Anonymous
2nd July 2003, 08:06
"It’s worse than you imagined"
There are a lot of myths about why Aids is widespread in Africa. But the facts, says Hugh Russell, are more bizarre
Lusaka
"The funeral processions trundle past my garden gates at any and every hour of the day. Sometimes they are rather grand affairs, with a purpose-built hearse and an ornate coffin gleaming through its transparent walls. But more often — in fact, almost invariably — the coffin, of plain unvarnished wood, is carried in the back of an ancient pick-up and attended by mourners who squat perilously on the sides of the vehicle as it rattles over the potholes. Another couple of pick-ups or trucks follow, each carrying up to 40 mourners. The women sing."
"At the cemetery the huge humps of newly dug reddish earth, the rickety wooden crosses and the litter of dying flowers are like something out of a Hammer horror movie. But the place is alive with people, as the various cortèges come and go. It’s said that people often get confused and attend the wrong burial. This is Aids in Africa."
"At a local sports club the secretary showed me a fly-blown photograph on the notice-board. It was a picture of the club’s rugby XV from 14 years ago. Two of the team were white — Brits, the secretary told me, who had gone home long ago. Of the 13 Zambians, 11 were dead. Of the remaining two, one he wasn’t sure about, and the other was still alive, and in fact turned out on a Saturday afternoon when he could find the time."
"I needed some tiles for my bathroom, and went to the local tile centre which, by some quirk of planning, is situated to the rear of an undertaker. To reach the display you have to pass through the undertaker’s showroom, and at first I sniggered to myself as I strode past the ranks of coffins. Then I noticed that at least half of them were only three to four feet long, or less."
"The UN secretary-general’s special envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa, one Stephen Lewis, reported in a Sunday newspaper on a visit he made not long ago to a paediatric ward here. While he was on the ward, he said, children with Aids were dying at the rate of one every quarter of an hour. Forgive me if I repeat that: one every quarter of an hour."
More (http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?%20table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-03-01&id=2832#)
There are a lot of myths about why Aids is widespread in Africa. But the facts, says Hugh Russell, are more bizarre
Lusaka
"The funeral processions trundle past my garden gates at any and every hour of the day. Sometimes they are rather grand affairs, with a purpose-built hearse and an ornate coffin gleaming through its transparent walls. But more often — in fact, almost invariably — the coffin, of plain unvarnished wood, is carried in the back of an ancient pick-up and attended by mourners who squat perilously on the sides of the vehicle as it rattles over the potholes. Another couple of pick-ups or trucks follow, each carrying up to 40 mourners. The women sing."
"At the cemetery the huge humps of newly dug reddish earth, the rickety wooden crosses and the litter of dying flowers are like something out of a Hammer horror movie. But the place is alive with people, as the various cortèges come and go. It’s said that people often get confused and attend the wrong burial. This is Aids in Africa."
"At a local sports club the secretary showed me a fly-blown photograph on the notice-board. It was a picture of the club’s rugby XV from 14 years ago. Two of the team were white — Brits, the secretary told me, who had gone home long ago. Of the 13 Zambians, 11 were dead. Of the remaining two, one he wasn’t sure about, and the other was still alive, and in fact turned out on a Saturday afternoon when he could find the time."
"I needed some tiles for my bathroom, and went to the local tile centre which, by some quirk of planning, is situated to the rear of an undertaker. To reach the display you have to pass through the undertaker’s showroom, and at first I sniggered to myself as I strode past the ranks of coffins. Then I noticed that at least half of them were only three to four feet long, or less."
"The UN secretary-general’s special envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa, one Stephen Lewis, reported in a Sunday newspaper on a visit he made not long ago to a paediatric ward here. While he was on the ward, he said, children with Aids were dying at the rate of one every quarter of an hour. Forgive me if I repeat that: one every quarter of an hour."
More (http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?%20table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-03-01&id=2832#)