The power of the people

"When people are determined, they can overcome anything". - Nelson Mandela

Sex is "optional" & Menstruation is not

Sex is "optional" & Menstruation is not 

condoms being distributed at roadblocks

I am back again, after a very long time. My wish is to be as consistent as possible in posting on my blog but due to my tight schedule and work I find minimal time to post something.  Anyways today I felt so compelled to create time and pen down my views on an on-going debate that has been trending on social media. I first saw the post on a friend of mine’s wall with a huge number of young people cheering and agreeing to the sentiments he shared, I commented and debated on the issue and felt it wasn’t enough; hence I opted to do more. After a very short space of time the debate grew to an extent that a few friends from neighbouring countries were also talking about it. The thoughts of this fellow were that Condoms should be sold and sanitary pads should be free...sex is optional and menstruation is not. Quick two things that came to mind when I saw this; there about 70% of Swazis living below the poverty mark with less than a dollar to survive per day and the 26% of Swazis who are HIV positive.

For a moment I thought this was a feminist battle judging from the fact that women need pads more and at the same time people who talk about condoms more often are men, but later on I discovered that this was just a normal issue and both genders seem to be supporting it. Engaging this issue from the Swaziland context one must mention that both condoms and pads are very important and we need to reach a point as a country where we are able to provide both to the public for free. There none availability of free pads might be one of the fuelling factors to HIV infection, as young girls engage in unsafe sex and intergenerational relationships in exchange for money to buy immediate needs such as pads. On the same note in as much as sex is “optional” as highlighted by the dear friend people do it quite a lot and that “choice” (sex) is responsible for quite a number of things in our society, firstly it is responsible for the now approximately 10 000 new infections every year, about the 0.5% deaths of the total population and more than anything it is responsible for marking Swaziland to the whole world as we have the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world. Worth noting is that in the early years before the introduction of condoms, the infection rate was almost double if not more than now, the same with deaths. 

Bus rank condom distribution

Having young people who strongly feel and support these statements at this point In time scares the hell out of me. In such a state of affairs we cannot fool ourselves and forget that HIV/AIDS currently remains one of the biggest challenges that we are facing as a country and further pretend that when condoms get sold the sex rate will decrease. I think at some point as Swazis especially young people in general we have to remember that there are things that are Important but not urgent and Things that are important but urgent. This is a principle that should also guide ones actions in life and I assume even tackling this issue requires us to be in that mode currently. Regardless that quite a number of young girls cannot afford to buy sanitary pads, which is a hygienic issue but realistically speaking in the absence of free pads can’t we assist each other in buying than to substitute free condoms for free pads. This wouldn’t mean we have forgotten about the urgent need for sanitary pads but it would simple mean we understand our current great need. I have buried my own family members who lost their lives due to HIV/AIDS, which is the same with everyone else. That is why it is said if you are not infected you are affected and in our case as Swazis we are all affected, considering the fact that HIV/AIDS remains one of the major challenges to Swaziland’s socio-economic development.

If people cannot afford to buy pads (a necessity) how much more buying condoms which in this case are regarded for “optional” use (Sex). The reality is that those who do not afford to buy pads it is because; they literally do not have money, there are other things which are more important than pads and lastly the money that happens to reach their hands is too little to afford both.

A disappointing fact is that if condoms were to be sold, so many people would get infected. I choose not to turn a blind eye on the plenty of people who are accessing them and using them solely because they are provided for free. Again if you would note above, I have put optional in quotes most of the time. This is because it is not everyone who has sex optionally. Our society which is still patriarchal dares women to be defiant, challenge or negotiate sometimes. Something which needs to change ASAP.  

For now like i have stated earlier rather let’s find ways of providing the two without substituting the other. AYOBA

 

 

Are we Pricing the woman’s body?

Are we Pricing the woman’s body?

