Something I’m beginning to figure out is that there are many myths surrounding HIV and how it is spread.  Take this story from a current PCV for example. He was teaching a group of adult men how HIV is spread.  One man raised his hand and said, “So, if a man has HIV, every time he sleeps with a woman, he gives her some of his HIV?”

“Yes!” the volunteer replied, excited that his message had finally come across.

“So,” the man continued, “if the man sleeps with many women, he can get rid of his HIV completely?”

These are the kind of situations I may find myself in. It’s not like people here don’t know what HIV is and how it is spread, because they do. The problems lie in the mis- or lack of education, the myths and rumors which arise from the stigma, denial of the problem being a reality,and the religious or cultural practices that have been in place for hundreds of years. How do you convince a Masaii or Kisii tribe that ceremonial female genital mutilation is actually life threatening to girls when it has been in practice for hundreds of years? And when boys get circumcised, the same knife is used on every batch of boys to make them “blood brothers.” It doesn’t matter that using the same knife is a perfect way to transmit HIV to each of these boys that are about to marry and pass the virus on to their wives and children.  The sense of comradery and becoming a man is much more meaningful to them.

The most important factor surrounding HIV is the sense of hopelessness of ever being able to solve the problem. People figure that the AIDS epidemic isn’t going to end in their lifetime, so there is no point of trying to do anything to fix it. This is passed on to the next generation- literally- and a cycle begins that seems impossible to even begin to tackle.  The only way you can do it is mara kwa mara, or “step by step.”