Conversations With Corporal Mohtlane - 1

HIV/AIDS is an unfortunate tag with this beautiful country. Statistics vary (one estimate puts the prevalence at 23 percent), but the bottom line is that the disease is rampant. The challenge is being met on several fronts; one cannot but notice this in the offices of every government agency and NGO. But the battle still looks unequal.

Corporal Mohatlane (Moh-et-la-nay) is my driver. But he is more than that. He is my Jeeves (hopefully I am not his Bertie Wooster). I often turn to him for views and even advice.

I asked him about the social impact of HIV/AIDS on individuals. The conversation began when I quizzed him about someone we both know and who has the disease. Our common 'friend' looks weak, but from the hard physical work he puts in I can see that there is strength inside that frail frame.

“It is still a stigma. People are secretive about it. They are encouraged to open up but most choose to hide it. They feel they will be isolated, which, in fact, is what does happen. People are mostly aware of how this disease comes about. There is a great deal of information that is available; even workshops are conducted. Parents, however, still don’t talk to their children about sex and the dangers of promiscuity. It is a cultural thing. In fact, I do not even watch television programs that have sexual content when my children are present.”

Is there an element of denial at work? Perhaps not. But, as my professor at Hawaii Robert Wirsing used to say, "Culture matters!" For people and societies to leap across cultural divides and start acting in ways alien to them is never easy. The shift has to be incremental and graduated.