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27.12.2009

The pioneering work of a Tanzanian minister for preventing the spread of AIDS

"Allowing for the infidelity of men and multiple marriage partners are, for their part, spreading HIV infections", stated Anthony Kipangula.
According to Esther Kipangula, even educated women in Tanzania often suffer from oppression in their families.
"AIDS must be discussed, for silence brings death. The greatest hindrance continues to be fear. The church also still needs a change of attitude", stated Martti Esko, Executive Secretary for Family Issues.
"Only 5% of those in need will receive medication, for fear still prevents people from taking an HIV test. Fortunately, though, infections are now on the decrease", said Dr. Tuula Pelkonen, Consultant Pediatrics, who has worked as a missionary in Angola.
"HIV/AIDS is just a disease, it does not define the entire person. An HIV-positive person still has dreams and fears and a need to be loved", said deacon Iiris Kontra, who has been a missionary in Botswana.
"The HIV-positive are a valuable asset in the church, and not targets of work", said Rev. Riitta Laakio Program Coordinator, FELM. Photos: Paula Laajalahti

Rev. Kipangula was the main speaker in the World AIDS Day Seminar arranged by FELM and the Church Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The seminar titled "AIDS, sex, families" was held in the Mission House in Helsinki, with an attendance of about 60 persons.

Harmful traditions


Anthony Kipangula and his wife Esther are involved in a pioneering form of family work in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Their work is shaking the value structures within the Tanzanian family.

The work has revealed to the Kipangulas that many African traditions aid the spread of HIV infections. The common nominator for these traditions is the oppressed position of women. It could also be called male chauvinism.

One example of the harmful traditions is the prohibition to have sex during breast-feeding or after the menopause. This, in turn, promotes the convention of extra-marital affairs of men, allowed for them by tradition.

An HIV infection is often a fruit of an affair, and one which the husband transfers on to his wife and other potential partners.

Men oppress their wives


Esther Kipangula has learnt a great deal about the pain of women and their questions in the seminars led by the couple.

"The women will not speak out when the men are present, but when they are among other women, they cannot stop talking and asking questions. The need of knowledge is huge. 70% of women know nothing about sexual pleasure", recounts Esther Kipangula.

According to Esther Kipangula, Tanzanian men do not, in general, appreciate their wives. Instead, they oppress them, and even despise them. When having sex with their wives, men only think about their needs. What is more, a Tanzanian woman cannot refuse sex.

"Sexual intercourse is often an experience of rape for the wife. Traditionally, the women do not even have a right to tell about their needs."

Since sex is not a joy for the woman, she is not interested in it. This, in turn, makes men look for sex elsewhere.

"When her husband finds himself another woman, the wife must not be offended or be jealous."

Attitudes still in need of repair


Even though the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania is officially denouncing harmful traditions, they do have an effect on the lives of parishioners. That is why HIV/AIDS touches also the Church heavily, even though there still are some people who wish to be silent about it.

Rev. Anthony Kipangula would also like to believe that becoming a Christian would automatically destroy the practice of harmful traditions and the spread of infections in the parishes. Culture is not, however, transformed easily.

The attitudes of parishioners also still have room for improvement, for the HIV-positive continue to face oppression and they are afraid of telling about their infections in their parishes.

Slow improvement


Besides speaking in the seminars, Anthony and Esther Kipangula educate, for example, influential people in village communities as well as teenagers to understand the meaning of the equality of sexes in a good marital relationship. They say that the transformation of attitudes and behaviour is slow and that is also why the battle against AIDS will be long.

The Kipangulas also know that the entire AIDS-related herd of problems is fed by poverty and ignorance. Young girls, for example, are infected when they provide for their families with the necessary income that they obtain by selling sex.

Light at the end of a dark tunnel


"The number of infections is beginning to decrease somewhat, being now about 7% in Tanzania", says Anthony Kipangula.

The AIDS situation in Tanzania is better than in Namibia and Botswana, for example. Persistent work even in these countries is, however, beginning to bear fruit, and the churches there are having a significant role in this.

Sari Lehtelä on Dec 2, 2009.
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