Now let us talk about AIDS.
I have been involved in anti-AIDS among the youth for a long time. I have seen how the young people think about the disease. Unsurprisingly, many take the situation with a lot of humour. I remember once giving a talk about AIDS and some guy mentioned that old line that AIDS, actually is standing for American Invention Discouraging Sex! He was so serious that he never smiled!
That was an easy one to challenge and we did handle it nicely. The other side of the AIDS awareness is that many young people see that here is nothing new. We got lots of pain trying to insert AIDS education evrytime there is a youth event, but they coplained there is nothing new: the same ABC’s basic facts etc. Uhm.
The down side is always that apathy sets in and many young people just shrag it off as just another disease too. But is it? Long time ago in the mid 80s, it is considered a disease of Congolese in Sudan, mainly prostitutes etc. Only those who visit these places get it. It is a sad fact which is still the case in South Sudan.
The Abstinence is impossible in the young, the Being faithful hard for the married, and the Condom? It is not always available! Well, there are those who think it takes the “sweetness” out of the sex!
Next time, we talk about another side.
I hear you on a lot of what you’ve just said. :’\
Comment by Dalu — September 7, 2007 @ 3:40 pm
The conflict that lasted for 21 years acted as a buffer zone for South Sudan with the AIDS affected East and central African countries. Now that it is over, it is going to be one hell of a job fighting AIDS.
I hope you guys find the right formula
Comment by Black Kush — September 10, 2007 @ 10:09 am
[...] from Juba itself, Doctor Konyokonyo has a post about AIDS in South Sudan: The down side is always that apathy sets in and many young people just shrag it off as just [...]
Pingback by Global Voices Online » Does anything good ever happen in Africa? — September 14, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
[...] avy ao Juba etsy andanin’izany, Doctor Konyokonyo dia nanoratra lahatsoratra mikasika ny SIDA ao atsimon’i Sudan: The down side is always that apathy sets in and many young people just shrag it off as just [...]
Pingback by Global Voices amin'ny teny Malagasy » Blog Archive » Mba misy zavatra tsara angaha any Afrika? — September 17, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
Oh wow…I always thought that educating people about AIDS would do some good and hopefully give them enough knowledge to make responsible decisions, but the vibe I got from this post is that people just plain don’t care. What do you think went wrong? do we need to educate them more on the magnitude of the pandemic?? or do u think policy intervention (although I know it won’t happen soon) is the answer? Would you also please give me any contact info for any health organizations working in Sudan in general and the south in particular if possible???
Comment by Daana — September 24, 2007 @ 3:32 am
Hmm, although these young folk act like they know it all and are “open” to discuss this, I still gather that somewhere in there…there’s still a lack of comprehensive discussion going on. And discomfort comes out in humor, rejection of facts and general apathy…because there are real limitations in terms of just how far you can discuss sex and safe sex. How do you really discuss sex in a culture where the act itself is taboo? (haha I can even say within marriage) And AIDS is seen as something that, I don’t know, only happens to prostitutes and those who sleep with them?
AIDS does not discriminate but hey…
And that’s a problem. Because these people will continue to have sex. And sex without the right form of communication and being fully informed can be disasterous. There’s this “taboo” that revolves around sex. Having sex is taboo, yet it happens, but people won’t acknowledge it, and not acknowledging certain behaviors will lead in difficulty in addressing them (therefore the myths and ignorance that revolves around).
Sex is something you do and shut up about it, especially between the two people involved. Therefore the humor, dismissal and a know it all attitude… when it comes to means of being safe and the act itself. People are just supposed to ‘trust’ each other (if the issue of trust comes up at all), and this issue of trust is never explored. There are also issues of consent and the female actually having a voice in whether or not the male will put on the damned condom, the result is always the male refusing to.
