Blind but still Stepping on

It all started with a rumour making rounds. It was said that in Nthole Village in Nsanje district, there is a woman. Edna Gerald was the name of the woman, and something was happening to her. She is blind too. Another challenge too…

The rumour had it that a husband to Edna Gerald didn’t like her due to her status for being HIV positive. The fact that she had been put on a life prolonging drugs treatment didn’t go well with her husband.

When Gerald was put on life prolonging drugs, the husband went to the extent of throwing drugs into the toilet. He didn’t want her to be taking drugs.

What made the situation heart tingling was the fact that the woman was and is still blind.

“It really pained us when we got wind of the rumour says,” Eunice Ngolombe, chairperson of COWLHA in Nsanje district says.

As Edna Gerald staggers with her walking stick and being assisted by Eunice Ngolombe, she looks so quite…silent. But out of that silence she has a tale to tell.

At a time that Coalition of Women Living with HIV and AIDS is striving to reach out to as many women as possible, the most vulnerable and easily forgotten groups like the blind are not being left behind.

Edna Gerald is one such woman.

Gerald says after getting ill, her parents took her home to Fatima. And when she got tested it was found that she was HIV positive.

But things became worse when she came back to Nsanje. Her husband didn’t want to see her wife to be taking life prolonging drugs.

“When people see you taking life prolonging drugs, what will I say?” she remembers his quizzical expression at the time.

“He was throwing them [drugs] in toilets. I mean drugs,” says Gerald. “Yet it’s him who brought me the virus.”

She never had the much needed care.

Stepping Stones members heard about the rumour. They had to intervene. And they stepped in.

“Together with Mai Mtima Bii, District Coordinator for COWLHA, we visited her home. And asked what happened,” says Ngolombe, adding that after being told the whole ordeal we urged her husband to go and have HIV test.

But how did they convince the husband to go for HIV test?

“We told him about the benefits of having an HIV test to himself, the wife as well as the dependents,” she says.

Whenever members of Stepping Stones are meeting, Edna Gerald is always involved.

“With Tiwoloke, I have a family,” Gerald finishes.

Theatre reducing Intimate Partner violence

For Maxwell Jackson, hailing from Zinyemba Village, Group Village Headman Nandaya, TA Kachere in Dedza district to come to a gathering called by members of Stepping Stones, the presence of drama is the major pull factor.

Through careful articulation of issues members of Tiwoloke are able to priorities issues. As process continues, members are able to create messages that result in a Play. Once that is done, through rehearsals a Play is staged.

Jackson says, “Through such an approach we are able to laugh while at the same time get the much needed message. You see life is tough as such to get serious message while laughing through drama it helps a great deal.”

Such an approach has proved to be vital as it attracts a lot of people who look forward to get entertained only to get the message as well.

According to a participatory communication called Through Our Eyes that run in countries like Liberia, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Uganda and Thailand which encouraged local participation through Theatre in collaboration between American Refugee Committee (ARC) and Communication for Change (C4C), “the use of community-driven participatory communication initiatives tailored to local contexts and priorities.”

Communities with COWHLA’s guidance are able to use their local knowledge and disseminate information thereby reaching out to many people with information.

Saving Namikoko’s soles through radio

By Pacharo Felix Munthali

It is Wednesday. 26 August 2009. This is Namikoko Clinic. It is part of mobile clinic services of Mlambe Hospital and the District Health Officer. This is the only day in a month that people under TA Lundu, Group Headman Mkumba receive the Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART).

For the people surrounding Namikoko to start accessing the drug, it has been a long journey. It is a battle fought by a women group. The situation was critical. Men also joined the cause. “We saw that if the problem is to be dealt with, we, men should take part,” says James Bwanali, an active member of the group.

Under the banner of the National Aids Commission’s (NAC) Tigwirane Manja, Nanjiri Radio Listening Club (RLC) is just one of the many RLCs that sprouted throughout the country from 2005, managed by Malawi Broadcasting Cooperation’s Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU).

