World AIDS Day 2009: Botswana

I was trying to post this yesterday when we had a power cut so I lost the internet, so here it is today – you’ll just have to pretend.

Today is the 21st World AIDS Day. Living in Botswana, there was no way that I could let the day pass without mentioning it.

The Numbers
According to the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey of 2008 (BAIS 2008), it is estimated that

• 17.6% of the population is HIV+
• 20.4% of all females
• 14.2% of all males

Take a little time with those figures. How many people work in your building? How many were in your class at school? Imagine if nearly 2 in every 10 people you know, grannies and kids included, were living with HIV.

In the 15-24 age group, twice as many girls and young women are infected with HIV as their male counterparts.

In my age group (30-35 year olds) the national prevalence rate is nearly 40%. Among women in that group it’s nearly 50%. Think about the implications of half of your female friends being HIV+.

The Response
In 2002, under then President Festus Mogae, Botswana became the first African country to offer free anti-retroviral drugs to those living with HIV on the MASA programme.

• The program has saved an estimated 47,000 lives.
• Today, Botswana’s adult ART coverage rate is more than 95% – the highest in Africa.
• The rate of adherence to treatment is 85-90% – one of the highest in the world.
• Routine testing was introduced in 2004. Over 90% of those offered a test accept it.

There’s barely a shop counter that doesn’t also give space to a choice of condoms. There are posters and billboards all over the place, urging us to “Know your status” and “Keep the Promise” and asking “Who’s in your sexual network?” There are education programs, prevention programs and behaviour change programs. The Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission program (PMTCT) has slashed transmission rates to new-borns to less than 4%, earning global recognition and preventing an estimated 7,800 new infections.

There are a multitude of organizations working to provide care for those infected and those affected by HIV and AIDS. The Anglican Diocese of Botswana is one of them and we have several projects running at the moment, with more planned. I’ll tell you more about them in due course.

The Future

One of the biggest challenges facing Botswana is the stigma attached to HIV+ status. In his address today (1st Dec 2009), President Seretse Khama Ian Khama called on the people of Botswana to challenge prejudice and discrimination against those living with HIV. He committed his government to challenging all laws that stand in the way of access to proper care, treatment and dignity adding, “Protecting human rights and promoting public health are mutually reinforcing.”

This is more good news. It builds on Mogae’s legacy, and will contribute to the government’s target of no new infections by 2016 (under the Vision 2016 goals). There was scepticism when MASA was launched, but Botswana proved it was possible. There is scepticism now about the goal for 2016. Education and inspiring behaviour change are crucial if this target is to be achieved. Botswana has come a long way in it’s response to HIV and AIDS but it still has a long way to go.

In the UK we have an ongoing debate about whether sex education encourages young people into sexual activity. That question is raised here too, but it has even more weight. Whereas in the UK, it’s becoming increasingly acceptable to discuss sex, in Tswana culture it is virtually impossible to discuss it at any time. Not even priests can raise the issue comfortably. Until this deeply ingrained reluctance to discuss sexual matters such as safe sex, multiple consecutive partnerships and sexual violence, I fear the goal for 2016 is a very long way away indeed.

Some interesting reads

• Nata Village Blog – day to day life in Nata, a village in northern Botswana that’s been hit hard by HIV/AIDS.
• HIV and AIDS in Botswana – some interesting background and commentary on the current situation in Botswana.
• Juhie Bhatia’s article for Global Voices ‘World AIDS Day: Reflections and Raising Awareness’
• Links to more information about Blogging Positively – a collection of case studies, interviews, and tips about citizen media related to HIV/AIDS.
• A map of HIV-positive bloggers, people and groups who blog about HIV/AIDS, and and citizen media related to HIV/AIDS. Published by Global Voices bloggers on World Aids Day 2008.

Additional resources:

• African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP)
• Botswana’s Ministry of Health
• Botswana Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (BONEPWA)
• National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA)
• PEPFAR
• UNAIDS
• World Health Organisation (WHO)

“Bring me that horizon”

Captain Jack Sparrow certainly knew a thing or two about the value of an open horizon for giving you sense of freedom. Over the last few weeks I’ve been lucky enough to be taken out and about a bit on various trips – so I’ve been able to see a bit of the country side.

Botswana is a seemingly endless plain – gently unrolling to the edge of the earth. It can seem deceptively flat, until you reach the crest of a rise you weren’t entirely sure you were climbing, and you see before you more plains, stretching further than you can see in any direction. In the far distance there may be further low hills, there are often piles of boulders, as though they’ve been swept up by a giant – an imitation of the piles of leaves left every morning after the yard is swept. The bush is, by and large, made up of short unfriendly-looking trees, but looking at a hillside from a distance shows a variety impossible to detect close up – rarely are two trees of the same shade next to each other.

This country is beautiful. Wild and strong, alternately strikingly stark and breathtakingly beautiful. There’s something about it that gets under your skin… Three days of being back in the city, I find myself itching to get out again…

Here are some of the pictures I’ve taken on my travels. But if you really want to know what it’s like – you’ll have to come and see for yourself.

