/ 23 April 2008

HIV: Looking for new ways to live

Twenty years into the pandemic, people are looking for new ways to live with HIV and, for some, alternative medicine has become part of the answer.

Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 2 458 892 at noon, April 23.

Twenty years into the pandemic people are looking for new ways to live with HIV and for some alternative medicine has become part of the answer.

This year the TsaBotsogo Community Development and Training Centre, based in Dobsonville, Soweto, took 30 children to camp for a week, where “energy medicine practitioners” arrived to help balance the children’s energies.

Practitioners of energy medicine, such as Amanda du Toit, believe physical illness is caused by imbalances between such energies in the body.

By the end of the session most of the younger children were asleep, while the older ones sat quietly with their eyes closed. The session involved no physical contact or verbal communication between the women and children, which Du Toit said was an advantage when working with children who might not be able to verbalise what they are feeling. — PlusNews