Sunday, December 4, 2011

World AIDS Day 2011


Mural, Fidel Castro

Observance, Xai Xai

Observance, Xai Xai


CACHES Celebration

CACHES Celebration

Mural, Fidel Castro


Another diversion from our overview of Mozambique to report on our recent activities and festivities in observation of World AIDS Day, December 1!

HIV continues to be a huge problem throughout southern Africa, in Mozambique and, especially, in my neighborhood in Xai Xai. In Mozambique, about 11.5% of adults are estimated to be HIV +. This is very high, in contrast to most other parts of the world, where the prevalence rate is much less than 1%. There are a myriad of reasons posited for this high rate, but, the bottom line is, no one really knows why the rate is particularly so high hereabouts. Nor, how to reduce it dramatically.  Let’s just say that, millions of dollars have been invested in the effort and changing a society’s sexual mores and behavior is not for those with faint hearts or shallow pockets.


Fidel Castro Mural Project... On Tuesday, I helped 4 other PC volunteers in the neighboring town of Fidel Castro. They’d enlisted their young girls’ social action groups (REDES) to paint a mural on a building in the town’s central square. Murals are a common sight throughout Mozambique, painted to honor a variety of people and causes, HIV prevention among them. We had a great time and much support from local painters and  painter wanna-be’s. It was a challenge to allow the 30+ girls to express themselves artistically, while also producing a “quality”” mural. Pictures below of the close-to-finished product… you be the judge!


Xai Xai Observance…Back here in my home town, we held a nice observance of the Day.
A Health Fair is a staple of all these events, and this one was no exception. Booths included blood pressure checks, family planning information and the obligatory disbursal-of-free-condoms-to-one-and-all. The observance had an interesting kick off at the town’s Catholic Cathedral…not sure how this squares with Rome’s position on use of birth control, but I’ll leave others to ponder the paradox.  Our 200 man (and woman) march then proceeded to the town’s “plaza of heroes”…every town in Moz has one, honoring the war dead and serving as a spiritual gathering place for many of the innumerable celebrations. Once there, we lay wreathes in honor of those who have died from AIDS. We were treated to much speech-ifying about HIV, our successes and challenges…would that the spirit of the people was always up to the rhetoric. But, that’s a story for another day. There was a lot of singing and dancing too, to take folks’ minds off the seriousness of the occasion and the heat of the summer sun. Some pix below!


CACHES…

Last but not least, on Saturday, December 3 I attended another AIDS Day observance, this one in the town of Chicambane, near Xai Xai. A Peace Corps Volunteer works with the site, a program run by a local association, CACHES (roughly, “Child Artists Against HIV and AIDS”). This is a wonderful organization that offers programs to local children in many of the arts including painting, music, dance and theatre. We were treated to many excellent performances by the students and their mentors, The program also included a “palestra” on HIV/AIDS. Palestras are round-table discussions on a particular topic. They are very popular here in Mozambique, as a great way of imparting information to a large group of people (e.g., about risky health behaviors). A couple group leaders facilitated our discussion with the 100 or so folks in attendance Saturday.

 Well, that’s my AIDS day report…hope next year we can report that we’ve made a lot of progress in the fight against AIDS.

Until next time !

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