Mzansi Afrika

The ethics of inter-racial adoption

Here in South Africa where we have so many Aids orphans and vulnerable children you get cases of white families that adopt black children. It's not common practice, but it's not unusual either anymore to see white parents with a black child or children. White lesbian couples, also adopt black children.

I sometimes wonder if inter-racial adoption is a good thing or not, I have certain reservations, but ultimately I do think it's a good thing. In South Africa there is not a strong culture of adoption among black families - this is something that child welfare organisations have been trying to change. So if people are willing to adopt, it is more than likely going to be a white family. Sometimes they adopt because they can't have their own children, but it's just as common to have white people who already have their own children to adopt a black orphan.

The main reservation I have about inter-racial adoption is that due to circumstances the black children that are adopted end up losing all contact with their own culture and heritage, they speak English and are unable to speak any African languages. I think this must be pretty hard to deal with growing up, and I'm sure that it would affect your sense of identity, and self-image and lead to a lot of painful questioning and soul searching.

On the other hand there's a part of me that feels it has to be better to lose your culture, but gain a loving family,  a degree of material comfort, stability and an education. Surely in this regard, it's better to have love and security and lose your black African culture and language. I don't know what the answers are, ideally it would be great if you could still have both - and are able to educate the child to speak their own language - maybe in school, or by a private tutor (and take lessons yourself). But even so, they wouldn't really be part of their culture. Unfortunately, the reality in South Africa means that it usually ends up being an either/or situation, and black adopted children end up not being able to speak their own languages.

Somehow though, growing up in a difficult family situation myself, I can't help feeling that love and security wins the day. If you grow up with love and stability, you have a better of chance of gaining the tools to deal with cultural alienation. The alternative is to grow up with nothing at all, no love, no education and a life of poverty.

A TV-Evangelist in Lesotho

Ernest Angley is an American television evangelist who has no problem asking for money up front. Gimme the money. What's wrong with that, you say. Don't churches ask for money every Sunday? Don't they pass an offering plate among the faithful? The truth is that everybody does. But Angley has a jet, the village preacher doesn't. Angley claims he can help cure "death diseases" like AIDS, the village preacher doesn't. To my knowledge, Angley hasn't scholar-shipped a single needy child, the village preacher has. The difference is important.

Ernest Angley has recently been promising Basotho that he'd cure their AIDS. Why would he promise that? In America, and in other wealthy countries, this kind of claim may very well serve to fill his offering plate, but in Lesotho the man certainly operates at a loss. Perhaps he's down there for publicity's sake. "Hey look, I'm here too, just like Prince Harry and Bill Clinton. I'm helping these poor souls, too. So you who are in a rich country, gimme more money so I can help more poor souls."

Idland looks at the situation from a closer vantage point, and warns that one of the effects of this "mission" is that less people will get tested, and the virus will get a break and spread.

People in Lesotho doesn't [sic] need a miracle worker. They need education, and they need compassion and understanding from their families and communities. The resources are there to help far more people than are seeking treatment at this time, but people need to take the initiative to get tested, to seek treatment. Miracle workers like Mr. Angley only perpetuate the stigma - they let people think, 'Maybe he's for real. Maybe I don't have to get tested now.' And the sickness spreads further [Source].

Indeed, people who are just beginning to see the wisdom of consulting medical doctors instead of sangomas, are now being told that they can get cured just like that. I say bollocks to that. From Maseru, the Angley troop headed to Bloemfontein. It seems like blatant charlatanry is illegal in South Africa. I'd be interested in finding out what happened in that country.

Some of Idland's commenters say things like, "Actually there have been medically documented cases of people who attended Ernest Angley's crusades that were indeed cured of AIDS / HIV;" but they fail to provide such documentation. Can miracles happen? Yes, I know they can. Can I provide documentation? I've never claimed I could, although I believe it may exist. The point is that [1.] if someone, somewhere, cures AIDS, we'd hear about it, and [2.] miracles are not remote-controlled like a TV set, they aren't penny-driven, they're emotional, rewarding and personal, and have very little to do with people like Mr. Angley.

