The Constitution outreach process has been extended to give more time for public consultation, and the COPAC teams will be in Harare and Bulawayo on the 18th and 19th of September 2010.

The Women’s Coalition has issued an alert calling on women and women’s organisations to participate in the remaining outreach meetings, reporting that:

COPAC statistics reveal that although women attending outreach meetings total 38 percent compared to men at 42 percent, women did not participate actively by speaking out at meetings. On average, women account for a small only 14.6% ONLY of the speakers at Outreach meetings. This means that our issues have not been articulated adequately.

We are encouraging you to reach out to the surbarbs where you have traditionally worked and has a constituency. Sit down with the women and make sure that they speak from beginning to the end of the meeting. We need all our issues in the constitution.

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I don’t usually read a book and feel compelled to write about it.

But in the case of Valerie Tagwira’s splendid novel, ‘The Uncertainty of Hope’, I simply must.

The first time I heard about this novel was in 2006 when a visiting Danish friend doing her PhD research around Zimbabwean gendered discourse presented it to me during one of our lively discussions. This friend also had Tsitsi Dangarembga’s much-anticipated second book, ‘The Book of Not’ and in my excitement to lay hands on it, I chose the latter as my reading fodder instead.

And because I’d never really heard much about ‘The Uncertainty of Hope’ – or its author – I somehow never got round to reading it.

Over the last year however, I have managed to forge a good cyber friendship with Tagwira who always encourages me on to get my first novel completed – I’ve found her to be very gentle yet incisive in everything she says.

And it somehow gnawed away at me that I had never ventured into her own literary mind by reading her book. What, I wondered, did a practising medical doctor’s prose talk about?

And so last week I bought my copy of ‘The Uncertainty of Hope’ to find out.

What an amazing piece of literature!

If ‘Nervous Conditions’ was the narrative of womanhood and its myriad challenges for our newly independent Zimbabwe, then Tagiwra’s novel is the dominant gendered text for our nation’s 2000s – a time of social, political and economic crisis.

The novel’s protagonist, Onai, is a woman who suffers many dilemmas in her roles as wife, mother, breadwinner and ordinary Zimbabwean living through the harsh times of 2005 – where hyperinflation, queues for scarce commodities and the deathly effects of the misguided Murambatsvina operations colour the hopelessness of a once prosperous nation.

Onai, is also a victim of gross domestic violence and lives out an existence that is almost admirable in its absorption of so much pain and disappointment.

And what Tagwira does so well is to mirror her main character’s life against other women whose struggles are excruciating to various extents – Melody, the third year university student who is sleeping with a married man to raise her fees as well as get a taste of the life her family can’t afford; Emily, the compassionate doctor who’s torn, like many potential Diasporans, between obeying her conscience and staying home, and departing overseas to receive second-class treatment while earning enough to live comfortably; and Sheila, the sex worker who’s contracted HIV and worries about her young child’s future without a mother because long waiting lists bar her from getting access to life-prolonging ARVs.

This novel may be set during a particular era in our history – a time when we were all once meaningless millionaires – but it still speaks to the issues that affect Zimbabwe’s women five years later.

And Tagwira definitely understands the subject matter well. Many passages in this 363-page journey had my skin swelling up in goose bumps because yes, here is a woman who speaks about the things we are not often too ready to acknowledge, and therefore address.

Here is one such passage which takes place early in the novel as Onai encounters a wave of depression due to the fact that no one understands why she cannot leave her abusive husband:

She would not be able to bear the shame of being a divorced woman. How could she possibly face a world that despised divorcees; looked down on single mothers? Marital status was everything. It did not really matter how educated or otherwise skilled a woman was. A woman’s worth was relative to one man, her husband: westernised values about women surviving outside marriage held no authenticity mumusha (in the home). In her whole extended family, nobody had ever had a divorce. She would not let herself be the first.

This book is not a patchwork of fanciful writing. It is gritty, heart-wrenching, enlightening, warming – and all carefully controlled by a credible and clever storyline that allows for the forces of life to bring together, as well as separate, its various characters.

I wonder, sadly, why Tagwira has not received the same acclaim for this breathtaking tale as have the Dangarembgas,  Gappahs and Veras of our women’s writing world.

