The border crossing to Namibia is dry dry desert, plus this little restaurant...
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Namibia: Culture vs. HIV, and the Ovaherrero Genocide Committee
For all practical purposes, the core of the Making the Road Trip began in Namibia with a meeting with Lucy Edwards, a South African woman who reaserches and teaches Political Economy of AIDS at the University of Namibia. Lucy was one of the most eloquent and knowledgeable presenters we met during the 3+ week MTR trip, responding to our questions with great attention to the complexities and nuances of the structural factors giving rise to Namibia's particular situation.
Lucy asserts that the construction on masculinity and femininity in Namibian culture plays a pivotal role in making heterosexual women the fastest growing and most highly infected demographic group. Gender inequality, evident in cultural practices like polygamy, wife=lending, and wife-inheritance, increase the possibility of HIV exposure. "When it comes to wearing NIke or listening to American hip-hop, the men here are delighted to abandon their own culture, but when it means changing the way women are viewed and treated, forget it."
When the German and British colonial masters of the early 20th Century pushed all the black Namibians (ie., everyone indigenous to the region) into "Communal Areas" up north and established a contract labor system whereby women stayed behind to maintain subsistence farms and men entered into bonded labor for much of the year (confined to compounds near the imperialist mines), they coulnd't have imagined that they were further relegating women to be the most vulnerable when the HIV epidemic hit much later, in the 1970s. But indeed, they laid the groundwork for a migrant labor population, increasing the incidence of casual and transactional sex. Secondly, women were not permitted to work in anything other than agriculture, and thus were economically displaced from subsistence farming after the mechanization of farm labor. Unable to become independent wage earners, many women entered into transactional sex or concubinage as a survial strategy, which to this day remains prevalent. Frequent imbalance in power relations means many women have little agency to negotiate safe sex with their partner(s).
I asked Lucy to what extent the agenda of PEPFAR and other foreign aid programs influenced the allocation of HIV resources. I've heard many anecdotes at health conferences of instances where conservative ideology limits distribution of condoms, or emphasizes abstinence or faithfulness over safe sex. She pointed out that we must ask if HIV interventions, like the "ABC Campaign" (Abstinence, Be faithful, Condomize), are culturally appropriate. In traditional Namibian culture, where lineage is traced through the mother, "being faithful" takes on a different meaning; a man is faithful by providing for his mother's family, and by providing his wives each with a plot of land. Sexual faithfulness is not a concept relevant to most.
"But we are right to ask about foreign inluence, and we must be critical of the knowledge-power nexus. Who is creating the knowledge around HIV & AIDS? Who is profiting from it? And who is setting the agendas?" Lucy Edwards stands out in Southern Africa as a valuable resource and a tremendously empowered, intelligent woman whose analysis is critical to making headway against the AIDS epidemic.
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BOTSWANA - Dinner with a stranger
In Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, our evening's lodging was a
slightly dodgy casino and hotel, with relatively zero vegetarian
dinner options. That, combined with our desire to engage in African
life outsdie the confines of our tour bus and hotel rooms, inspired
Billy and I to lead a small contingent of likeminded hungry friends
out into Gaborone. Billy's inquiry for an Indian restaurant at the
concierge yielded a hand-drawn map given to him resemble something
like a treasure map scrawled by a 6-yr-old. Nevertheless, we set out
onto the street to try our luck. We walked toward what seemd to be a
market, where endors bustled about under the streelights, packing up
for the day. The women we first asked for directions hadn't a clue,
but fortune had it, another woman passing by heard say the
restaurant's name and stopped. "You are looking for it? I live
nearby. Come with me, I'll show you." And so, delightedly, we set
off with this woman who introduced herself as Anges from Zambia. In
the dark of night, her broad white smile stood out against her skin
and she cheerfully guided us to the taxi rank, where we agreed to
share a private hire.
I'll never know if she atually intended for us to get to the Indian
restaurant; we ended up, instead, strolling through her neighborhood
to a Chinese/Thai place with - gasp! bean curd (tofu) on the menu. We
treated Agnes to dinner while she anwered our questions about daily
life. She said Zambia and Botswana each have a very different feel
for her. "In Zambia, 90% of the people you meet are nice. Here, it
is 50/50." She gave us contacts of her nephew and sister living in
other parts of Africa, should we happen to pass that way on our
travels. (Retrospectively, I regret that we didn't give her nephew a
call when we were in JoBurg). After showoing us her favorte
neighborhood hangouts, she kindly waited with us to be sure we got
safely into a cab back to the hotel. I don't think our paths will
cross again, but it is these tiny moments of humanity that fuel my
love of unknown exploration in places both near and far. How many of
us slow to meet strangers, show them the way, put our own agendas on
pause when the opportunity for a new and unusual connection arises?
