weeks of loneliness in such a big house are now over as a new VSO volunteer, Andrew, arrived on Friday to share the house. He is a planner who comes from Canada and is tasked with sorting out the ‘Integrated Development Plan’ that apparently Mazabuka should have produced a while ago. He should be here for six months, maybe longer, depending on what state the plan is in!

Football - African / European style

Over the last few weeks there has been an eclectic mix of fans following the football here in Mazabuka. Marco rigged up a big screen in his house using a projector from work and friends from Italy, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Uganda, El Salvador and Zambia have joined us to watch the games. One of the most amusing aspects has been to see which teams our Zambian friends will support. Sometimes the pro-African (sub-Saharan) allegiances run deep with South Africa and Ghana being particularly popular. Whilst for others if their favourite player is a Messi, Kaka or (heaven help us!) Ronaldo then they follow Argentina, Brazil or Portugal. One Zambian cheered on Germany but was also desperate for Rooney to score against them – assume this means that he would have been happy whatever the outcome unlike me! Marco and I suffered together in the rubbish performances – to put it politely – of Italy and England, and rejoiced in the calamity of France. As for the final, it was fascinating for some, violent and tedious for others, but the right team won in the end as we all prayed that it did not go to penalties. Now there is a football void – what we do or talk about? Well the new footy season is only a month away so I won’t have to suffer for too long.

Sayings and interpretations

Now for something not quite as serious . . .

• This side, or that side (Zambian directions . . . but not always clear to where)
• Fine (everything is always fine)
• I speak from without and not from within, or I am speaking from within and not without (within means giving a personal opinion, whereas without is stating a fact as provided by someone else)
• Are we together (not a question, more a statement of agreement)
• Time is not with us (politely telling people please do all the tasks asked of you now as we are running out of time)
• He (or she) is within (the person is in the office, building or town)
• I am not late just delayed (my personal favourite so far as this is the apology offered when people arrive 1-2 hours late for a meeting)

VCT Day (2)

Lastly, here are a few extracts from the speech that I wrote for the District Commissioner to hopefully give a sense of why VCT is important:

“. . . Zambia is one of the countries most seriously ravaged by the effects of HIV and AIDS. The overall prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS in Zambia stands at 14.3% and Mazabuka District has not been spared from HIV and AIDS as the prevalence rate here is 19% . . . despite all of this the majority of people still do not know their HIV status . . . in fact only 15% of Zambians know their status. It is important to realise that 60% of HIV transmission takes place within marriages. Therefore, this is a generalized epidemic and HIV is not something that is only confined to high risk groups; it affects us all.”

“The theme for this year’s national VCT day is 'Know your HIV status and Access Care and Support.' If people go for VCT they will be equipped with the knowledge and power to either protect themselves from infection, or to live positively with HIV and AIDS and access care and treatment when it is needed. All of us here today and in our communities should get tested. We also encourage couples’ counselling and testing. It is important to remember that out of every 100 Zambians between the ages of 15 to 49, 86 remain uninfected. By going for VCT we can help to maintain this level.”

VCT Day (1)

Another celebration or commemoration day I hear you cry! I too did the same but this was the first one directly relevant to the HIV and AIDS work that I am involved in here in Zambia. It was also much more stressful than the others so far, as I took on the lead responsibility for ensuring that all the VCT activities in Mazabuka took place. The stress came from numerous broken promises, people not turning up for meetings, or in one case a scheduled meeting not taking place at all (only two out of 20 people turned up). Ensuring the continuity of people was a major headache as the right organisation would be represented but just with different people at each meeting; with no communication by them between meetings. So no matter how inclusive we tried to be a small group of committed people got things done – to whom I was very grateful.

VCT stands for ‘Voluntary Counselling and Testing’ and the day itself is held every year on 30th June with the weeks around the day meant to raise the profile of VCT through radio programmes, various marketing and publicity, and an increased amount of testing being carried out. On the day itself we marched proudly through town with the Salvation Army band making as much noise as possible so that people came out of their shops and businesses to see what was going on. There was the usual salute to the Mayor and other invited guests before we settled down at a local sports field for various activities. This included some good sketches and drama by a couple of local theatre groups all related to VCT. For me, however, the highlights came from the strong messages given out by people living with HIV. First, a woman from one of the rural communities in the district gave a moving poem on HIV and AIDS. This was followed a couple talking about their experiences and then by a band who have written a number of educational based HIV and AIDS songs. And finally we handed out a small number of awards in recognition of four people who are acting as role models to others because of their consistent adherence to taking ART (anti-retroviral therapy) drugs. They are living positive, purposeful lives despite being HIV+.

I too went for test – part of an effort by the organising committee to show that we do more than “talk a good game.” No matter how confident you might feel, and sure about how careful I have been in past relationships, it was still a nerve wracking experience. In a small tent, after all the activities had finished and most people had left, I first had a five minute conversation to discuss why I wanted to have the test, my current relationship status and to give my consent. After a pin prick of blood taken from a finger on my left hand it was then a worrying and sweaty 10 minute wait for my result. I sat down with a counsellor and when she informed me that I was negative the strength returned to my legs and the clarity to my voice. Others around were not so fortunate with tears running down their cheeks as they were told that they were HIV+.