We spent the day in this very interesting world of the Maasai. Visited the AIDS Clinic of POMC in Ewuasu, with Joseph, Esther, Isaac, their three staff. Heard that the local infection rate is about 4.7 percent. At the same time, Joseph says that the Maasai have a very, very high risk of infection. The reasons are cultural, mostly, including such practices (now disappearing) as Female Circumcision. Marrying your Age group... which means a couple get married, but it means the wife is shared with the other men in their age group ... by some sort of "arrangement". Joseph says this practise, fortunately, is disappearing .... but it, and other behaviours make this a high risk population. That they do not in fact have a high rate of infection speaks, as Joseph says, to the Maasai also being a very supporting and caring community, so that they don't easily move outside of their own community, and even within their own community many will not engage in sexual behavior that is not safe. It is a culture of discretion ... from everything I have seen these past two days.
Visited three schools, of which have students supported by MCC Generations Program.
No comments:
Post a Comment