The rolling plains of Botswana

The open road…

…goes on…

Boulders (no the CAT didn’t put them there)

…and on…

…and on

The road stretching behind us

A level crossing

A wide dry river bed before the rains

Cattle often roam across the road

The riverbank

Distance and scale are hard to judge here

A Nation Speaks

This week Botswana’s newly returned ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party, will form a new government. Last Friday (16th October) was a general election. Since my arrival, I’ve seen a constant supply of posters and billboards promoting one party or another. Every road junction, virtually every signpost, has a poster for at least one candidate. They’re easy to spot – coming in one of three colours for the three main parties: red for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), yellow for the Botswana National Front (BNF)* or green for the Botswana Congress Party (BCP). There are other parties, even a few independents, but these three are the main contenders.
There have also been rallies – many, many rallies. In the two days before the election I was lucky enough to be touring around some of the villages surrounding Gabs. We saw cars with loud hailers, great long convoys of crowded combies and backies (pick-up trucks), even a group of children standing by a junction waving campaign posters at passing traffic.

The Batswana are rightly proud of their right to vote – and whilst in previous years the electorate have succumed to apathy (around 40% turnout in 2004), this year the campaign to raise engagement seems to have worked. I know one lady who queued at the polling station from 9am until 4pm, so determined was she to cast her vote. Since the Batswana are so mobile, and so attached to their home villages, many others made long round trips – over 10 hours in total for some, to make sure their voices were heard.
Having cast their vote, some went on to stay at the polling station, in a bid to be first to hear who had won for their constituency. Once the votes had been counted (by hand of course) the celebrations started in earnest. There were parties and parades all weekend, even fireworks!
Of course, nothing is perfect, and no election ever runs without a degree of controversy. In the run up to this one we had court cases, conspiracy theories and allegations, some quite serious. But the fact that they could be discussed openly, rather than behind hands, can only be a good sign. And in spite of it all, the people voted. Not all of them, and there were wrangles over that too, but a majority of Batswana were engaged in the process and cared about their right to be heard – including an unprecedented number of young people. Today, the talk in the office has been all about the results and their implications.

Why not have a look at some of what the papers were saying. There’s plenty more on each site if you fancy a look around.

• Daily News (government-owned)
• Sunday Standard
• Botswana Gazette
• Mmegi

Good luck to new government. They have a lot to do, and now they have a nation of engaged citizens – with high expectations.

Here are few of the images I snapped whilst out and about last week…

		
		
		

			

				
			
				

				BCP billboard at the roadside
				

			

				
			
				

				BNF poster at a roundabout
				

			

				
			
				

				A combie driver shows his support for the BDP
				

			

				
			
				

				A campaign truck with loud-hailer
				

			

				
			
				

				BNF supporters in a combie
				

			

				
			
				

				BCP supporters in a backie
				

			

				
			
				

				Kids enjoying waving at the traffic (with BNF posters)
				

			

				
			
				

				BDP Headquarters in Gaborone
				

			

				
			
				

				A BDP rally in full swing
				

			

		

*I couldn't find their official website.

Made in Botswana

A little while ago, I mentioned that I was hoping to go to a concert. It occurs to me that I haven’t told you anything about it, so I thought I should.

‘Made in Botswana‘ was staged by Sedibeng Choral Society in an impressive hall at Muru-a-pula Secondary School, here in Gaborone. The amateur Society have been running for just four years, but have build a remarkable repertoire and resume in that time, performing with the likes of the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra and South Africa’s Sibongile Khumalo. They were also involved in the music for the recent highly acclaimed adaptation of Alexander McCall Smith’s No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

The evening was divided into two parts – the first a short selection of classical music, which happened to include some of my favourite pieces from Bizet’s Carmen, sung in the original French. Highlights for me were Tshenolo Segokgo’s wonderfully sexy Habanera and Oteng Zachariah’s laid back and cocky version of Bernstein’s Lucky to be Me.

The second part was longer and complied of music either created or arranged by two members of the Society, Lucky Ramoloko and leader Andy Batshogile. As the title of the evening would suggest, these pieces were built around the traditional life of the Batswana. Some were written specifically for the show, the others were arrangements of songs traditionally sung at special events and in everyday life.

The choir’s entrance was exciting and the evening continued apace with joy, energy, humour and brilliant harmonies. Several times I had to remind myself that it was sung entirely a cappella, the accompanist from the first half having taken her seat with the audience for the second.

As promised, there were songs from the school yard and the fields, from weddings and even to a traditional medicine man. The evening turned somber with the truly moving (and beautifully set) Iyoo mme, a lament for the very many Batswana who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. Again, Tshenolo Segokgo shone as the lead vocalist.

Tshenolo Segokgo in 'Iyoo mme'

Ralph Dennison then picked us up again with Ha le mpona (literally translated, ‘As you see me’), a fun song about a young man returning from working in the mines in South Africa with… ah… I won’t spoil the surprise… You see, a few days later I was talking to Andy Batshogile, the Society leader, and there are hopes afoot to take the show on tour to the UK.

If it happens I’ll try to let you know, but one thing is for sure – if you get the chance to see Sedibeng Choral Society’s Made in Botswana go and see it. You will not be disappointed.

Don’t just take my word for it – the Gazette loved it too!