Blog #6 - Women's issues in South Africa

        Woooohooo another week down. Honestly I ready for spring break! Any one else agree? However I think that I'll still be doing work for this class! Which isn't a bad thing. I can always take the time to get ahead. Things are starting to come together for me. Work is leveling out, I have more time for my school work, and I'm actually getting a decent amount of sleep, which every college student knows that sleep is extremely important to be successful! I have finished reading the book The Naked Truth and I must say I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot. And Marvelyn Brown so much credit for doing what she did and reaching out to others even when they didn't want to here what she had to say. To me she truly is an inspiration.

Last week I mentioned that I was going to spend a couple of weeks on children who were orphaned by AIDS, I decided to talk about violence against women who have HIV in South Africa instead.


Did You Know?

        That girls are more likely then boys to contract HIV? According to the UNICEF website girls are five times more likely then boys to contract HIV ("Gender-based violence," 2011 ). What is the cause of this you might ask, I know i did. This infection rate is mainly to do "girls' biological and social vulnerability" ("Gender-based violence," 2011 ). When the website says "vulnerability" they mean that they don't have the means to take care of themselves. They are dependent on men. Things are different in South Africa compared to the United States. Women in the states have the means to take care of themselves, in other words they can support themselves. In South Africa its not as easy. Most of the time they are dependent on a man. This makes them more vulnerable to the men because if they suggest safe sex or anything along those lines, they are exposed to violence such as "rape, and commercial sex work" ("Gender-based violence," 2011 ).

          What I found most interesting is when the public finds out these women are HIV positive, they are labeled the "spreaders"; they are also exposed to physically abuse as well as losing access to important resources and may even be chased out of their home ("Gender-based violence," 2011 ). These women are being punished for something they weren't aware of. They are just trying to survive. If I were them, I don't know if I would do anything different. Now I ask what would you do if you were in their place?   

Source: Gender-based violence. (2011). Retrieved February 21, 2011 from http://www.unicef.org/southafrica/hiv_aids_729.html.

Blog #5 A Change of Heart and Kids

      So things are really starting to calm down. I have offcially cut down on my work hours because I'm starting to really fall behind in my classes, and that is unacceptable. So I've decided to put myself on a budget for the semester and concentrate more on this class as well as my substance abuse class. I think I've made the right decision.

      On another note last week I explained what happened with me and my friends and this class. I decided to give them some reading material on HIV and AIDS just to see if they would change their minds after really reading the information not just basing their opinions on what they hear others say and so on. Last week out of my group of friends, five of them gave me negative responses about HIV and AIDS. I met up with them a couple of days ago and out of the five, four of them had a change of heart and mind. They told me that they were wrong about HIV and AIDS. They all admitted to being close-minded and falling under the ignorance spell as I call it. However the fifth person in this group has stuck to their views on HIV and AIDS, and honestly I don't know what else to do. as the old saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.  I think four out of five people is a good number.

       Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a huge passion for kids. This weeks Did You Know is about kids who have been orphaned by AIDS in South Africa. I found 2 YouTube videos that really touched my heart and yes made me cry. They also put the issue of kids being orphaned by AIDS more real. I plan on blogging about different areas of kids orphaned by AIDS over the next week or so.

                                                                                                              

 

Did You Know?

       In 2009, close to 1,900,000 kids were orphaned by one if not both parents in South Africa ("Aids orphans," 2011). The actual amount of how many orphans their are by AIDS isn't clear because the time between when the parent(s) contract AIDS and die varies ("Aids orphans," 2011). These kids are being forced at a young age to experience life changes that most of us may not ever experience. Instead of going out and playing they are forced to run the streets of their neighborhoods to find food for them and their younger siblings, if they have any. Instead of having parents to teach and care for them; they have themselves and some local aids who concentrate solely on teaching kids how to cook, clean, help with other, among other things.

      Story:

           Apiwe is 13 years old and has lost her parents.
                          "My sister is six years old. There are no grown-ups living with us. I need a bathroom tap and clothes and shoes. And water also, inside the house. But especially, somebody to tuck me and my sister in at night-time.” 




 Source:  Aids orphans. (2011). Retrieved February15, 2011 from http://www.avert.org/aids-orphans.htm.                                    

History Lesson

     Another week down. I can honestly say that I'm getting worn out. I finally talked to my boss and told her that I need to take some time off. This course is way too important and I feel I'm slacking because I'm always tired. So that is a load off my back.

