The Chaos Within - AFRICA

I just got back from Africa.

I was at a Church of Scotland HIV/AIDS Project conference. It was held in Limuru, near Nairobi, in Kenya.

What an intense five days we spent together. Presentations, discussions, questions, answers, no answers, provocations, reflections, statements. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Scotland, Malawi, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan... AFRICA. We were one. For the briefest of times we shared our humanity and borders and differences were forgotten, rejected, puerile. Even faith succumbed to humanity... and in my experience it is very rare that faith allows itself to return to its roots.

My interaction with Pastor Patricia Sawo, an HIV+ minister from Kenya who is part of ANERELA+ summed up the conference. To begin I was wary of her, she was magnificent, but she came from a background of Pentecostalism that had scarred me. We talked, and by the end of the conference I was grateful for her courage and vision. We stood arm in arm for the picture at the end of the conference. Humanity.

Why the fuck do we ignore it? Why do we deny it to those who are HIV+? Story after story after story... of stigma that bludgeoned and killed people. Rejection kills. And in Sudan we heard of how the gun spits bullets at you if you are FEARED to be HIV+.

AFRICA has had a painful journey, and they dance along on a road that has more pain to come. And dance they will, with faith and hope and love. It is what they have chosen to do. The dance that faces us all is daunting. But I have met the dancers. The rhythm will not die.

Rani Tingamma died on the day I returned. Number nine. Her family had brought her home from the hospital to perform a healing ceremony. The doctor was livid and had warned them that they do so at the risk of killing her.

Blame? There is none.

Education. Awareness. Prevention. Control. Care. We must learn from Africa. We must not give up. The rhythm must never grow quiet.