A friend, and also a brilliant maths teacher, told me that as a child in Hitler’s Germany she stretched out her little arm in the “Heil Hitler” salute.
When I was a child I accepted the fact that black people came to the back door of our small house, that the “maid” drank from a tin mug and that a cacophonous curfew broke the silence at nine o’clock every night. Later, when my “maid” was bitten by a dog and could not come to work for three months, I employed a substitute. The dog owners did nothing for her either. Later on she “disappeared”.
Today I feel ashamed when I think back. Will we, as educators, feel ashamed when we hear reports that learners we taught died of Aids? Or when we look back at the heavy death toll of people who were infected between the ages of 15 and 24?
There are very few South Africans who do not know someone who is HIV positive or someone who has died of Aids. I cannot clear my mind of a blurred picture I have of Elsie.
Elsie was invited to speak to a group of learners at a youth programme at Monash University in 2001. Elsie was beautiful in every way. She spoke quietly and won our hearts. She told us that she had been raped by an uncle at 12 who had infected her with the HIV virus. A choir of young men who called themselves “The Golden Boyz” sang for us on that occasion and their leader publicly said that he was disappointed she already had a boyfriend as he would be willing candidate.
She told me before she left that she often felt very tired during the day but she was loath to give in to sleep in case she did not wake up again…
Elsie should not have been sentenced to death in a country that has the capacity to offer treatment to people living with Aids.
In the face of government inertia it is heartening to know that throughout Southern Africa communities and individuals, activists and educators are involved in fighting the pandemic.
Zackie Achmat, head of the Treatment Action Campaign, is one such person. Achmat staged a march in Cape Town to call for action to curb the “explosion of TB on the continent combined with the explosion and advance of the HIV epidemic”.
Verla Nyambura from Kenya is another such activist. With the help of a group of HIV-positive teachers she reaches neglected members of society. She says that “through counselling sessions teachers are able to identify learners who are affected. These learners send their HIV-infected relatives to us and we are able to convince them to seek medical attention and live positively.” She adds: “I work in a community where the woman’s voice is not heard – but through the youth, we are able to reach out to the community.”
However, efforts in isolation cannot stem the “silent tsunami”.
An army of teachers toyi-toyied last year for better wages. What is stopping that same army from instituting effective measures to protect their learners from HIV infection? What a united, powerful force we could be.
We recognise that we have had little success so far. We have to amalgaÂÂmate and share ideas that will work. Is it not time for teachers’ conferences on HIV to take place regularly so that we can follow a formulated plan of action in schools throughout the country?
There are experts a-plenty, such as Dr David Harrison of loveLife, who could inform and inspire us. We must aim for nothing less than turning the pandemic around. After all, it is the youth who are fuelling the epidemic, so a shift within that group to more responsible sexual behaviour could make a huge impact on the infection rate.
As an educator I was involved in countless activities, besides running a department – drama, debating, the media centre. Had anyone suggested that I should take on any more I would have thrown up my hands in horror. But if time were set aside for well-planned HIV/Aids programmes and a day a term was used for an HIV teachers’ conference taht was worth every minute of my time, I would have jumped at the opportunity.
Schools can stand on their own two feet if the right structures, tools and finances are provided and the required time is allocated. If the department of education plays an enabling role we could implement an active HIV/Aids policy. Educators and parents would welcome the chance to protect learners from the horrors of HIV and Aids.
Educators spend their working hours in close contact with teenagers, but are not trained to protect them from HIV and Aids. There should be a level of knowledge and know-how that inspires confidence in the learners and the community. And there should be some way of updating this information on a regular basis.
We have to stem the tide. The Human Sciences Research Council estimates that we have 350 000 children in South Africa between the ages of two and 10 who are HIV-positive. About 590 000 HIV-infected children live in South Africa. A teenaged girl who engages in unprotected sex is likely to contract HIV and give birth to an HIV-positive baby.
This is why HIV and Aids need to be big on the school agenda from 2008.
Joan Dommisse is an educator who can be contacted on [email protected] or 011 616 8404