Futher reading:
http://infoest.sbc.edu
http://www.ernestangley.com
http://www.mannacabana.com

Know your status!

"Lesotho's 'Know Your Status' campaign, the first of its kind worldwide, will offer confidential and voluntary HIV testing and counselling with the aim of reaching all households by the end of 2007." http://www.alertnet.org

Yes, know your status. Are you HIV-positive or are you not HIV-positive? If you are, then what are you gonna do? The sangoma isn't your best bet, because (s)he will tell you to have sex with a virgin. Be aware that sex with a virgin only spreads the virus; it does not and will not cure you. So what are you gonna do?

If you're smart you'll inform yourself on the virus and the affliction. Ask medical doctors and nurses what they advise. Take any medicine you are given. White people may have hurt black people before, but they did not make condoms to curb the black population. Condoms actually protect you, if you're HIV-negative, and they protect your sexual partner, if you're HIV-positive. Condoms do not reduce your manhood. Wear a condom.

The 'Know Your Status' campaign will not succeed without your willing participation. Get tested, and encourage your friends to get tested, too. We have the third highest rate of AIDS infection in the world. That's a lot. Forget the witch-doctor (listen to your medical doctor), wear a condom (or abstain), and get tested.

Further reading:
http://mzansiafrika.typepad.com/mzansi_afrika/2005/12/lesotho_is_firs.html
http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/news_item.cfm?news=832

Condoms in the classroom

There's a whole big debate going on in the South African media at the moment about whether condoms should be made freely available in high schools. The Education Department has decided against this. Listening to a popular talk back radio show this evening on the topic, predictably most South Africans, at least those who called in to make their opinions known, agreed that condoms should not be provided in the classroom.

The main argument, surprise, surprise, was from the whole moralistic religious viewpoint that condoms encourage sex, and sex before marriage, especially among teens is bad. The other concerns were around sex and HIV/AIDS.

Of course in South Africa AIDS is a huge concern. It's more because of this that I would support the argument that teenagers should not be having sex, especially without using condoms. Where my concern lies, is that I'm not totally convinced that providing condoms causes people to go out and have sex. Teenagers are having sex anyway, so in light of the AIDS pandemic, wouldn't it be better to give them condoms?

On the other hand, a little voice whispers in my head, well what if you could buy drugs at your school canteen? If you had any curiosity to experiment, it sure as hell would make it a lot easier to go ahead.

I think it boils down to education and self-esteem. A lot of people experiment with drugs, and then either either leave it alone once their curiosity has been appeased, or continue to take the occassional drug here and there, no problem. But the one thing that just about every alcoholic and drug addict has in common is low self esteem - the drug of choice gives them a sense of confidence, temporarily removes their sense of being on the outside, and takes away that inner pain commonly described as the "hole in the soul". Girls who become sexually active from a young age, and continue to sleep around, generally suffer from the same problem, low self esteem and a longing to be loved and accepted.

I suppose there's also a gender aspect, boys who have sex are macho hero's, it's about proving your masculinity - so maybe having condoms freely available would make it easier for boys to have sex? And harder for girls to say no - "sorry no condom, no can do".

In an ideal world, teenagers would be properly educated about the emotional and health aspects of sexual intercourse. In an ideal world we would all come from loving families and be able to conduct our lives from a position of self acceptance and relative confidence. Unfortunately, we don't exactly live in an ideal world, and it's more the norm than the exception for people to grow up being emotionally wounded.

So, I really don't know what the answer is.

When will this stop?

This is so sad and so sick that it's difficult to find the words to comment. Sapa reports that a thirteen month old baby was raped earlier today:

"A 13-month-old baby was raped on Sunday morning at her home in the Wolmaransstad area, North West police said. Superintendent Louis Jacobs said the baby's mother, 19, told police she left the house around 1am to go to the shops. The family stays and works on a farm outside Wolmaransstad. She returned an hour later to find her child naked and covered in blood. The baby was then rushed to hospital. Jacobs said police were questioning three men who had been in the house at the time the attack."

