One of the programs that Child Hope Zambia is passionate about is educating the people about HIV/AIDS. There are so many misconceptions and traditions that have got to be cleared up in order to stop the spread of the disease. Remember, these are people who are comfortable in traditions and doing what has always been done generation after generation. Change is difficult, so it is mini-seminars like these that Child Hope provides that give the information that the people need.
Close to 20% of Zambians are HIV+. It used to be said that because of the closeness of the Zambian families, orphans did not exist. If a child lost their parents, they would just be absorbed into the larger family group and be taken care of. This can not be said any more. There are so many children left without parents that there are children now raising themselves.
Something has got to be done to bring down the number of people contracting HIV- It can only be done through education. If the people could understand and truly believe what they are being taught by Child Hope about HIV/AIDS, there would be no more new cases of HIV infection.
Here are some of the hurdles that Child Hope faces and what they need to educate the people about:
1. For those already infected, they do not want to get treatment. Some times, what has happened in the passed is that they have seen others with AIDS go to the clinic only after they are close to death. These people were given ARV's (the treatment that can give miraculous results if given early enough). After getting the ARV's the people did not get better and actually got much worse. This is because they waited too long to get treatment. Those that think they are HIV+ are looking at those who got sicker and saying that the ARV's are actually poison. Therefore, the newly infected will not get treatment.
2. The women have it especially hard. The women may be aware that their husband is not being faithful, but they are not allowed to refuse their husband's sexual advances nor can they request a condom. This is the culture, and Child Hope is trying to fight for women's rights as well.
3. One tradition that has been around forever and is exacerbating the spread of HIV is the cleansing of the woman after her husband's death. It seems ridiculous that this could even happen from the stand point of what the rest of us know because it seems like common sense to us. Remember these are traditions that have been around forever and the people truly believe in them. For the cleansing, this is what happens- The husband dies and leaves the wife alone. It is the responsibility of the husband's male family members to cleanse her. One male member must go and have intercourse with the wife to cleanse her. If the husband died of AIDS, chances are pretty great that the wife is HIV+, which could be then passed to the male member of the family that had intercourse with her. If the wife does not have HIV, she may get it from the male member that has intercourse with her as many times the family's will use the same male member to perform this tradition every time. As you can imagine, this practice could wipe out an entire family, or even an entire village!!
Child Hope Zambia travels to the communities and educates the families about how HIV is transmitted in an effort to stop the spread. Above you can see pictures of the fun ways they educate them.
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