As I write I am not sure what to say as this topic is about the lives of real people. Nsoko is a community being ravaged by HIV/AIDS. The main cause of this is the loose morals of the people of the community, a culture that has been engraved in the fabric of the community for a couple of decades. It is true that Nsoko is by far the most poverty stricken community in Swaziland. It is also true that HIV is more rampant in this community than any other in Swaziland. It is a fact that in Nsoko people are not living but surviving, and they will do anything to survive.
The Problem
For some time now I have encouraged myself that as much as the old generation is dying before our eyes, at least we are going to have a remnant. The problem is that hope may prove to be false hope at the end of the day.
We are having young people being exposed to gruesome immorality on a daily basis. The children’s innocence is being ripped away from them. Recently we had a very successful HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. We were able to test young people from as young as 14 years old and upward. There were 47 young people who took part in the testing and only 3 were discovered to be HIV positive. In the three tested positive, there is one boy we would choose to call Siza (not his real name) who tested positive. This boy got HIV from an older person. The girl is almost 25 years old and I don’t for what reason, but we are now aware that she does abuse boys sexual. What we did not know is that she was giving them the deadly virus.
How do you then save a generation when all odds are against you?
The Challenge
We have also discovered that not only this girl has abused boys, but four boys that are in our care are also victims of this kind of abuse from a different person.
The challenge however, is that these boys have become abusers themselves. There were first reports of sodomy amongst themselves. Of late they have begun to sexually abuse girls their age. This is not a joke but reality. There are three young girls not far from the center that have become easy targets for the boys because they are also orphans staying with an old grandmother who cannot protect them. In fact, even bigger boys have begun to abuse these girls.
As a father, I am not comfortable to have my children live in this child unfriendly community. I can protect my biological children-what about the many children with no one to protect? A generation is being destroyed even before it is born.
Why Tell You About All This?
I have realized that no one can save a generation alone. We need one another to make a difference in this community. It is unfortunate that the community of Nsoko is self-destructive. Nevertheless, if you and I can come together this community could be saved.
First, we need to get the boys and the abused girls through professional counseling and that is very expensive. We do not have the funds to get them this kind of counseling. Also, we need to begin taking some people before the law. Unfortunately for us, that translate to massive lawyer fees and other related expenses. And lastly, we need to create an awareness of this rot in the community. That means a lot of money to invest in events and other means to communicate the message. We need to call upon other organizations and advocate for the elimination of this cruelty to the next generation.
I plead with you to do something, however small it is it will go a long way. Thank you for even reading this blog post and I ask that you share this information with as many people as you could. In case you would like to respond to us please email me at [email protected] or contact Matt at [email protected] or better still Scott Borg at [email protected] .
Talk to you soon! (The above pictures above do not imply that these are the perpetrators or victims of the subject)
