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The Mountain Movement
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Swaziland: Tackling low condom use dramatically

*This article is from PlusNews: Global HIV/AIDS News and Analysis

MANZINI, 20 May 2008 (PlusNews) - Why are condoms so unpopular? This question has baffled and discouraged health experts for a decade, but in Swaziland the mystery of why men and women refuse to use condoms is slowly being unravelled by a project that is getting Swazi men to open up about their condom use, or lack thereof.

Much has been said and written about the myths and misconceptions inhibiting condom use, but little has been done to reflect these realities in existing HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns.

Now, an initiative led by AIDS activist and health motivator Hannie Dlamini, and the National Emergency Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), a government body that distributes grants to AIDS organisations, is hoping to change this by getting to the bottom of men's attitudes towards sexual health.

Swaziland's first Demographic Health Survey, in 2007, found that 26 percent of sexually active Swazis were infected with HIV. Although almost 99 percent of survey participants said they knew about the disease, nearly half admitted having multiple sex partners and having sex without condoms.

"Men in Swaziland do not use condoms. They are distributed all over, but they are not used," Dlamini told IRIN/PlusNews.

For the past three years, the NERCHA project has covered two of Swaziland's four regions: the populous central Manzini, the country's commercial hub, and Hhohho region in the north, where the capital, Mbabane, is located. Next on the itinerary are Shiselweni in the south and Lubombo in the east.

The programme has adopted a traditional communications approach, rather than the standard method of using questionnaires, to amass data. To get the men talking, Dlamini and dramatist Modison Magagula looked to traditional Swazi customs that are still largely observed by Swazi men in rural areas, and understood by all Swazi men.

"We recreated the sihonco. This is the enclosure, like a small kraal [cattle pen], where the men go to roast meat, smoke traditional weeds, and discuss things. Women do not enter the sihonco, just as by custom men do not enter the women's special huts. We call the AIDS awareness programme 'kudliwe inhloko' and that is the SiSwati term that means when men sit around and talk amongst themselves," Dlamini explained.

''Men in Swaziland do not use condoms. They are distributed all over, but they are not used.''
Magagula's drama troupe performs a playlet covering a specific issue, like men involved with under-age girls, which is the starting point for the discussion that follows.

About 8,000 men have participated thus far, but the organisers intend to make this an ongoing project that would eventually reach all Swazi men, to inform them about the facts on AIDS and counter peer pressure and the prevailing myths about the disease.

Hannie Dlamini commented that such word-of-mouth misinformation often served to fill the vacuum of factual knowledge, because there were almost no health educators out there regularly meeting with communities, especially in remote rural areas [...]

*For the rest of this article click here.

May 21, 2008 | 1:05 AM Comments  0 comments



What is The Mountain Movement?

Since 2005, The Mountain Movement has evolved a great deal. The campaign has inevitably changed as our lives, as co-directors, have changed, and as we have moved, become more aware, more inspired, and as the campaign has taken on a life of its own. We thought it was due time for an update on where we are at, and where we are going.

The Mountain Movement is a mentality. The movement encourages people to think beyond their daily lives, and in turn, use their ‘everydayness’ – their jobs, passions, and interests – to make a difference in the lives of people who are in need. Allow us to explain a little.

The mountains have the potential to create a “walled-in” effect for those who reside amongst them. It is somewhat easy to forget about what happens in the world outside of this pristine atmosphere. As residents of the Rockies, we felt that we needed to do something to remind ourselves, and others, of the realities that existed beyond our mountain life. For weeks we pondered how we could combine our work as servers out in Banff and our passion for hiking with an important cause that was plaguing the international community.

After exchanging many ideas and emails, in 2005 we established a new fundraising campaign called The Mountain Movement, an organization which raises funds and awareness for HIV-related issues in Africa. We chose The Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) as the beneficiary of the funds raised, an organization which helps to ease the pain of HIV/AIDS in Africa by funding community-level projects that provide care and support to women, grandmothers, orphans and people living with AIDS.

To put on the mountain attire, and take the mountain mentality beyond the confines of the mountains themselves, turned out to be a viable solution to bursting the impending bubble of unconsciousness. In the past, we have taken something we love (climbing and hiking) and something we do for work (serving) and have used these things to raise awareness and funds for the cause of HIV/AIDS. Our primary events, AIDS Climbing Week and Servers Against AIDS, have since expanded to include our coworkers, friends in the Rockies and the surrounding areas, and people who work at other establishments. Since 2005, The Mountain Movement has had the privilege of collecting $22,000 for The Stephen Lewis Foundation, as well as developed new partnerships with regional AIDS services, AIDS Bow Valley (Banff) and HIV West Yellowhead (Jasper) to raise awareness of HIV-related issues in Canada.

The campaign is not limited to these events, however. In the past few years, we have encouraged people to use what they love to do. We have had artists donate artwork for sale, with all proceeds to the SLF. One participant skateboarded from Bow Lake to Lake Louise and raised $500. Another walked 1488km across the South Island of New Zealand to raise awareness of the cause, and in the process raised $1500. These are just some examples of how people can use their passions and make a positive contribution to the advocacy of those who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
With a holistic approach to raising funds and awareness, the message we hope to send out to donors, participants, and visitors to the Rockies is that reaching out to someone in need does not necessarily require a trip overseas, a huge expense, a change in lifestyle or a major sacrifice. Instead, it can be as simple as changing one’s mindset and thinking creatively about how one’s life – as it is – can be used to help someone in need.
If you have any questions, or require more information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Meghan Ward and Paul Zizka
Co-Founders and Directors of The Mountain Movement

May 4, 2008 | 1:05 AM Comments  0 comments

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