     I found something interesting about the question of the week. I was with my group of friends and we were all talking about what classes we were taking and I told them about it, they initially gave me dirty looks. They looked out me like I had the plague. These are people I've known for years. They even leaned away from me at first. Then when I told them I was taking it because it would help me in my future career and that I was perfectly fine and healthy they finally start to come around. It blows my mind that even the mere mention of HIV and AIDS people react this way. So I took it a step further... I asked them if they reacted this way towards the fact I was taking the class, how would they react if I had the disease... No one could answer me at first. Once again, need I remind you that I've know these people for years, they are good people. After they thought about it for a good 5 or so minutes, then they gave me a few answers. Some were negative, some were positive, and some were in between. The negative ones said that they would not come around me if I was positive because they didn't want to take the chance of catching it. The positive ones said they would stick around. And the ones in between said that at first they would keep a distance until they got used to the idea then they would come around. Regardless of anyone else, I respect their answers. However the negative people I decided to give them reading material on HIV and AIDS so I will check back with them next week and see if they still feel the same way.

Did You Know? 

A short history lesson about AIDS in South Africa:

      Today in South Africa, anyone and everyone can contract HIV and AIDS; however, back in the 80's it was more "contained"("History of hiv," 2011) . It all started in 1982, with 2 men, they were homosexual. Because it started with the "gay community", everyone thought it was a "homosexual disease" ("History of hiv," 2011).  This type of thinking caused the heterosexual community to ignore the risk factors and the "it can's happen to me" attitude lead the chain reaction of multiple people contracting the disease. This chain reaction started in the 80's and contines to grow today.
 

I found this video very interesting and useful.




Source: History of hiv & aids in south africa. (2011). Retrieved February 7, 2011 from            http://www.avert.org/history-aids-south-africa.htm.

Well this week wasn’t as eventful as the last two. I can honestly say I was bummed that we did not have a stimulation paper to write. Like a said in my last blog, I really enjoyed doing those projects. However I am concerned about this module 1 coming up. I’m concerned because I haven’t done one yet and I don’t know what to expect so naturally I’m stressing about it. I’m sure it will be fine when I do it, but until that time I will continue to have that little stress monster in the back of my head reminding me of it. I am also looking forward to finishing the book, The Naked Truth, it is really interesting.

As far as my time management is concerned I am honestly failing at it. I still get my stuff done in a timely fashion, however I feel things are still too chaotic and they need to be put in order. Any ideas or helpful hints anybody; I will be very thankful for the help! Both of my jobs are going good and I continue to get more hours, which is always a good thing. However if I get too many hours I may have to cut back on them so that I have the proper amount of time for my classes. After all my classes are on the top of my priority list. 

Side note: my Did You Know section branches off from my last blog. The topic is mother –to – child transmission of HIV. 

 

Did You Know?

Each year roughly 40,000 children are infected with HIV that they transmitted from their mother; this is due to “poor prevention of mother-to- child transmission” ("Hiv and aids," 2011).  According to the HIV and AIDS in South Africa article, “AIDS is one of the main contributors to South Africa’s infant mortality rate,” ; in 1990 the mortality rate was “44 deaths per 1000 infants” ("Hiv and aids," 2011). Since then it has increased. In 2008 it went up to “48 deaths per 1000 infants” ("Hiv and aids," 2011). Given the difference in years, it doesn’t seem like a lot to me, but at the same time it has increased. Will it continue to increase in the years to come? Or will it decrease? Something I find interesting, according to the National Antenatal Survey, close to 30% of pregnant woman in South Africa tested positive for HIV in 2009 ("Hiv and aids," 2011). There is hope! The World Health Organization as known as the WHO has a plan to set into action. They call it the “cover-the-tail” strategy; in this strategy  antiretroviral drugs AZT and 3 TC will be administered to mothers giving birth as well as afterwards ("Hiv and aids," 2011). The goal of this is to decrease the risk of HIV transmission from the mother to the infant ("Hiv and aids," 2011).

This scares me, I can’t deny it. These babies are at risk and  they are not even born yet. I do find hope in all of this. There are organizations like the WHO,  who are trying to help these mothers and their infants.  I hope what I say is not taken the wrong way. I am learning about these issues as I go along and I always welcome information that I may have over looked. 

Source: Hiv and aids in south africa. (2011). Retrieved January 29, 2011 from http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm.