I came to be involved with Men’s Sector (which is supposed to be male leaders in the community coming together and creating forums from which to help men address their issues and concerns surrounding HIV/AIDS) at the training to form the committee. There had actually been a bit of talk that was very discouraging for a white, western, “liberated” woman to hear that was women's fault when they were raped as they shouldn't be enticing men with their short skirts, and the reaffirmation that women were the property of their husbands as the husbands bought and paid for them with Lebolla, I figured the only way to help change these charming little misinfo's was to join them. So here I am.
The planning sessions for this event to "introduce the men's sector to the community" were too many in number, too long, tedious, overly focused (in my humble opinion) on the food, and nearly always completely in Setswana (which I really must get around to learning better).
It was an interesting thing for me to try to balance participation in the discussion with letting the committee make decisions on their own. I quickly learned to keep my mouth shut after we were all told to think about a theme for the event to present at the next meeting and I was the only one who had anything, which was unanimously approved without any other options offered up. After this I tried (big challenge for me) to just observe the planning process for this event. I wanted to see how the committee would set things up, to see what the organization would be and how things would work without much outside influence.
I offered to partner with someone to head the publicity committee (for which she promptly avoided doing anything, I found some ladies at the "restaurant" to help me) and took charge of the health quiz, which is one thing that wouldn't have happened without my involvement as no one saw any point to it. I recruited community members and some of the teenagers from the junior secondary school to administer the quiz so that they could educate people when they got answers wrong (in Setswana). It ended up working out really well as I wasn't really involved with the actual administering of anything, but rather overseeing the activity. I've noticed that often everyone is expected to participate in everything, and then you've got the problem of who deals with any problems that arise. It was a little awkward to get up on stage and interrupt the police investigator who was the chair of the committee, but hey, he was in charge..
I learned a lesson in trust when at one of the last meetings before the event, everyone began getting up and climbing into the backs of cars heading towards the police station. When I asked someone what we were doing they informed me that we were going to the police station to view the supplies and groceries that had been purchased for the event. I asked why, as we had just seen the receipt during the meeting. This apparently wasn't enough. We had to go look at the food, to ensure that indeed it was all there. When I asked my favorite question (what I've come to think of as "the second why") again, I was just told it was part of the culture. "But he's a policeman, don't we trust him?" This one is still a bit of a mystery to me.
The health quiz was a concept that was kind of tough to describe to the committee, but they sort of let me run with the thing on my own, which was good for the first event so that I could figure out what I wanted to happen as well. Education at a community event was a new concept, and one that got a little dicey at the actual event. At one point during the event the Men's Sector chairman tried to shut down the booth with the health quiz because the rest of the committee was complaining as they thought there were too many people waiting to take the quiz to win airtime (only cash would have made them more mob like) than there were people watching the dancing and songs. It took some firm negotiating to convince the chairman not to shut us down, but eventually I prevailed. I found myself thanking my lucky stars I had spent so much time building a relationship with him!
The event surpassed my expectations, which is the greatest gift I could have ever asked for. The health quiz happened, the entertainment was great, the food was chaotic but people were happy for the most part. I left the day with tears of joy flowing down my face. It was a shining of example of what I came here to do. And it only took 7.5 months!!!!!
I thought back to every time I've ever experienced tangible success before, at graduations, track meets, dance recitals, choir concerts. I remember the look on my mom's face, and how my grandma was always crying, how tightly my track coaches would grab me after a good race and how the director would beam after a great performance. I never understood until now that sometimes we can derive more joy from the accomplishments of others than we ever could with our own, that celebrating another's success could ever come to mean more to us than our own. It's another beautiful lesson I'll leave this village having learned.
Here's my "press release" that will hopefully go in the Okavango newsletter with photos and such- I've added some to picasa as well, hopefully they show up.
Seronga Men’s Sector Event:“Men standing tall, walking proud and taking responsibility!”
On 22nd November, 2008, the village of Seronga hosted an event sponsored by the Seronga Men’s Sector with the theme “Men standing tall, walking proud, and taking responsibility.” Present at the event were the dikgosi of several neighboring villages, nursing representatives from the Seronga clinic, teachers from both the primary and junior secondary school in Seronga, members of the local and national police based in Seronga, as well as representatives from wildlife and BDF. Also present were the police chief from Gumare, the guest speaker Mma Knutson and nearly 400 villagers. The event began with a lively march in which the members of Men’s Sector Committee split into two groups and were led by the Scout Group down each road away from the Kgotla for a vigorous 3 kilometer round trip march. The weather was nice and not too hot, and although there were brief rain showers the Seronga Village Health Choir keep up the excitement by performing through the downpour! Throughout the day there were many songs, traditional dances, dramas, speeches, another performance by the Scouts and a tug of war to entertain the crowd.
In addition to the message being spread from the main stage, there were 2 side booths which continued to spread the message of Men’s Sector. Over 60 participants were awarded airtime, crisps, and oranges for their efforts in events in a challenging sexual health quiz. Villagers tested their knowledge of issues of HIV/AIDS health, prevention and transmission, PMTCT, IPT and reducing stigma. In addition over 30 people were voluntarily and confidentially tested by the by Gumare Counseling Center. All of the attendants enjoyed a lunch of meat, samp, rice, salads and cool drinks. It was a successful day for the Seronga Men's Sector!
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