This comes a few days after news broke about a primary school in Thokoza on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg where no less than 52 liitle girls have been raped in the past few years. 52 girls in one school?

"Eleven-year-old Violet* [not her real name] couldn't contain her excitement about a birthday party with her friends. But instead of a few hours of balloons and cake, she came home traumatised. Violet is just one of at least 52 pupils in Tshwaragano Primary School in Thokoza who have been raped in the past few years - raising fears in the community that the children are under siege by rapists.

Principal Mmathoto Tlou said the rapes had been taking place steadily over the past three years. When 15 children confided in their teachers, the school had decided to call in Childline representatives and the Ekurhuleni metro police to hold a workshop in October."

Those are two of the more extreme cases, but a further five rapes were reported in the media today. One of the cases involved a 52 year old woman who was raped by a 15 year old boy, another of the victims was a 13 year old girl. What is going on in our society? Why is this happening? And why do we seem unable to address this problem?

One of the sad parts about this whole horrifying situation, is that as a society we seem to have become totally desensitised to rape - you read these stories and it's just like, oh well another rape, you read about it everyday. The story about the 52 girls did somehow shock me, but the other reports, well, it's just more of the same. That is the horrible and honest truth. It seems that we are no longer outraged by the consistant onslaught of rape and violence against our women and girls.

One study commissioned by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Recociliation provides a partial explanation of why so many girls are being raped. Obviously there are other reasons, and it is a complex situation.

"This review also identified an additional linkage between violence against women and HIV / AIDS not typically identified in the international literature. This was HIV infection as a factor precipitating sexual assualt.

The belief that sex with a virgin (who will usually be a young girl) can cure HIV / AIDS appears to be widely believed in Southern Africa, with one in four young South Africans not knowing that this is a myth (LoveLife, 2000). The choice of younger victims is, perhaps, also a pragmatic one; rapists may be targeting younger girls in the belief that being less sexually active, they are also less likely to be HIV-positive."

Lesotho is first again... huh?

Yes... Lesotho has done it again... it is the first country to ever offer free and universal AIDS/HIV testing to its citizenry. King Moshoeshoe I would have been proud. Never mind that the move is a tad late, it is more than welcome and it is a brilliant initiative. People have been dying long enough. It was high time something drastic was undertaken. If you're wondering about what it is Lesotho has done again, it is being first, or being the only one, or the highest, smallest, poorest, proudest, ad lib, in the world.

One of the smartest things about the intended program is getting to the populace through village chiefs and traditional leaders: Under the scheme, local leaders will be consulted on how best to offer HIV tests to everyone [Source]. Projects that are introduced into the heart of Lesotho (or of Africa?) by foreigners do not take well and therefore do not last long. It sounds like the project manager involved did his or her homework well and carefully thought out how best to really get the tests to the people. I can only be enchanted.

In 2000, Lesotho's population was estimated at a little below 2.2 million. See the figures for 2000 here, those for 2002 here, and those for 2004 here. This year the population stands at 1,867,035, from 2000's 2,182,700. It is high time something significant was done, and this program looks like it's gonna be it.

New HIV/AIDS clinical trials - gel

The race is on to develop the first anti-hiv gel for women. Sapa reports that 10,000 African women will take part in a major British study into a gel which could help prevent the spread of HIV. The trials will begin in South Africa and Uganda this week, and then extend into Tanzania and Zambia later in the year.

"The women are to participate in the three- to four-year trial of
microbicide PRO 2000 to find out its effectiveness at protecting against HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections (STIs). Laboratory tests have shown the gel can block the entry of STIs in humans and protect animals against infection.PRO 2000, developed by US pharmaceutical company Indevus, is applied to the vagina in gel form."

A research consortium is conducting similar studies on a gel product in Australia.

"In the final study, the researchers will test the gel on HIV-positive women. "Then we're starting to look for true efficacy where we're trying to see does this gel stop the transmission of HIV or not," Mr Sullivan said. "Those trials are extremely difficult."

In India as well, in Tamil Nadu, similar trials are being conducted on a product called Praneem.