It has been a long time since I last posted something on my blog, how do we re-ride again from the heart? I must admit I am so damn excited to be back again. It has been a hectic and beautiful year, I started on a new profession and had to learn and adjust to the new environment that I am now exposed to. I am now in the HIV sector, which is why I had a very keen interest when I saw an article on our government initiating to pay E200, 00 incentives to young girls as means for promoting abstinence. I asked myself a lot of questions about this initiative and I read quite a number of interesting articles in our local newspapers as well as online. I noted that even bloggers and international media houses were following this initiative with keen interest.

Well here are some of the biggest questions I asked myself about this initiative, why would one be bought to change behavior? Does money guarantee good behavior? Are we not being hypocrites in the sense that we encourage girls not to engage in transactional sex yet we go ahead and pay them not to engage in sex? What is the sustainability plan? How long is our government going to be forking out the E 200.00 on top of the millions that are spent on HIV treatment? Above all how do you put a price tag on a human being? These are some of the questions that I have and actually I have fail to answer. I once herd of an idiom that says “don’t give a man fish but teach him how to fish”, I find this statement very relevant in this case more so because I believe that addressing the core problems which have and continue to cause the escalating number of infected people is more important.

In this case what does it mean for someone, the “sugar daddy” who can actually pay more than the said amount in a day? Does that mean girls should then choose the E 200 monthly or the E 200 in a day? Reality is that sugar daddies pay more than what is being offered, not even in a space of a month but in a matter hours. So I am really not sure if this was a smart move that will bring the desired results. One would think identifying the main major causes of the high HIV prevalence in Swaziland especially amongst young girls and finding key and lasting solutions would be the way to go. One of the important things one will ever do to influence change is to educate, train people to take responsibility of their lives. It even goes further for a government because it has to also create the necessary conditions for its citizens to live without being forced by certain circumstances to do something that will backfire at some point.

For instance, the age group that is targeted by this initiative which are young girls aged 18 – 24 years, people of these age originally are supposed to be at the universities and colleges enrolling in whatever they desire. Whilst studying they should also have an assurance that after their studies they are guaranteed employment, but our reality is that this group is the same group that is neglected by our own government due to lack of scholarships, high unemployment rate, lack of alternatives incase you did not get space at the university or collage or a provision of other mean of survival. For me those are some of the core problems that we as a country need to address instead of the bribes. It’s even worse when one take a look at the socio-economic aspect of the country. About 69% of the Swazis live below the poverty line, there is underdevelopment, unemployment, underemployment and so many social ills that we are still faced with, which by the way contributes hugely to the high numbers of people infected with HIV.

Proper teachings and education to our young girls remains the key fixation to do, teachings that will encourage our sister to be responsible and to take charge of their future.Change of mindset in relation to sex is needed. We need to teach our girls the importance of abstinence and delayed sexual debut, we need to make them understand the importance of consistent condom use where they are sexually active. They should be able to make independent and responsible choices for their lives not because they will get paid for it but because it is the right thing to do for themselves. We can not throw money at our problems especially not at this problem, we need to address all of the social ills that make young girls so vulnerable and exposed to HIV infection. Throwing money at them is absolutely not the answer. As a country we have to gear up and start addressing the problems which are fueling bad habits and behaviors.

CAN’T WE DEFEAT THEM IN THEIR OWN GAME?

Let us learn to try other avenues

From a British colony, to being colonised by one of our own;lol. I guess you get what I am talking about. I will not even bother myself elaborating more on that; but just a tip-I am talking about the Tinkhundla system and the man or people behind it, that is where I will end. In my journey the youth activism I think I can not be surprised if one would say Swazis aredormant people. All they know is to lament and be masters in listing and or talking about the problems their country is faced with. The reason I am saying this is because each time I am in a space where we are together with colleagues from other countries, when listening to the different journeys they went through, the battles they have fought, the victories they have won in the fight against oppressive regimes like ours and in the fight for an open society, I cannot help but think – what have we as Swazis done?