We'll remember that dinner with Agnes for a long time, inspired to
follow her example.
Our wonderful drivers for the 3 weeks, Richard and Bartholomew
On average, the S.A. government spends $__ per person per year on healthcare. By contrast, the US annually spends ___ per person. Both countries have parallel care sectors, private and public, which provide unequal services based on socio-economic status. Still, it seemed evident that the magnitude and implications of that disparity are far more severe in South/southern Africa. With 25% of the population living with HIV/AIDS, the ifference between private and public care often means the difference between life and death. See "Capetown #2" for a video of protests led by the Treatment Action Campaign.
Yes, the animals went animal-watching at Kruger Park. If you must go, try to support a locally-run and locally-benefiting guide group like $&@##@
Old gold mines and Johannesburg skyline, now obscured by an amusement park
Fitting an MY trunk in THAT trunk was a true contortionist act...
Above: waiting at one of the borders for our Mexican friends to be let through
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SWAZILAND
Nearly every border crossing (there were 6) proved challenging to 2 of our friends who traveled on their Mexican passports. It drove home for those who were unaware the privelege (desire or not) of traveling on a US passport. In Swaziland, we saw firsthand a glimpse of corruption by border officials, and it generally followed like this:
Border official: There is nothing you can do. They [our Mexican comrades] cannot enter Swaziland without a visa, and they have no visa.
Prexy: We were told there would be no problems.
Border official: Nothin can be done. Please, step into my office.
[15 minutes later, and minus some cash]
Prexy: Quick, let's get out of here before they change their minds.
Sometimes, a little $$ goes a long way... Or takes one a long way, anyhow...
The rolling mountain hills of Swaziland were stunning in contrast to some of South Africans barren plains, and several of us enjoyed a hike to take in the sunset.
We had a free day, and while most of the group went to a local craft market to buy gifts (B & I were still in long-term travel mode and couldn't fathom lugging things around with us post-group trip), the remaining 10 of us opted to go check out the "Cuddle Puddle," a mineral hot spring pool near the town Mbabane. We had a classic "Africa" moment when an already mostly-full minibus pulled over to the roadside where we were flagging down transport, and the driver and conductor encouraged all 10 of us to pile in. This particular mini-bus was distinguished from most by 5 huge speakers installed in the ceiling. As the drive progressed, the volume (which was already bumping when we hopped in) steadily increased, until it threatened to burst our eardrums and had our hearts beating in synch with the reggae-techno remixes.
The Cuddle Puddle itself cost only $1 for a swell, hot mineral pool (imagine a warm delightful swimming pool). Billy and I "splurged" and spent 25 bucks each for 30 minutes in the spa/sauna complex, plus a 30 minute massage. Besides feeling good about the TLC, we also felt good to be supporting an establishment that wasn't a mere tourist trap and acted as a local hotspot for Swazi folks.
The Ovaherrero Genocide Committee performs their battle cry, above.
Also, they kindly let us join them for dinner at a local joint.
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MOZAMBIQUE: A non-racialized African society?
Mozambique is a vibrant coastal society full of charming quirks we couldn't hope to master in the one week we were there. Take, for example, the organization system in operation at the small market near our hostel. Within a concrete-walled quadrant of the block sat hundress of vendor stalls, selling mainly fruit and veg, canned household items, woven baskets, and in one corner, chickens slaughtered upon sale. All this was shaded under a makeshift roof of corrugated tin sheets, haphazardly perched atop wooden poles, and letting daylight slip in between the gaps to dimly illuminate the space with the same ambience as an arabian souk. The small cocinas there - mini-kitchens comprised of a few small propane cookstoves - served beans, rice, and meat... a heaping vegetarian platter was 20 metacaish, about 75 cents!
"International solidarity is not an act of charity. It is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective. " - Samora Machel, Mozambican liberation leader, President 1980-1985.