People, I believe, need to start first to stop acting all haywire about sex, so there needs to be a change of thought.. before they even start learning about the ABCs of AIDS, I suppose. hmph. There needs to be some work on real life communication skills. Because I can sit here and learn about how harmful AIDS is, how it’s transmitted, bla bla blah but if I am still stuck in my old ways, it’s just unreal textbook-ish crap that means nothing to me. It reminds me of some booklet that I used to have when I was in Uganda that was aimed at young women, teaching them how to “keep” themselves safe, but it didn’t really explore real situations that are created by their cultural environment where it would be next to impossible for them to actually effectively take control of their bodies and sexuality. And I speak of this seriously, because in all honesty, AIDS has somehow been given a “woman’s” face. With it being a prostitute’s disease and all (also they and their children being at greater risk)…Whenever I hear people talk about AIDS, more often than not, the person in question is an “immoral” woman…who had it coming anyway…but I’m threading on a whole different subject.
So yea, in the end…it irritates the hell out of me, and appalls me, when there are actually some people out there who are in their 20s, sexually active and don’t even have a basic knowledge of their anatomy. Have these silly ideas of how STDs are actually transmitted, and these old…myths on how to not get pregnant.
Yea, I know. I rambled.
Comment by Dalu — September 24, 2007 @ 4:14 am
Hmm, although these young folk act like they know it all and are “open” to discuss this, I still gather that somewhere in there…there’s still a lack of comprehensive discussion going on. And discomfort comes out in humor, rejection of facts and general apathy…because there are real limitations in terms of just how far you can discuss sex and safe sex. How do you really discuss sex in a culture where the act itself is taboo? (haha I can even say within marriage) And AIDS is seen as something that, I don’t know, only happens to prostitutes and those who sleep with them?
AIDS does not discriminate but hey…
And that’s a problem. Because these people will continue to have sex. And sex without the right form of communication and being fully informed can be disasterous. There’s this “taboo” that revolves around sex. Having sex is taboo, yet it happens, but people won’t acknowledge it, and not acknowledging certain behaviors will lead in difficulty in addressing them (therefore the myths and ignorance that revolves around).
Sex is something you do and shut up about it, especially between the two people involved. Therefore the humor, dismissal and a know it all attitude… when it comes to means of being safe and the act itself. People are just supposed to ‘trust’ each other (if the issue of trust comes up at all), and this issue of trust is never explored. There are also issues of consent and the female actually having a voice in whether or not the male will put on the damned condom, the result is always the male refusing to.
People, I believe, need to start first to stop acting all haywire about sex, so there needs to be a change of thought.. before they even start learning about the ABCs of AIDS, I suppose. hmph. There needs to be some work on real life communication skills. Because I can sit here and learn about how harmful AIDS is, how it’s transmitted, bla bla blah but if I am still stuck in my old ways, it’s just unreal textbook-ish crap that means nothing to me. It reminds me of some booklet that I used to have when I was in Uganda that was aimed at young women, teaching them how to “keep” themselves safe, but it didn’t really explore real situations that are created by their cultural environment where it would be next to impossible for them to actually effectively take control of their bodies and sexuality. And I speak of this seriously, because in all honesty, AIDS has somehow been given a “woman’s” face. With it being a prostitute’s disease and all (also they and their children being at greater risk)…Whenever I hear people talk about AIDS, more often than not, the person in question is an “immoral” woman…who had it coming anyway…but I’m threading on a whole different subject.
So yea, in the end…it irritates the hell out of me, and appalls me, when there are actually some people out there who are in their 20s, sexually active and don’t even have a basic knowledge of their anatomy. Have these silly ideas of how STDs are actually transmitted, and these old…myths on how to not get pregnant.
Yea, I know. I rambled.
P.S. I don’t know if the first one submitted, but here’s another try just in case. Feel free to delete extra copies of the same comment.
Comment by Dalu — September 24, 2007 @ 4:15 am
AIDS is a big problem that is going to need the help of everybody to fight. It is not gonna be easy. Nobody is saying that.
Dalu, come see the place and you will know what I mean!
Daana, there is an element of “I dont-care” in the people. There are people who say they know of AIDS, but had nothing to lose. Everybody is going to die, anyway, whether by AIDS of hunger or war. It is hard to convince those who think this way.
Comment by Dr. K. K. — September 25, 2007 @ 9:08 pm