I haven’t said much about Swaziland for a while. There are good things happening there but the dying continues. I am copying a letter I read on a blog from one of our First Year Missionaries currently in Swaziland. The letter is written by a 7th grade boy in the school where she is interning as a teacher.
Life in Swaziland is hard – mixed with harsh realities including traditional witchcraft medicine. Here is what this boy Bonginkosi had to say when asked to write his own life story:
HIV
is a virus that causes AIDS. AIDS is a dangerous disease that can
affect everyone. This disease is a fatal disease but can be controlled.
AIDS
affects black people and white people. It affects poor or rich people,
fat or thin people. It affects you whether you are a Christian, Swazi,
Zulu, Xhosas, Hindus, Rastafarians, Muslim, Mozambican, Sothos or
Tswana.
AIDS
affects me as well my auntie, who was working in Matsapha Spinex
Factory. She was a likeable woman and honest. She use to help poor
children in the community by paying their school fees, buying food and
clothes for them. Everyone in the community used to respect her.
She
was the person who was looking after my grandfather and my grandmother
the most. My father looked after my grandfather and grandmother but not
as much as my auntie. My uncle did look after them but not all the
time, like my auntie use to. She was the most important person to my
grandparents.
She
used to have more than one boyfriend and she did not use to use a
condom when she was having sex with her boyfriends. On nights she used
to leave home with her boyfriends to big hotels which are too
expensive. On weekends she used to visit one of her boyfriends.
One
day she became sick and just got sicker and sicker. She did not know
what was making her to be sick. She visited the clinic many times but
she became sicker and sicker. Than my grandparents sent her to a
traditional doctor. He gave her some medicine and said she must find a
boy who will cut her with a razor blade and put the medicine in her.
They chose me as the boy. I did it but I did not like it. She became
better for a week but then her sickness returned and I became sick as
well. She and I visited the health center for check- up. We found that
we were both HIV positive. They counseled us and they gave us some
tablets and I take them even today.
When
I heard that I was positive, I was afraid. I was thinking that I was
going to die, I cried and cried. But they told me that I would not die.
After that my auntie became sick and got sicker again and she died. But
me I am healthy and I am alive and life goes on.
So AIDS kills. It kills our parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, sisters and brothers. But life still goes on.
Again my response is silence before the God of the universe – how can I relate to the pain in this young boys life? He is a statistic who most likely will be among the 4 in 5 who die before the age of 30 in Swaziland. He is a statistic but his name is Bonginkosi.