Today is the third time to access the drug, an activity that takes place once a month. Yet it is a story that spins years of struggle as well.

Within this group, there is a woman. She has seen her family wobble, one child after another passing away. Her future crumbled before her face. The demise of her two children meant the responsibility horizon widening – she had to take care of the six siblings of her two children that had passed away within six months in 2007.

She was not the only one facing the hitches; more people were going through the same cycle of helplessness. May be different but with one common root, of course - the distance.

As the Chairperson of Nanjiri RLC Dolla Tanga sits and casts her gaze, she shakes her head. She tries to smile, but the smile quickly fades. She looks as if any minute tears will freely flow to the cold floor of this modest house. She is one of the fewest that took part in this problem of HIV and AIDS.

“I myself take ARVs,” she starts a story that snakes through highs and lows that has not only adversely devastated her family, but wrecked her community too.

“One of my children was HIV positive. When he got very ill I had to go to Chiradzulu and receive ARVs for him,” Tanga a Chairperson of Nanjiri Radio Listening Club digs on.

She had to walk for three hours. Many were there, from even further distances, yet they were languishing despite arriving fast. Paradoxically, those near the centre were served first.

“What I saw touched me,” she says.

It is such a distance from home to the ARV dispensing centre. It was time to do something.

She might have been lucky to walk such a distant due to her fitness. But there are many that cover more than such distances foregoing excruciating pain. The distance from Nanjiri to Lirangwe is a long one too; covering more than 20 km.

The long journey

It was sometime back. 2006. The group from Nanjiri recorded a village voice, a tape containing problems that the people in the area face in relation to the HIV and AIDS. The village voice is the views of the communities recorded.

Nanjiri RLC has more than twelve members. It has done a number of programmes that have been aired on MBC radio. They have done programmes to do with stigmatization, and Voluntary Counseling and Testing among other issues. The focus on the latter was distance. The communities under Group Mkumba wanted the VCT to be within their area. They succeeded.

As a follow up to this event on1^st December 2006 at Mdeka during the World AIDS Day, says Tanga, the group met the District Health Officer. They gave the DHO the tape containing their recorded problems.

“But when we made follow ups, the group was told the tape was missing,” recalls the Chairperson, a reminiscence of the past years of hardship becomes conspicuous.

It is a journey shaped by personal turbulents too. After losing two children, leaving behind six children together – seeing how both had struggled to access the drug because of the distance – it was time to set off.

When the Blantyre Assembly asked the Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU) to work in this area under Tigwirane Manja project funded by NAC, hopes of the people surged. It was time for action.

Came 2008, the Nanjiri group upon seeing some of the problems they were grappling in continuing, they agreed to take up the issue once more. And for all. They went to Lirangwe where Mlambe Hospital had a mobile centre that is used to administer life-prolonging drugs. “We asked who is responsible for distributing ARVs,” one of the Nanjiri RLCs members recalls.

Perhaps it is on 6 June 2009 when this long sad chapter finally begun to close. It is the day the District Health Officer for Blantyre; Dr Lillian Chunda was exceptionally responsive to the community demands. The Department of Health in its research last year says, there are about 30 000 people on ARTs in Blanytre.

However, the sad fact is that the majority of those on ARTs are those from Blantyre urban areas. This means that many from rural areas are deprived of the drug.

According to Dr Chunda, Mlambe Hospital alone was helping 3000 people by giving them ARTs. These are the people from Chileka, Lundu, Lirangwe and Mdeka among others. She is convinced by the resilience of DBU communities. “These efforts must reach more places,” she says.

This perhaps is the reason why Nanjiri RLC in 2008 was voted the best radio listening club of the year. It got K75 000 from sponsoring companies in an MBC organized event. The money is used by the Club in crisscrossing in all 14 catchment areas in the area of TA Lundu.

Reflections and the present

Today Group Village Headman Mkumba can afford a smile radiating satisfaction. He grins as he looks directly into my eyes. His mouth opens. “During that time people were afraid of having a voluntary testing of blood,” the past twinkles in his eyes. “I am a happy ma, we did it.”