I am currently from attending the Youth Camp 2013; themed participate 2013, where we were sharing our different struggles and experiences on the different countries where we come from as young people.  We looked at how we can use elections to ensure democratic societies and also how young people can take charge and own the political spaces. While listening to the contributions and the experiences that my fellow colleagues put forth, I began thinking about the issue of Swaziland. Basically there were two things on my mind;

1.   Have we done enough in trying to challenge the unjust situation? (Refer to my previous blogs for the unjust situations)

2.   Have we gone all out to fight the challenges that we claim to be faced with

What I realised is that seemingly the Swazi people or I should say we as the youth are so great in identifying challenges and complaining about things that are not going right. Grabbling with the aforementioned thoughts/questions I could not help my self but feel belittled with the submissions I had heard other colleagues share. Have we done justice in our country to challenge the current situation, and are we all out to fight the challenges that we are faced with. For the first time the issue of boycott went popular; through the social networks and live debates were awash with boycott vs participating.  For me that on its own was great. In this regard probably one should start by acknowledging and also congratulating “team boycott” for being able to spread the word across this year such that it was the talk of the days. It was a great step and I was at some point convinced that we will be doing it for real this time around; we will all be boycotting our coming elections. But along the way, after passing the boycotting message across, everything went silent. What I mean by silent is – what are the alternatives? I have been asking myself, what happened? In real sense, what are the side programes that will complement or enhance our boycott? What impact is boycott in our case bringing to the fore? What are the alternative plans that are going in line with the boycott or we boycott then what?

Are we willing to go through the same lane again like before, where some will boycott, and no one will know or even notice that  they were boycotting, and then everything continue as normal. Remember a successful boycott must have an impact.  I am talking about a situation where two hundred thousand people or less will direct and control the majority of the country and the rest. For how long are we going to be led by a minority group that has chosen to vote, not necessarily because they believe in the system, simply because their vote have been bought or they are protecting their territory.

For how long can a million people be dragged by a hundred people into the mud? I am sure that you will agree with me that in a constituency of about 5 000 people or more, only a 100 people or less can take an individual to the parliament with our election system and come up with a legitimate government. Legitimate because the rest of the world recognises them and they make laws that eventually govern the majority. So will I be wrong to say, choosing not to participate is participating? If you do not do anything you are allowing to be led by those who choose to do something.

Before I put my last full stop on this blog, allow me to share this words liked by my colleague “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, hoping to get different result”. Let us be aware and keep on checking if our strategies are working, if there is a need to try new strategies, let’s do that. If plan (A) doesn’t work, what do you do? Try plan (B). Let’s explore other avenues and stop being like a penis, which is only erectional instead of being proactive. Probably we can beat them in their own game.

Are we doomed or what?

Doomed youths, I guess

Is it not surprising and frustrating to see the youth of today insulting each other, fighting each other and labelling each other? At this critical time in the life of young people in the country (Swaziland) and probably in the world at large. Where most of the illnesses ad mistakes done by those in power affects young people. The youth being the largest population in the country, one would expect the youth to be playing a major role in shaping their future. One would expect the youth to be holding hands, walking side by side, males and females fighting against the unjust situations and involving themselves in ensuring that a bright future is created. It is hurting, frustrating and disturbing to learn that we are doing the opposite of unity. Today’s fashion among the youth is saying if I differ with your view, it means we are enemies and more than that you deserve an insult. Wow, amazing!

I was so lucky today to finish my daily task early at work, which is why I also had the chance to write down my thoughts. As I was thinking on what to do next, debating either to dash away from work or find something to do, “boom” it’s an email, notifying me about someone who has just posted something on our fb page. Ok, this might be interesting. I quickly read through, this guy is asking a very important question. Something that may assist everyone who may also have the same question, but this person does this in a mockery way and also shows clear signs that he is aware of what he is asking but it’s just that he decided to mock someone. The question goes like “Honest question what is Luvatsi? Is it a political party or a political party in disguise?” (Luvatsi – a siSwati name for the Swaziland Youth Empowerment Organization, an organization that is trying to create an enabling environment for youth participation), then I’m like an honest question my foot.lol, why then the two options if it’s a genuine question and interested to know? Anyways, we once saw a similar question before and responded to it professionally, faithfully and fully, but again along the way we discovered that we were just being taken for a ride, as we were then attacked for having offices, websites, hosting activities and basically for the work that we do.

