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CASE STUDY: Mitigating HIV/AIDS in the Education Sector
Let's Meet Before We Burn The Bush - Counselors' and Chiefs' Initiation
In African traditions fire is a symbol of many things. In initiations among the Yao, fire symbolizes the opening of the Jando rites, a rite of passage for adolescent boys, and sometimes Nsondo, the rite of passage for adolescent girls.
Village heads of Ntaja area in Traditional Authority (TA) Kawinga are some of the best examples of changed attitudes towards culture around issues of education and HIV/AIDS. Initiation ceremonies were highlighted as some of the practices could, if not well administered, contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS and also directly conflict with the formal education calendar.
After the MESA trainings of community leaders and special groups conducted in 2004, cultural counselors and chiefs made action plans. One of the deliberate ways forward was the establishment of zonal initiation committees. These comprise chiefs and initiation counselors at the zonal level. One such vibrant committee is at Ntaja. The committee convenes meetings especially before the opening of the initiation sessions. These meetings are aimed at:
- Reminding chiefs and counselors of the school calendar and the need for timely initiations.
- Reinforcing MESA messages on initiation ethics (e.g., the need to refer initiates to the hospital where necessary).
- Reviewing areas that worked well during the previous year and making suggestions for better performance in the next year.
- During the meeting convened by GVH Ntaja, on behalf of the TA Kawinga on the 19th of June 2005, members noted some developments/successes in the administration of the rites; some of which included revisions of timing of the girls' and boys' initiations. Boys and girls in most of the shrines entered the camps at the same time, therefore allowing for girls to graduate early and boys later on. Often when they graduate together there is risk of promiscuity.
Most camps got the initiates into camps early enough (immediately after schools closed) and completed their initiations before the schools opened.
TA Kawinga has decentralized the initiation procedures. Each Village Head (VH) will have the mandate of holding a ceremony in their territory and they will inform the Group Village Head (GVH) of the area. This will ensure that there are a few novices/initiates at a shrine and make processes simple and fast. It will also mean that the GVHs will be empowered to monitor the processes; unlike in the past when they reported to the TA and GVHs were passive.
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