The Canadian Harm Reduction Network
Letters from Africa
Scott Robertson went to Zambia for two years and we hope to continue updating you on his progress on a regular basis. What follows are letters he has written describing his experience doing AIDS work there.
As an introduction to the kind of work that he'll be doing in Africa, what follows is a few snippets from his actual job description from Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO).
Key Duties:
- to work with colleagues to identify and implement appropriate HIV/AIDS related activities
- to plan and implement a standardized basic programme of training and sensitization activities for teachers, using existing materials and trainers
- to facilitate mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS education in Community Schools
- to provide encouragement and support to fledging HIV/AIDS related activities among teachers, students and communities
- to develop an information management system for monitoring and evaluation of activities.
Social context of placement
Here's the part of the job description where they tell us what his living conditions will be like. Can you imagine?
Lusaka has a wide range of supermarkets and stores, bars, restaurants, hotels … banks, churches and a library. it is possible to buy almost anything (at a price)… Electricity and water supplies are generally good, although supplies can be interrupted, particularly during the wet (electricity) and dry (water) seasons.
In Lusaka, public transport can be erratic and overcrowded, and, while taxis are available, they are expensive. … Mail from Europe takes about ten days to arrive although parcels can go astray.
The population of Lusaka is widely diverse and a generally happy mix compared to some of her neighbours. There is a fairly significant Asian population, many expatriate development workers and business people and Zambians of every tribe.
HIV/AIDS
Southern Africa is the region currently most severely affected by AIDS in the world. On a personal level, volunteers placed in the region must be adequately prepared to deal with the threat to their own health. with the current situation that at least 1/4 of the population is infected, volunteers have to be prepared to deal with the issues … Current estimates suggest that between 20-25% of the population of Zambia is HIV+; approximately 300 people die of aids each day and life expectancy has fallen from 54 to 37 years.
Scott will be working with the community schools in Zambia. A community school is a community based, owned and managed learning institution that meets the basic/primary education needs of orphans and vulnerable children. it is either set up by the community or by organizations or churches within or outside the community to cater for children that are not able to attend mainstream school due to various reasons including distances to schools, inability to pay user fees and being over the entry age.
Challenges to the VSO Zambia program (taken from a Feasibility Study Report on the VSO Southern Africa Regional HIV/AIDS Initiative)
Poor coordination and collaboration between national and provincial tiers of government The extreme politicization of health organizations and issues Cultural and moral climate - although South Africa is exceptional in some ways (e.g. the public role and legal rights of the gay community), in rural areas it remains difficult to discuss issues of sex and relationships and safer sex. aids is still heavily stigmatized in most communities. Lack of skills - many AIDS organizations lack management skills.
VSO Zambia is a large program, with 69 volunteers. There are currently no placements focusing directly on AIDS work … (maybe this is where Scott comes in …)