It
is Friday evening and everyone has returned home after their
day’s work in the fields and gardens in Mchinji district
in Malawi, near the border with Zambia. The chiefs’ messengers
are moving across the landscape, informing villagers of an important
meeting at the head chief’s home.
The next day, all roads lead to the head chief’s home.
Young, old, women and men all converge to listen to a message
from the chiefs who gather at nine o’clock in the morning.
The day starts with singing and dancing. But when Chief Mduwa,
the head chief in the area, begins, there is silence.
“We want to reinforce the work we have already started
on HIV and AIDS in our communities,” announces Chief Mduwa.
This is greeted by ululation and whistling from the crowd. Banners
and placards with HIV and AIDS messages float above the people.
What follows is a strong statement on the chiefs’ commitment
to fight stigma and discrimination. Then the chiefs ask community
volunteers for feedback on how their work with people living
with HIV and AIDS is going.
Support from community leaders is crucial to reduce stigma and
discrimination, says Joyce Banda, who is one of an estimated
two million people living with HIV or AIDS in Malawi. UNAIDS
estimates that one in seven people in Malawi has HIV or AIDS,
and life expectancy has plummeted to 39.6 years.
“When I went for an HIV test, it was difficult for me
to share my status with anyone, including relatives. But after
the chiefs got involved together with the Red Cross support
groups and carers, our lives changed,” says Joyce, a member
of the Tisasalane Red Cross support group for positive people
in Mchinji.
“We are no longer ashamed of our status and everyone accepts
us as we are,” she says.
Chief Mduwa says chiefs started spreading anti-stigma messages
in 2001 after they realised that Malawi Red Cross volunteers
were facing problems reaching people in the chiefs’ communities.
Community leaders in Mchinji saw that sick people were shunned.
Child-headed households didn’t get any help from their
neighbours. Some people could not work the land to support themselves
and their families. Because people were afraid to come forward,
they could not get help from the Malawi Red Cross, which runs
an extensive home-based care programme.
“As chiefs we realized that we had a strong role to play
to help the situation in our area. The people being served by
the Red Cross are our people and we had to do something,”
says Chief Mduwa.
“We chiefs have overall powers over our areas and we realized
we should use our authority to protect people living with HIV
and AIDS. We wanted to make our communities understand that
HIV and AIDS is everyone’s challenge,” he adds.
Now the chiefs meet every month with Red Cross volunteers who
do home-based care for people living with HIV and AIDS, and
others with chronic illnesses. Through this mechanism, the chiefs
find out what the situation is for people in their communities.
“We have made it a policy that whoever discriminates against
people living with HIV and AIDS shall be heavily fined or expelled
from our kraals (villages),” stresses Chief Mduwa.
And because the chiefs are well coordinated, there is pressure
on communities to accept people living with HIV and AIDS.
As a result of the thaw in attitudes, many people living with
HIV and AIDS have come out to join support groups. Now some
sick people are being looked after by their neighbours. Chiefs
make sure orphans, child-headed families and the elderly have
food, labour to till the land, and moral support. In Mchinji,
the chiefs go as far as providing land for communal gardens
where people grow cash crops to support the most vulnerable.
Joyce Banda says community support gives people living with
HIV and AIDS the confidence to reach out to others.
“It is important to know that community leaders share
our concerns and are prepared to unite with us as one family.
This has given us the strength to even go and assist other people
living with HIV and AIDS in our community,” she says.
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A
local band plays HIV and AIDS songs for the gathering
at the chiefs’ home. (p13415)
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A
group in uniform: Mduwa chief’s AIDS organization
waits for the arrival of the communities for the meeting.
(p13416)
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Chikondi
support group sing and march towards the chief’s
home. (p13417)
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