HIV, RELIGION AND MY AFRICAN ROOTS

 The Swahili saying ‘mwacha mila ni mtumwa’ - meaning he who leaves/ forgets his culture is a slave- sure speaks truth. What is culture? To me it refers to that unifying characteristic and at times features that a group of people share dependent upon our capacity as a people to learn and passing the same to succeeding generations. Religion is part of culture, every culture has a belief in a being higher than they, and this forms a major aspect of culture. Are we forgetting our culture as Africans whatsoever our religious background? Are we paying for this?

The HIV/ AIDS epidemic has been around for more than a decade now, with roughly 70% of the people living with it in Sub- Saharan Africa- which only hosts 13% of the global population. In 2007, it was estimated that 33.2 million people were HIIV positive, and that a total of 2.1 million were killed by the disease, including 330, 000 children. Over three- quarters of this deaths occurred in Sub- Saharan Africa. Kenya’s National Aids Control council (NACC) published a report showing that 435, 225 adolescents (ages 10 to 19) are living with HIV while another 119, 899 have the virus but haven’t been identified yet which resulted to 7, 500 adolescent death in 2014 due to delayed treatment. Additionally, the report indicates that annual infection among adolescent is 5% higher than that of mother to child transmission unlike preceding years. These figures are majorly attributed to early sexual encounters. It is estimated that 20% of the Kenyan youth (ages 15-24) had their first sexual experience before their 15^th birthday.

In religion sexuality is seen as a scared, natural and a God given phenomenon whether in Christianity, Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism or African Traditional Religion. In many African communities, sex education was passed through informal education when one got to puberty- which was the initiation stage and the stage which one was welcomed into the community. It was both a family and community affair and grandparents, aunts and uncles would be involved in passing sexual education to teenagers. Sexual discipline was maintained through elaborate parental and societal guidance and supervision. In the Iteso community of Kenya who despite not having physical circumcision, adolescents would visit their older respectable relatives who took it upon themselves to take them through sex education. Christianity also views sex as scared and spiritual, for both unitive and procreative purposes. The bible sees it as a connection of two into one, just like the Trinity, a sacred connection. Sex was talked about in the Jewish culture. The songs of Solomon is an example in the bible. In Muslim sex is seen as one of the human instincts and its satisfaction as theological and legitimate. And this is so in other religious cultures.

Today religion, has made sex abnormal. It’s no longer viewed as a scared venture where two come together in union and connection even by our religious leaders and institutions. It’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to engage. When sex is treated as abnormal we stop talking about it and one of the outcomes of a society that doesn’t talk about sex is disobedience (Debby Herbenic- research scientist, professor, educator, human sexuality expert…). Which is evident in Kenya’s society today, like the 500 minors found participating in a group sex orgy or the 15 boys from Embu High school who were found sleeping in St Marys Gachoka girl’s dorm in early November 2014. Today, having sex is natural but talking about it isn’t. Teenagers are sexually active, do we know if they are practicing it safe? Do they understand what comes with it? And is the community talking about this?

When we don’t talk about it as a society, as the church, the mosque, the temple or any other institution and more so as parents, the internet and media will and this is where they will find this information. When we don’t talk about sex, people tend to say inaccurate information, we then don’t know what’s true about sex since we don’t talk about it. And this inaccurate information takes away its purpose and beauty, ending up with 435, 225 HIV infected adolescents while another 119, 899 having the virus but not identified resulting to 7, 500 adolescent deaths over and over again. When sexually transmitted infections are mapped, it tends to cluster in areas where sex education lacks. The Umma in the Muslim community, for instance, is responsible for giving sexual education to followers and some modern Islamic movements organizing seminars and workshops on sex education for their members, not surprisingly, areas that have a predominate Muslim population tend to have low HIV prevalence such as Mandera, Garissa, Isiolo. Lamu or Wanjir in Kenya. They talk about sex.

If we make sex abnormal we don’t talk about it and preceding generations will not as well, as a result they will not talk about their sexual experiences or changes happening to them since there is no one comfortable with the topic, someone sex positive, someone willing to listen to them. If we want to achieve target 3.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals, we need to talk about sex as a community, as religious institutions and as parents. Let’s not be hypocritical, this are our own health we are advocating for and for those after us. To religious institutions, organizations and parents who have already taken the initiative, thank you for breaking the silence and for making sex normal. And as we talk about sex let's not discriminate giving this education on basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, we need to be inclusive. We shouldn’t forget our culture as Africans and the responsibilities placed on us by it, he who leaves or forgets his culture is a slave.