1. Page 36 Daily RecordThursday,February 17,2011
ANNIE LENNOX HAI
HIVvi
theirv
MOVING:
Annie listens a
Elenita tells of h
struggle
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Page 37Daily RecordThursday,February 17,2011
ILS WORK IN MALAWI FOR AIDS-HIT FAMILIES
ictimsfind
voiceatlast
their experiences of selling their
bodies and the attitudes of the men
they encountered in the bars and
hotels of Lilongwe, the capital of
Malawi.
This is a society where women
are a long way off from enjoying
equality and the job of a prostitute
is even more dangerous than in
most other countries.
These women sold mostly
unprotected sex to feed their
families and the cost to them is
likely to be high, since more than
one million of the 15million people
in Malawi are infected with HIV.
But Annie, watching their
role-playing alongside an audience
of men, is hopeful that attitudes
can change.
She says: “That is innovative,
effective and makes sense
because it is about behaviour and
tranforming people’s views
through theatre performance.
“The men they are playing to
have sometimes got to come in and
take a part of a character in the
story. It is a head flip that lets them
see the different perspective. It is
really transformative.
“These women’s sex work is to
provide food on the table for their
kids. It’s survival.
“They didn’t gravitate towards it
because they could earn lucrative
sums. They don’t.
“It’s subsistence and that’s all it
is. They get into it because they
have nowhere to turn.
“They would rather sell home-
baked bread in the street than be
abused by men but they are
desperate.”
think I don’t need this stupid
medicine.”
Just being able to acknowledge
and discuss the reasons why she is
skipping the drugs may help to
keep this woman alive.
Annie’s visit ends on a lighter
note. As is so often the case
wherever we go in Malawi, the
atmosphere lifts as the women
break into song.
As good as any choir, their
delicate voices are punctuated with
handclaps and broad smiles.
Annie is also smiling – but keen
to stress the serious point of the
meeting.
S
HEexplains:“What
thesewomenare
learningtodayisthat
youhavetostickto
HIVtreatment.
“A few years ago, it would have
been very hard for anybody
who is HIV positive to reveal their
status.
“So the fact that, within this little
rural community, you have a small
group of people who are HIV
positive openly coming together to
have a support group is really
positive and a step in the right
direction.”
Later, at the Theatre For
Change, Annie meets women who
are on the front line of Malawi’s
battle with AIDS.
Guided by programme manager
Ethel Chavula, former sex workers
take to the stage.
They are role-playing, acting out
poverty levels that you see.
Children in rags and bare feet in
hovels and with very little.
“But here, from what I have seen
so far, I feel things are changing.
The work being done by various
institutions like Oxfam and the
Red Cross are making a difference.
“It is happening slowly, but there
are changes happening.
“People here couldn’t talk about
HIV before.
“The stigma was so high you had
to remain silent.
“The fact that the chief of the
village has accepted these women
is a major step forward.”
Not so long ago, the women at
the village meeting would have
faced being cast out and shunned.
Instead, with the help of the
Red Cross, they get medication and
treatment they need to survive.
And they are able to meet to give
each other the support they need.
They meet in a shed, sitting at
school desks, sheltered from the
sun by a corrugated iron roof, the
walls decorated with educational
drawings of the female organs.
One by one, the women stand
up to give their account.
“Sometimes I forget to take my
medication,” says one. “Maybe
when I have been with friends and
I have had too much to drink, or
because I have been drinking I
F
RAILgrandmother
ElenitaSamatoniisa
symbolofthewayin
whichAIDShaslaid
wastetoMalawi.
In her 60s or 50s, Elenita is one
of a legion of Malawian grannies
who have been left to bring up their
grandchildren after their children
were killed by the disease.
An emotional Annie Lennox, in
Malawi to investigate the work
being done to help those affected
both directly and indirectly by
AIDS, listens intently.
Elenita’s face is scored with deep
wrinkles, her eyes pale and watery
from cataracts and her voice
almost a whisper as she tells her
story through an interpreter – the
local Red Cross representative.
There’s no benefits system here
so how is she, an old and frail
woman, going to feed five small
kids, let alone raise them to be edu-
cated and self-sufficient?
She says that occasional support
from the Red Cross has helped but
is not enough for her to support the
children from day to day.
Almost an entire generation of
parents has been wiped out and
half of Malawi’s the population are
children.
Elenita and other grannies in her
community come together to farm
and pool the milk from the goats
donated to them by the charity.
But their life is still a daily
struggle.
Annie, 56, comes away from her
meeting with Elenita, her voice
cracking with emotion.
She says: “She is probably in her
sixties. It is tough. It is wrong that
she should be in this position.
“The kids are completely
depending on her and she has so
little, herself, to offer.”
In a village shed, the superstar
singer, who is the Scottish
parliament’s special envoy to
Malawi, meets other women
struggling to survive.
These women, infected with
HIV, gather to share their
experiences with each other.
Annie and Alex Fergusson, the
presiding officer of the Scottish
parliament, were welcomed to the
village by the young chief.
He is something of a hero in the
fight to help people with AIDS/HIV
in Malawi – simply because he has
accepted the women infected with
the disease in his community.
They are able to talk freely
about their disease without the
stigma which would have been
there just a few years
ago.
Annie says: “This
village has the kind of
Singerwitnessesfightto
breaktabooandsavelives
By John Dingwall
in Malawi
EXCLUSIVE
as
her
SUPERSTAR:
Annie in her
more usual role
TENDER:Annieandachild.Right,themeetingforHIVsufferers
j.dingwall@dailyrecord.co.uk