The advocacy and awareness through Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU) acted as a catalyst for change. “Messages have now reached every corner,” Group Village Headman with a pleased chuckle in his voice.  

“Now people are happy. They now believe in themselves. They know that the future is in their hands,” says Bwanali.

“Today we have a rule,” he stops only to resume his recount, few seconds later. “In those days the youths could marry one another anyhow. Today they are supposed to first have their blood tested before going into marriage.”

With the help of radio, the people are undertaking many initiatives. This is why the Director of Programmes Geoffrey Kazembe, representing the Director General of MBC, called the initiative as “crucial.”

“This initiative is crucial in underlining the cooperation amongst organizations and the people they serve,” Kazembe says adding that MBC is committed to march its role of educating, informing and entertaining the nation in line with people’s wishes.

It is only through the involvement of the people that the country can develop and achieve all pillars as contained in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS).

“This initiative,” says Kazembe “is a witness of this cooperation.”

Vision

Today the whole area of TA Lundu is a happy one. “Our area was lagging behind, now we are empowered, we can demand responsiveness from duty bearers and expect answers,” the Group Mkumba says.

Hamilton Chimala, the Project manager of DBU says the Unit has it own vision. In all 14 districts that the Unit is covering, it scaling up its presence on the ground to at least have a RLC in every Traditional Authority.

Just as the Unit is having its own vision, the area today is having its own vision with diverse focus too. Now the area wants to focus on the environment, too. Chivumbe Hills barely have any tree. The groundwork has already started. The relationship with HIV and AIDS and livelihood is so distinct.

However, for today it is time to join happy singing. A new chapter has opened. The distances will at least be forgotten. Tomorrow, through radio, on the menu is the issue of a maternity facility. They are saving their soles from long distances…again…

Modifying Cultural Beliefs the Lobi way

Culture is people’s identity. People are identified by their beliefs. The practices that people have are the traditional norms that flow on from one generation to the posterity. As Section 26 of the Malawi Republic Constitution contains, “Every person shall have the right to use the language to participate in the cultural life of his or her choice.”

 Yet the same traditions, when they are not being utilized well can be an obstacle in the way of community’s development drive.

“Culture is the root of national development, and for that development to be sustainable that culture must be vibrant. At the same time it is worth noting that, some elements of culture can be obstacles to development,” Malawi Human Rights Commission Report, Cultural Practices and their Impact on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, Particularly the Rights of Women and Children in Malawi.

That’s the story that emanates from Dedza.

Visiting the area of Lobi, TA Kachere in Dedza district, it’s a popular area. It’s an area full of activities. Stories from the area of Lobi have been well documented. It’s a popular place. It’s a place to be, too.

Yet in that popularity, there are traditions that were popular as well amongst the communities. However, the popularity of some of such traditions, when applied to the modern day, ceases to attain and exude the same fire of positive popularity.

They offer a challenge, a challenge that has a negative impact on couples.

It’s this challenge of traditions that pulled Coalition of Women Living with HIV and AIDS (COWLHA) to come to the area.

COWLHA preaches Stepping Stones approach. Through the creation of a platform, dialogue takes place. Men and women in the communities together with their traditional leaders talk. The focus becomes their everyday challenges. In this case, the dialogue centres on their traditions.

There have been a number of traditions in the area. These are traditions that are as old as the area of Lobi. The traditions have survived with the people.

But times are changing. There are more dangers now. The traditions need to be revisited.

Nkhuku Traditional

Isaac Elisala when he looks back, he thanks Stepping Stones for the change that has been registered in his area.

He talks of Nkhuku (Chicken) Tradition.

“We used to have a Chicken tradition. Under this tradition, once a hen sits on its eggs for twenty eight days, I was not supposed to sleep with my wife for twenty eight days. And that’s what the whole community did. So I had to wait, until its eggs hatch,” he says.

It was even more challenging when you have more chickens. Boasting more chickens it meant more hens laying eggs, more hens sitting on eggs. Oops! The implication means more days without enjoying one’s conjugal entitlements.

