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First impressions of HIVAN
Malene Sahlertz. September 2004.
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Malene Sahlertz recently joined HIVAN as an intern, assisting HIVAN's Deputy Director: Social and Behavioural Sciences, Jill Kruger and HIVAN's Artists' Action Around AIDS Project Co-ordinator, Bren Brophy. Malene is a Master of Arts student from Denmark and reports on her initial impressions of South Africa and HIVAN.
Goddag - Sawubona - Hello!
Should someone not be sure about the origin of goddag, it is quite understandable as it is the greeting of only five million people, in a distant kingdom of northern Europe. However, as Danish is my mother tongue it seems fairly natural for me to start with a goddag ?– so bear with me. My name is Malene Sahlertz and I?’m a 25 year-old MA student in Development Studies recently arrived from the cold North of Denmark, where a cold winter day for you is a good summer day for us! For the next four months I?’ll be working as an intern at HIVAN (Centre for HIV and AIDS Networking at the University of KwaZulu-Natal). I?’m going to be primarily occupied with projects relating to Artist?’s Action Around AIDS (AAAA), with Project Facilitator, Bren Brophy and Deputy Director (Social and Behavioural Sciences), Jill Kruger.
I arrived in this amazing country at the beginning of August, very excited to finally be here. On my way from Durban Airport to my new home in SA, the doctors?’ quarters at McCord Hospital, I observed from the window of the car I was in, all the fancy white houses hidden behind vast fences, razor-wire and guards. With this view, a thought struck me: how are people living in this environment of ?“closed-ness?” and obvious fear? What can I possibly expect to encounter, when these are the premises surrounding people? I could not know that within a short time South Africa would already appear to me to be one of the most contrasting countries I had ever visited. And what I have experienced so far is very different indeed from my first impression of ?“closed-ness?”.
Though I have only arrived recently, I would like to share a few of my first impressions from my encounters with people connected to the field in which I will be working. When everything is said and done, the strength of sharing has probably been the first thing I have come to realize, it is what gives power to my being here. So why should I not share, when everyone I have met so far has been willing to share!
I initially experienced the willingness to share when I was introduced at HIVAN. Honestly, the brief introduction to the current projects and staff members left me not exactly more clear concerning what it?’s all about ?– to be more frankly rather slightly more confused ?– who? ?–what? ?– when? ?– could I just have it one more time? I don?’t believe myself to be that slow ?– but gosh! There is, for sure, a reason why HIVAN calls it self a centre for networking ?– the wide scope of research areas, projects and people involved are quite impressive.
However, in spite of the very dynamic and busy environment of HIVAN with people being devoted and commited to this wide range of different projects and research areas, I have still felt a kindness and a readiness from persons to share their work and thoughts with me. This willingness to let me be a part of what appears to be very new, innovative, and exciting projects, gives me a feeling of confidence. When I am invited to join in the creation and implementation of these projects. it is very inspiring and makes me keen to get started and contribute. How? I don?’t know yet, exactly. However, from the atmosphere I have experinced here, I know that I will eventually be able to find my specific strengths and way of contributing.
Another experience I?’d like to share with you is my visit to the McCord Hospital HIV/AIDS Centre, Sinikithemba, and meeting people whose lives are strongly affected by HIV/AIDS. I went there to see how the support group sessions for HIV-positive persons were carried out. Waiting for the meeting to start, I observed people in the waiting room entering, some alone, some in couples, some being able to smile and chat, while others sat alone, silent, with eyes, that to me didn?’t reflect much hope.
I have spent hundred of hours reading big scientific books and articles, writing assignments and watching documentaries, all about HIV/AIDS, but what I have come to realize is that this can never replace the emotional sentiment of seeing people in flesh and blood coping with life in these hard circumstances. I have only met a few HIV-positive persons in my entire life, and that is in a Danish context, where less than one out of one thousand is infected, and where nursing and ARV treatment for PLWA?’s is a free and natural offer provided by the state. However, experiencing the support group meeting the same day provided my heart with a certain relief and spirit of hope. In spite of the fact that everything was in Zulu, making the only words I could grasp: siyabonga and hallelujah. I witnessed a powerful gathering of people, opening, sharing and showing compassion to one another, all in an atmosphere of acceptance and respect.
Even though I had nothing formally to do in the chapel where these meetings are held, I felt welcome. This feeling was fortified when a little four-year-old Zulu-speaking girl approached me when I had just entered and stayed at my side almost the entire session ?– in spite of my bizarre language and colour. The singing especially amazed me ?– so beautiful and strong ?– it even made me try to sing along in my own, for the occasion, invented isiZulu.
Another thing that was very different from what I have experienced in Denmark, was the use of prayers. I have now come to realize that for many South Africans, spirituality seems to be an integral part of any social gathering, and maybe specifically so, in the context of disease. In Denmark we have a saying in three words: faith, hope and love, but I don?’t think we are using this combination of words the same way as I have seen them being used here. I have noticed the Zulu word, themba (hope) especially. It comes in all sorts of variations, naming various projects and organisations. I know that words cannot feed hungry stomachs or illness, but it still seems to me as if it spiritually nourishes people. In spite of poverty and hardship among so many people in this area, I have experienced smiling, openness and warmth from so many, ranging from people I have met at Sinikithemba willing to share their stories of despair, illness and hope, to the guards protecting the same building, who always feel like a little chat and even remember my strange foreign name, when asking ?“Kunjani Malene??”
Ngiya phila! |
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