My African Adventure - Part 7
Submitted by editor_en on Thu, 04/10/2008 - 11:09.
Day 7TH April 7, 2008
Our last full day in Dar. We were supposed to go and see a project that we fund called ‘Teens Against AIDS’ who work with the Masai tribes to the North of Dar. I knew that the rains were bad where we were going, and we’d been warned that some of the roads were impassable so we’d have to hike a few miles to get where we needed to go… brilliant!! (I say that now, but am sure I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as I found myself out of breath within a few minutes as we tried to keep up with the long strides of the Masai to take us to where they live). But you can imagine my disappointment when we found out that we couldn’t go as the rains were just so bad that not only were the roads flooded, but some of the bridges washed away too.
Instead, we went to meet with some of the Teens Against AIDS volunteers at another centre, closer to Dar. This is the second grant we’ve given TAA, and we were so sad to hear a few months ago, that Victoria, who was one of the project leaders, had unexpectedly died. TAA are really feeling her loss – both in losing Victoria, who everyone there looked up to and followed, but also in losing her skills. She had graduated just the month before she’d died, learning finance and accounting skills, but now the project has not only lost Victoria the person, but also her so badly needed education too.
Rogers, who worked with Victoria, talked to us about the difficulties of working with the Masai. Rogers is half-Masai himself, so he’s accepted within the community – but ‘outsiders’ absolutely aren’t; and the only way to work with them, is to work with them, long-term and from within.
The Masai are an incredible community, steeped in tradition and culture. They’re nomads, and the only time they really stay in one place is during the rainy season. They live off the product of a cow: milk, beef and blood… and nothing else. Being a vegetarian, I’m not so sure I’d fit in very well with the Masai! One incredible change that’s been made with this particular community TAA are working with, is on female circumcision. They’ve been persuaded that instead of going through with the actual cutting of the young Masai girls, the ceremonial element of the circumcision – the drinking of cow’s blood – should symbolise the cutting instead. This is an incredible and enormous change to make, and shows that if you are working with the Masai, you can make small changes, without them losing their fundamental culture.
AIDS is a HUGE problem within this particular Masai tribe. It’s estimated that 8 in 10 are HIV+ve (it’s difficult to be exact, as they won’t be tested, as they believe that the needles used to test them are actually putting something bad in their blood). The Masai men have more than 1 wife. 1 wife signifies 50 cows, and it is not unusual for the men to have 10 or 15 wives. On top of this, there is a friendly wife-swapping scheme that goes on, with men exchanging wives for the night with their neighbours; and on top of this… they tend to have affairs too (although I hadn’t quite figured out who they have affairs with, and where on earth they get the time or the energy!). Which is all well and good – and far be it from me to judge anyone else’s cultural traditions - but when it comes to HIV infection, this life-style is absolutely devastating. You just need one person within a family-unit to be HIV+ve, and within a short space of time, everyone becomes infected… and the babies being born are being born +ve too.
So TAA are working in an incredibly difficult environment, trying to influence the Chief and the Grandmother (the most important person in the tribe), on HIV prevention. If they can be persuaded on the merits of condom use, testing, treatment, then they will pass this to the rest of the community. This is no overnight fix, and it’s a huge challenge, but it’s an incredible project to be involved with – I really hope that the next time I get to Tanzania, the roads are passable so that I can see this project for myself.
Just before we left this small schooling community where we’d met with TAA, everyone was gathered together to have their photo taken with us. I went to stand at the back, and a young man sidled up to me and clamped his hand firmly across my shoulder and gave me a huge beaming smile. “Jambo” (hallo) said I. He said Jambo back, and then proceeded to have a conversation in Swahili with me (obviously my accent was just so good when I say Jambo, he thought that I must be fluent!). I obviously didn’t understand a word of what he said, but the whole group around us collapsed laughing… at me. And he still had a big grin on his face. I laughed back, rather nervously, at this point, and looked around for someone who could translate for me… something was obviously very funny… did I have mud plastered across my face? Was my skirt tucked up into my knickers (oh, I was wearing trousers, but it has happened to me before!). A young man came forward and told me that what he’d actually said was “later on, I will marry you”. Now I wasn’t too sure if this was an actual marriage proposal, or more of a demand, but hey, in these lean times, who can be too fussy? So I told him that his proposal was a great idea – much to the amusement of the crowd standing around, and the grin on his face got even bigger.
Ah but the course of true love can never run smooth, and 2 minutes later, once the photo was taken, we had to part… I waved goodbye to the lovely young man (whose name I forgot to ask!) and fear that that will be the last I see of him. Ah well, another potential husband lost to me forever… but it was fun while it lasted!
And so, I am on the plane home. Taking with me my memories, tucked away in my heart, these stories of such incredible, brave, poised and positive young men and women. And understanding that change is not necessarily about millions and millions of dollars (although, of course, that helps!) but that real true change can happen with just one person, who is able to do no more than tell their story, but that by telling their story, they are able to change lives.
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