Progress in Tanzania
HIV is a huge concern in Africa. But with the advent of World Aids Day, Mary Maylon discovers the nascent glimmer of sexual enlightenment
December 1st, World Aids Day: a sense of anticipation ripples through the crowd of banner-holding children. The band practices in the shade, a trumpeter puffing his cheeks and bending backwards like a latter-day Miles Davis. Then they’re off, parading through the streets of Pangani, a small town on the coast of Tanzania.
The three-day event has the air of an English country fair set on the Swahili coast. Stalls sell local wares and traditional ngoma dances are performed alongside films, plays and speeches promoting Aids awareness.
In the Western media Africa is often portrayed as an invalid continent. The statistics are unarguably grim: 25 million sub-Saharan Africans are HIV-positive. But in Pangani local people are facing down the epidemic with creative drive and energy. “We’re using films, plays and songs written by Tanzanians and relevant to Tanzanian culture to address social issues, especially HIV/Aids,” explained the organiser, Dr Pieroth.
World Aids Day 2004 focused on women: globally, 60% of HIV-positive 15-24-year-olds are female. This worrying statistic is due, in part, to their vulnerability to the HIV virus during heterosexual sex. But the problem is exacerbated by patriarchal societies that fail to give women a voice. Nowhere is this truer than rural Tanzania, where financially dependent wives are frequently accused of adultery if they ask their husbands to use a condom.
Drums beat as a group of actors take the stage. An actress in white kneels on a straw mat – she is coming of age. The play revolves around an argument between her parents. The mother gives her daughter condoms hoping she’ll protect herself; the father, dressed in a long, white Muslim kanzu, is furious, claiming his wife has turned his daughter into a whore. The catch is that the father has been cheating on his wife all along, putting the whole family at risk from HIV. The explicit portrayal of the double standards inherent in Tanzanian society is groundbreaking stuff for this traditionally Muslim enclave.
Zanzibar is only four hours away by boat and the close trade links have spread the island’s highly conservative views on sexuality, especially when it comes to women. A spice-island politician recently queried, without a hint of irony: “How can anyone be accused of rape if he forces his wife to have sex?”
Some disturbing beliefs and views
Of course, the politicians’ stuffy views aren’t always reflected in the general population. Habiba is typical of a new breed of Tanzanian women. Her views on men are more Spice Girl than downtrodden spouse: “If I have a boyfriend he can’t eat my hard-earned food – I don’t want him relying on me. He can come to bed with me later though, as long as he wears a condom!”
Habiba is evidence that the social attitudes that propagate HIV/Aids are changing. Some financially independent women are in a position to protect themselves and, after seeing educational plays and films, they now know how to protect themselves. But another problem facing the Aids-awareness effort is the taboo that surrounds the sexually transmitted disease. It’s from this silence that damaging urban myths have arisen.
In southern Tanzania I was told that Europeans had deliberately infected condoms with the virus, while some Malawian men claim they are carrying the virus without having a test – it proves their sexual prowess. Even more disturbingly, some HIV-positive men believe sex with a virgin will cure them. Many sub-Saharans are well informed, but pockets of ignorance remain.
Back in Pangani crowds gather to watch the procession – but it’s only children who join in. “Adults don’t want to be associated with the disease,” one onlooker explains.
Many celebrities are using their public appeal to break down taboos. In an act of solidarity, the ex-President of Malawi – a country where 14.2% of the population are HIV-positive – recently went public with his brother’s death from Aids.
In Tanzania, the singer Feruz had a huge hit with ‘Ninao, Ninao Ukimwi’ – ‘I have, I have HIV’.
Backstage, performers limber up for the last dance – the dance of the devil. Resplendent in red, Satan exhorts his demons to follow him, blessing them in turn as their shoulder muscles twitch to the infectious rhythm.
Africa, too, may have its demons, but there is no doubt that it also possesses the spirit and drive to exorcise them.