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Rights and responsibilities - prisoners and HIV/AIDS
Judith King. HIVAN Media Team
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A Memorial Prayer Day for prisoners who have died of and are living with HIV/AIDS, hosted by the SA Prisoners' Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR), was held at the Westville Prison in October 2002. Executive Director of SAPOHR, Derrick Mdluli, described the event as an opportunity for those who care not only to commemorate the AIDS-related deaths of inmates, but also to pray for those infected and affected in their communities.
"All HIV-positive people are part of us," he said. "They are our brothers and sisters, albeit in prison." Mdluli appealed for the spread of awareness about the need to address overcrowding in jails, to keep younger and older prisoners separate and to prevent the use of shared needles and razor blades. "But prisoners have responsibilities, too," he stressed. "They need to be decisive about prevention and know their own status by getting tested for HIV. There is a future for them which includes care and support, but only if there is openness about the epidemic."
The function was attended by a number of prominent KwaZulu-Natal faith leaders, with the National Association of People Living with AIDS (NAPWA), the SA Youth Commission, the KZN Campaign Against Torture, and the eThekwini AIDS Council also being represented.
After the lighting of the memorial candle, Imam Osman urged leaders and communities to recognise the courage of prisoners who were facing the loneliness, isolation and physical pain of HIV/AIDS. "This is a complex and incurable disease, and they are among the pioneers on the path to finding solutions for it," he said. "Let their lives not be in vain. Let us ask for forgiveness for not treating them respectfully."
After the Thembalana Catholic Choir and the Westville Prisoners' Choir sang a series of both poignant and joyous hymns celebrating life, the Rev David from the Full Gospel Church of SA addressed the gathering, saying that healing was needed for the bodies and spirits of prisoners with HIV/AIDS and all who love and work with them. "We especially need unity, wisdom, compassion and strength in our leaders," he said.
Speaking for the Methodist Church of SA, Bishop Malinga said that HIV/AIDS was an important focus in their ministry, but she committed all Methodists to work at Westville Prison and to challenge government to improve prison conditions so as to decrease the transmission of HIV. "We must honour prisoners' rights as human beings," she said. "They may be old or young, ours or not - but they are all our children and they have mothers somewhere who need our prayers. Communities should be receptive and helpful to inmates who return to their fold and need to make a fresh start."
Sizwe Shezi of the South African Youth Commission, who is also a member of SANAC (SA National AIDS Council), reminded the audience that we are all human, with the potential to make mistakes, but we can all change our own circumstances. "Although this pandemic is a huge calamity," he said, "it is not South Africa's first historical challenge, not its first internal threat. Knowing that we have to address it for at least the next 10 to 20 years, how are we going to do so as a society?"
He urged faith-based organisations to mobilise around issues such as violence against women and child rape, and to assist in the empowerment of youth to support behaviour change. "We must stop pulling in different directions," he said. "There can be no more blaming - it's time to act. Every one of us should become an activist for gender equity and children's rights - and the rehabilitation of prisoners."
Echoing the call for improved systems for prisoners, Rev O T Dlamini spoke for the eThekwini AIDS Council and offered to partner the SAPOHR by providing free training and materials for voluntary counselling and testing, home-based care and peer education. "Prisoners should be enabled in their attempts to adjust in their communities after release," she said, "so that they can sustain their prevention efforts and thereby lower their risk of spreading HIV infection or being reinfected themselves." She also appealed to the private sector and other NGOs to join this partnership.
Cardinal Wilfred Napier said that every person of every faith and sector should look within and take control of our own attitudes and behaviour. "Our actions have consequences for everyone," he said. "Let us look after each other and close down whatever promotes violence, abuse and corruption. Let us uphold and strive for our highest ideals, not our lowest."
Full photo caption - From left: Derrick Mdluli of SAPOHR, Bongani Sokhela of Westville Prison Choir, Sandile Gambushe of NAPWA and Cardinal Wilfred Napier (Catholic Archdiocese) |
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From left: Derrick Mdluli, Bongani Sokhela, Sandile Gambushe and Cardinal Wilfred Napier
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