Through this drama that has been going on for years and still going on today, the attacks, fights and everything, one wonders if our generation will be able to establish any foundation that will exist and address key issues in the country for our own benefit and the ones to come. Nelson Mandela says “Today we are planting a tree, which its shadow will be enjoyed by others”. We on the other hand are weeding off the seeds planted. We seem to focus more on undermining and pulling each other down whilst we boast about our own achievements and how long we have in the struggle. Facebook has now become a forum to harm the reputation of others. In Tunisia, Egypt and other countries have used social networks as one of the tools to fasten and strengthened their struggle. So in our case and in real sense is this what should be happening nowadays? Is the youth doing justice by all these crap? What kind of future are we hoping to reap through this? We tend to forget that we should be playing an active role in shaping our future. In any case if we choose to continue with the path that we have taken, we are giving the government and the rulling party all the powers to continue directing our country into the mess.

What happened to the Swaziland that we as young people dream of and vision in the next 5 – 10 years? The Swaziland that guarantees good governance, every graduate a job, access to education for all children, the elderly taken care of, a country with comprehensive health care at affordable rates, freedom of expression without fear of victimisation, access to sexual and reproductive health, you name it.

At the moment, as young people we have mismanaged our minds, ideas and time. All this time has gone to waste and will not yield any benefits. Therefore my appeal as I share these thoughts, one – differing in ideas doesn’t mean we are enemies or should be enemies, probably that is where debates should take place up until a soft and fine solution is produced, but again it doesn’t mean that everything should go through debates. At some point we should agree to dis-agree, that is not a sin and shouldn’t separate us.

Secondly – collective efforts have been seen, tried and tested in so many countries. It has worked in favour of the people, no matter what they have been facing. It is time we put aside our differences and try again working collectively, with honesty and dedication. SYA – (Swaziland Youth in Action) is ready as soon as we are.

Defending one of my own, just like I would do to any other creditable foundation.

 

AN INTROSPECT: PAST, PRESENT AND FORECAST

Youngters at the back of a bakkie

Some years back on the month of November I was born. I do not always remember my birthday, most of the time I am usually surprised by people wishing me a happy birthday on the social media networks and sometimes phone messages and calls. Such gestures often remind me that wow, it’s the 17^th today”. This year my girl friend has been so concerned on what we are going to do for my birth day celebration, she has been asking me time and again; what do you want for your special day? This has led me to serious thoughts about my life and age; trying to figure out the role that I have played and may still play in the society and in the country at large in creating a situation that gives hope and better future. 

The situation that young people  today have found themselves in calls for one not to be relaxed and watch things happening, it calls for one to take part and be involved on the day to day struggles of improving one’s and other people’s lives. For a long time young people have been shifted to the back seat and reserved to grow up a bit in order for them to start engaging in serious businesses like decision making processes, making their own choices about life and other things. I am currently feeling like I am nearing my forties because of the efforts I have contributed in engaging in shaping the environment to the one that I would be happy with. I refuse being reserved or parked at the back seat, as a young person. I see a need to strive, engage, fight and create necessary conditions for me, friends, colleagues and the entire youth of Swaziland and maybe my offspring.  

The reality that a number of young people have not yet discovered is that, the youths are the back bone and the future of the nation. They fail to contribute to the future of the society; they actually say it but fail to act as such. Then a question is what really are they lacking, is it a courageous behaviour? Unfortunately today we find the youth who are more interested in other places which are not useful to them as well as the nation. They opt to spend their daily lives doing drugs, engaging in crime and engaging in useless act; which is all a recipe for failure. The common saying that the youth is the future means in reality that young people are involved in taking their place in shaping the future. Most young men of my age group are sitting at home lamenting and have become experts in identifying challenges instead of bettering themselves or working collectively in trying to come up with lasting solutions. It is not about what you say but it is about what you do, so even if you can lament for years if you decide to do nothing, nothing will change.  They have no vision and if they do they do, they do not have the drive to pursue those dreams or vision into a reality should the time come. We must get control of this; we should not allow such behaviours to dominate and kill the potential and our vision.

