October
2007
HIV Testing with a side of Bongo Flava1
Once again, it’s been a while. But, I’ve got a good excuse. I’ve spent the last month in the village without coming to my banking town. If I hadn’t run out of money, every one of my luxury items (coffee, cheese, powdered milk, cocoa, peanut butter, jam), and had my computer not broken again, I probably would still be there. Nevertheless, it’s nice to have a hot shower, someone else to cook for me, and, of course, precious internet time.
Let’s start with some really good news. The government came to my village last month to do HIV testing. Tanzania’s president Jakaya Kikwete has been telling every Tanzanian that it is their civic responsibility to get tested. He’s backed up this admonition with a huge testing drive, sending physicians and supplies from village to village for free testing, counseling, and HIV/AIDS education. Perhaps more importantly, the government is now promising free CD4 count readings as well (a reading of less than 200 is the clinical definition of AIDS and the requirement for receiving free anti-retroviral medicines, ARVs in the lingo). Although NGOs have been testing for HIV in Tanzanian villages for sometime (though certainly not often enough), most HIV positive villagers could not afford to come to town and get their CD4 count read (this is the number of helper T-cells fighting off the body’s secondary infections) in order to qualify for free meds. HIV Testing without transport costs and CD4 count readings thus poses many problems. However, with American help from PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief) and USAID, the Tanzanian government seems to be doing what it can to make this relief effective.
Here in *undisclosed location* village, all the bigwigs came out for the event: government officials, medical professionals, tribal leaders and church representatives all showed up to stress the importance of getting tested and the effectiveness of condom use in stopping the spread of the disease. Even more impressively, people crammed in to the event, and rushed to be the first ones in for testing. In a culture where many people readily admit their fear of knowing their HIV status, this was a wonderful sight.
For my own part, I feel as though this is ideal sort of venue for a Peace Corps volunteer. Rather than completely orchestrating an event from the ground up, I was able to simply insert myself into the pre-arranged activities. There was a DJ from Dar es Salaam spinning Bongo Flava music in an attempt to turn an otherwise frightening experience into a community dance party. Local drum and dancing groups came equipped with drums, masks and instruments of all sorts.
Along with fellow volunteer “Bomba Mbaya,” we wandered around the event doing impromptu condom demos, games, answering questions about HIV/AIDS and otherwise dancing and having a good time. I’ll try and get some pics of the event up in the near future. Otherwise, I’m afraid I’ve got to cut it short again.
Peace, Josh