“As a result more men went out to see other women because twenty eight days or more with no sex was hell on earth. I had no option but to go out and seek comfort in other women. I know its consequence was the fact that you can easily contract HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, but what could I do?” he asks.

Scratching his head, Elisala warns. He says sleeping with one’s woman when the hen is sitting on its eggs, it was told, would result in its eggs to not hatch. It had an economic implication.

However, he agrees that much as such was the case; the coming of Stepping Stones has helped to abandon the tradition. They now enjoy conjugal rights. And there is no any effect on eggs.

“It was a myth,” he says.

Couples, including Elisala’s couple, are now able to enjoy the integral component of conjugal rights while also improving their house’s economic wellbeing.

Kasabola Tradition

Then there is Kasabola tradition. Under this tradition, couples follow pepper ripping period.

Elisala says that “once pepper starts to get ripe couples were banned from having sex.”

“Couples were told that if they would have sex, either of the two would lose his or her parents,” he says.

Elizabeth Chinthenga from the same area says it was difficult at first because the traditional leaders denied that they had any such tradition.

“It took the collaboration of Organisations that are working in the area to deal with this challenge,” says Chinthenga who applauds the COWLHA approach that encourage creation of dialogue.

But things have now improved. 

Traditional practice three

“There was also a tendency by some families where when one of the boys in the family goes to Kasungu to work in estates or farms, man and woman of that family were not supposed to indulge in any sex activity,” Chinthenga says while emphasizing that if the child will be away for two years it meant two years without sexual activities between the man and the woman.

To the families it was seen as wishing the boy good luck. Indulging in such sexual activity it meant it had a potential threat of bad luck on the boy. It was seen that he would even die.

However, the coming of COWLHA has put to rest this tradition.

As Elisala chips in, the families are at peace.

 Issues of cheating with potential threat of contracting HIV are on the decrease.

Nkhuku Nsekere Tradition

In the past when there was funeral, it meant no in homes there will be no sex business. Couples were discouraged to indulge in sexual activity. In other words, there was total ban.

Alice Scot adds that if the village elder will go to the funeral they would advise all couples under such elder that no couple in that clan should indulge itself in sexual activity. It is called Nkhuku Nsekere.

“When the elders are going to the funeral they would invite all couples. And they would tell us. They are going to the funeral, Nkhuku Nsekere (none of you should indulge in sexual activities). And when they are back they would tell us that they are back we are free now,” she says.

For the couple to indulge in sexual activity it was said that it will make elders die. Or die faster.

The larger picture

The practices had one effect: depriving the couples their conjugal rights. The scenario made the possibility of having one of the two in the couple to cheat, really high. Contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infection was the danger.

Through Stepping Stones dialogues with various stakeholders involved, a lot has changed.

Lloyd Ndalama of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) in Dedza argues that a number of traditions have been reconsidered. Those that needed abolishment have been abolished. And those that required modification have been modified.

In 2012, Coalition of Women Living with HIV and AIDS undertook a survey, and released the results. The surveying stretching through 6 districts – from Ntchisi, through Salima, Thyolo, Nsanje, Rumphi to Karonga – it covered 17 Traditional Authorities including people Living with HIV (PLHIV) belong to Support Groups, local and religious leaders and Service providers in health sector.

According to the report, at the time, forms of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) were on the rise. Zeroing in down, the “study reveals that 20% of the PLHIV suffered physical violence, 50% were subjected to psychological abuse and 41% suffered from sexual abuse. Psychological abuse is the most dominant form of IPV and verbal abuse was the most common form of psychological abuse affecting 17% of the respondents. Men are more susceptible to verbal abuse than women and 22% of them suffered from verbal abuse against 16% of the women in intimate partnerships.”

As Lobi area continues to with its everyday activities, so are people every day striving to change some of the traditions they have had for generations. Traditions that they feel has an effect on their everyday life, traditions that are putting them in danger of contract HIV. 
 https://www.facebook.com/pachie.munthali