What does it mean to act out of solidarity rather than charity? This is a question Billy and I sought to define for ourselves and to engage others on the trip in thinking about as we found ourselves in various scenarios where status and privelege could sway us toward more conveneient alternatives, like giving money. Recognizing someone else's struggle as part of your own and devloping projects of mutual aid, on the other hand, require more sustained dedication.
The day-long conference of Making the Road and Mozambique's "Consejo Nacional de Jovenes" (CNJ, or National Youth Council) was one of the most clear examples of an opportunity for building bridges between "allies." To our surprise, many of our Mozambican peers perceived America to be the utopia (or dystopia, depending on your perspective) that it's portrayed to be by popular and mass media. They were stunned to hear that we don't all have big-sreen tv's, that we have a separate, unequal, and failing education system, that 1/2 as mnay black women as white women get breast cancer, but 3 times as many die from it. In breakway session, we had an hous to discuss topics like Art & culture, Entrepreneurship, Development, etc. As the discussion of development unfolded, it became clear that we needed to shift away from the paradigm that considers the US "developed" and Mozambique "developing." In reality, both our countries have a lot to do before they can claim to be meeting the needs of all their citizens. Most of our Mozambican colleages were quick to criticize the US' alignment with the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO, but were slower in realizing that we Americans are subject to the same policies as those enacted in the "Third World" by those aganecies. Some of the Mozambicans seemed eager to ask for advice and Billy commented to me "If they want advice on successful development, we're the last ones they should be asking. However, if they want to know what it's like to live in a country that's been following the World Bank's advice for the last 50 or so years, by all means..." And indeed, we'd have much to say about the consequences of privatization - a healthcare system that places profit before people; a national budget that diverts funding from education and social services to the heavily militarized defense of capital; the systematic imprisonment of oppressed populations, taking advantage of a legally-captive workforce.
The conference would've needed to be several days long to sufficiently provide enough time for us to establish real relationships and more cohesive project ideas. Barring that, we at least were able to deconstruct some of the myth of the American dream, and to name some of our common oppressions. Mozambique and the US had differences enough to vary our perceptions of the immediacy of particular issues. "Why don't we hear anything about the American AIDS crisis in your media?" asked one woman -- "All the news coverage coming from the States is about AIDS here in Africa." We discussed, in response, how HIV - though present in the States - is less rampant and most people are on treatment and living [relatively] "normal" lives. In Mozambique, by contrast, nearly 1 in 5 people has HIV/AIDS. Again and again, addressing the epidemic manifested as one of the primary concerns of the development discussion. And it makes sense; one can't begin to talk about projects like a massive scale-up of the healthcare sector while the disease continues to take its toll on the material resources and depletes the already understaffed healthcare workforce.
One project affiliated with CNJ this is making strides to preventatively combat HIV is "ESH". Instead of perpetually sending volunteers into the schools to do AIDS awareness education, ESH works with schools to help each develop its own integrated curriculum so that HIV education is integrated into the normal school subjects. For example, rather than hearing bland statiscs about infection rates, students may instead get moath homework that requires them to carry out operation like calculating the rate of infection when "x" people living with the disease have unprotected sex with "y" partners. In this way, ESH acknowledges the tendency of youth to tune out the overwhelming bombardment of public health messages while providing a more sustainable and holistic HIV education model, unrealiant on a steady volunteer flow.
Despite many cultural differences, immediately I felt more comfortable in Mozambique than I had anywhere else in southern Africa. After a week there, I could imagine myself (with time and some Portuguese lessons) becoming a nearly fulid participant in the society. My white skin, though still noticeable in a predominantly black society, seemed less of an impediment to having genuine relationships with Africans that it did in other countries like south Afric. In our final group debriefing, I asked for explanations.
-- "Is it because there was less of a brutal, racilaized regime under the Portuguese than South Africa had under the Apartheid government?" I proposed.
-- "No, to the contrary," Prexy replied. "The Portuguese were more brutal and vicious to the Mozambicans than you can imagine, even more than the Apartheid government. The reason you don't feel its effects here the way you do in South Africa, Namibia, etc, is because Frelimo fought to make clear that their struggle was not against the whites, it was against impreialism. Their 'most sophisticated weapon,' according to Samora Machel, was their determination to create a non-racist society. So you can give thanks to those who used the weapon to fight for what you felt there."
libby
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