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Anti-HIV/AIDS message reaches Swaziland's king's warriors
28 May 2003. Republished courtesy of IRIN PlusNews.
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In a traditional kingdom that takes seriously its customary social structures, the anti-HIV/AIDS message is this week being targeted at young Swazi men belonging to King Mswati's warrior regiments.
"About 45 percent of Swazis in their twenties are HIV-positive, the highest demographic group among an adult population that officially is 38.6 percent HIV-positive. Young men are the most vulnerable," health worker Mduduzi Simelane told PlusNews.
Simelane and health motivators from the Ministry of Health and various NGOs are handing out AIDS literature, and dispensing advice on where to get blood tests and counselling at a venue where this has never been attempted: the warrior barracks at Mswati's royal village, Engabezweni.
Each May, the warrior regiments spend a fortnight at their traditional compounds, rethatching beehive huts where they live, engaging in symbolic tribute work like harvesting the king's sorghum field, and handing down traditional skills like shield making and knob stick carving to younger generations.
"Every Swazi, boy and girl, man and woman, belongs to the regiment of his age mates. But lately we have grown alarmed by the decimation of what should be the most vital of the regiments, the Inkhanyenti [Swazi star, the regiment of the king's sons], where the youngest warriors are members," said Balonja Mngomezulu, an elder from the Inyatsi (buffalo) regiment.
Mgnomezulu will not specify the cause of the deaths - in Swaziland it is still taboo to blame a fatality on HIV/AIDS because of the stigma attached to the disease. But it is permissible to advocate ways to avoid the virus. Mngomezulu and other warrior elders responded favourably to health motivators' requests that they have access to the regiments when they assembled for royal duties.
"We must educate these young men about AIDS, because they will listen to us. What they hear at school does not have the same authority as what we tell them, because we represent the king. When we speak to the warriors, it is the king who appointed us who speaks to them," one Inkhanyenti elder explained.
The regimental leaders tell the warriors they must listen to what the health motivators have to say. Because women are usually not allowed into the warrior barracks, just as men are usually barred from the women's regimental gatherings, male health motivators are pressed into service.
"Speaking to the young men is a matter of making them see the danger of multiple girlfriends. That is what is spreading HIV/AIDS, the polygamous mindset," Aubrey Masuku, a community officer with the AIDS Information and Support Centre in Manzini, told PlusNews.
"However, we are careful not to condemn polygamy, because it is legal in Swaziland and a lot of the older warriors are polygamists. We have to avoid antagonising anyone," Masuku said.
Middle-aged warriors are also approached by health motivators, who engage them in conversations about suspected HIV/AIDS-related deaths in their communities. Older Swazis are vulnerable to HIV through the custom of "kuteka", where a widow enters the homestead of her late husband's brother to become one of his wives. If the deceased died of HIV/AIDS, the disease can affect a new family.
This month Mswati appointed as health minister a traditionalist, Chief Sipho Shongwe. He is expected to ease the HIV/AIDS message into chieftaincies where resistance to condom usage and blood testing is intense.
"Swaziland is largely a rural nation. Four out of five Swazis live in the countryside under chiefs. So it is natural that the worst of HIV/AIDS can be found in rural lands," said Dr John Kunene, the principal secretary in the Ministry of Health.
Mswati has long advocated condom usage as a means of HIV/AIDS prevention. Health motivators visiting the regiments this week carry with them cartons of condoms for distribution.
"All the young men say they don't need a demonstration with our rubber figures; they know how to use condoms. The challenge is actually motivating them to do so," said health worker August Malambe.
Malambe and his colleagues report that the warriors are receptive listeners, and actually enjoy the diversion from wood gathering and water fetching chores the elders have them do. "We don't lecture the boys, we talk. We motivate, and the key motivation is to recognise the value of life, and desiring to hold on to it," Malambe said.
One sign that the message is getting through: As they parade in their warrior finery, carrying cow-hide shields and wearing antelope loin skins and pink regimental beads, young members of the regiments have added a new touch to their fur anklets by inserting shiny gold condom packets that reflect the sunlight - providing hope for an HIV/AIDS-free future.
This item is delivered to the English Service of the United Nations Humanitarian Information Unit but, may not necessarily reflect the views of the UN |
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