Many of us are still young; we are in our twenties, which gives me hope that we still have a choice. We can allow ourselves to stay our course and engage on issues that will lead us to success. We have to show the older generation and prove to ourselves that indeed we are the future. Let them know we are intelligent and we have skills. Nothing can happen if we do not try; successes or failures something has to be done. We will not get what we want overnight either way but at least if we make an effort, then we have begun our journey to what we want. One would then take this time to urge all my colleges and the youth at large that it is not what we say but it is about what we do. Action!

Let’s do it.

RUSHING HOME TO MY KIDS

Every Friday after work we have this trend of hanging out with friends just to catch up over few drinks and to take away the stress that we experience during the week, and I usually call that act (Kuvusela emabandla). For quite some time I have been noticing that when my friend Bhuda prepares to leave, he would say “eish guys I need to hurry home to my kids”. I know Bhuda very well, he stays with his wife and their two kids, but my worry is that him rushing to his kids, does it mean that he doesn’t include his wife among the people he needs to hurry to? After consulting with other people on this statement that I find peculiar, the response was that nothing was wrong with it. So the explanation was that every man’s wife is counted among his kids; in short if you are rushing home to your kids your wife is included. Really? Is that the case? Are they our kids too?

In today’s world can we say they are our kids? After calling them our better halves, following a lot of changes that has happed in today’s society, after a lot has been said on gender equality. After noting this, it made me think on the status of women in today’s society and I discovered that we still have a role to play in accommodating as well as implementing the concept of equality. Gender is arguably the most discussed phenomenon. It is the most controversial topic causing never-ending disagreements amongst peers who might agree on other issues but gender. It is a case of gender in economics, politics, gender in religion, gender in education and gender everywhere. Its dominance in socio-political and economic forums have triggered a lot of research on it (gender) which gave birth to gender studies, a relatively intriguing field of study which have taken the education arena by storm, and undoubtedly is showing significant signs of dominance. That’s how serious the gender issue has become.

It is precisely the socio-cultural and politically constructed roles and responsibilities ascribed to women and men that change over time, context specific and are inseparable from power relations. It is an open secret that gender studies world-over were and are motivated by observable disparities in the treatment of men and women in the societies. Such disparities ended up influencing the socialization process to the extent that certain imbalances were eventually considered to be the societal norms. Religious teachings also perpetuate gender imbalances, for an example; the Muslim Q’uran teaches women to be house wives and men to be providers, such that in some instances a need for a girl to be educated is not seen as a necessity. In Yemen a number of parents were asked on why they did not allow their girls to go to school, and the response from most of them was that its wrong, its irreligious, its improper. Instead of them going to school they should stay home to prepare for their real life, their married life. An article that was published early this month (Malala Yousufzai of South Waziristan in Pakistan) also report on a young girl who was attacked for being vocal on education for girls. On the other hand men are allowed to marry up to four wives, a practice not permitted to women. The Christian bible is also used to perpetuate gender imbalances as some Christian denominations do not ordain female pastors. They base their resolve on early Jewish teachings combined with teachings of Apostle Paul who taught that women should not stand up and testify in church. Paul, in the book of Corinthians went to the extent of advising women not to even ask questions in church, but to wait until they reach home to ask their husbands.

 Traditional family and societal practices, especially African and Asian, are a serious cause for concern when it comes to gender issues. For example; in Swaziland women are particularly left out when important family or community decisions are made. They are actually considered minors more junior in status even to their male children. Politics are not spared the bruises of gender discrimination and imbalances. According to the SADC report all its member states are miles away from achieving a 50-50 representation of men and women in parliament, cabinet and other positions of power. Swaziland is reportedly struggling even to achieve a 20% parliament representation. All these have contributed to man rushing home to their kids, wife counted among the kids.

At least someone or something triggered the realization that such age-old practices may be gender imbalances, and the fact that for a long time they have been suppressing our sisters, potential and actual better halves, aunts and mother. Has the time not come for man especially the youth to stand up, role up their sleeves and begin taking the steps of promoting gender equality? It begins with a single step and it begins with you.

Eish guys it’s getting late, I better get home to my kids. lol