What a massive pity.

I only hope though that by your reading this short account of my experience, which I sadly can’t provide all the finer details of (lest I begin to ramble!), you too will pick up if this amazing novel if you have not already.

So many discussion points, innumerable advocacy issues, a whiff of the pungency of a decadent and decaying Zimbabwe – and all in well-written and engaging prose.

You simply must read this book and crown a true Zimbabwean heroine.

Human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, pictured above, was honored for her outstanding contributions in defending human rights, people’s freedoms and promoting peace in Zimbabwe at a recent event held by the NGO, Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe.

We’ve received this post from poet and broadcaster Soneni Gwizi about the rights of disabled women:

Zimbabwe is caught up in the transition of writing a new constitution that “will” or should cater for all, particularly now in this inclusive government we are in. I am disturbed with the lack of effort from stakeholders particularly the government. They are not seriously including persons with disabilities at  decisions levels.

It is very sad that the visual and hearing impaired ( blind and deaf ) persons are sidelined due to communication barriers, they use a different communication medium due to the nature ot their disability, the braille and sign language which is not used in public meetings. I am aware that there is a lot of talk and suggestions that they must include all persons but let the truth be told, there is very little action taken on that statement.

Let us consider persons with disability with respect, dignity and allow their own voices to heard so that they can also live and be accepted in our communities.

They may not chant slogans and throw teargas at your buildings ( which they are capable of ) but they have a Right Too!

My voice, my right

They say lets unite and write a constitution with one voice
A voice that declares my rights
Unity means agreement, harmony, and union
It must represent the voices, needs interest and the rights of women, men,
and children of all types of back ground.
Is my right and voice being heard?
Are my needs considered?
For my needs and rights are different from yours society!
Do you not know?
I have struggles and challenges beyound mother nature!
Do you not understand that a constitution is one of the highest laws of a Country?
For years and years i have been trying to tell you Zimbawe,
That my rights and your are different,
You have always made me small in your eyes!
You have silenced my voice,
In your agender i appear like a cloud!
Here today and gone tomorrow.
Why do you ignore my voice and my rights?
Why do you undermine my intelligence, my gender, my disability, my right
Why?
I am just a disabled woman you voice!
Hey i am not just a woman,
I am intelligent, brilliant citizen of this nation.
My voice has to be heard and chronicled in the laws of this nation.
The journey has been too long my sister, my brother,
Hold my hand and lets walk together,
After all we are fighting and voicing for one thing which is,
FREEDOM, FREEDOM, FREEDOM!
The right of a woman!

In Africa, a woman writer is a revolutionary. In writing, the woman writer abdicates the role of being the silent spectator and dares to speak.

In patriarchal Africa, a woman speaking up or speaking at all is a revolutionary, going against the grain, intruding into the space otherwise reserved for her male counterparts – the space to define reality, to critique what is, to celebrate or to denigrate, to demand an audience where one would otherwise be denied.

For every woman who writes, presumes that she has an audience and that in itself – is a radical idea. A woman writer presumes that what she has to say is important, that her view and her voice matters and in writing she claims this space – the space to both speak and to be heard.

So when I write, who is going to shut me up?

The act of writing requires audacity, tenacity and above all, a commitment to one’s work, passion and destination.

To many; writing is an end in itself but to me, writing is a tool, a weapon I wield in a world that does not ordinarily afford women a voice. So of necessity, my writing is mostly protest.

In fact, I believe that my work is more political than it is artistic. It is political in the sense that it challenges the status quo. It is political in the sense that it interrogates social stratification.

It is political in the sense that it examines the power relations that obtain within society – relations that are largely determined by who has resources and who lacks them.

It is political in the sense that it scrutinizes who has choices and who has none, who has options and who has none, who has a voice and who is denied one.

So I write to protest. I write to disagree.

I write to simply state that I think otherwise. I write to flip to the other side of the coin.

In my writing I identify myself as a feminist. I do not make apologies for it. Because feminism as an ideological position reaffirming what I identify with – the pursuit for social justice for women in a world where patriarchy legitimizes the conditions of our subjugation.

Here is something from Fungai Machirori, one of Zimbabwe’s best social commentators:

It’s just you and me … and my wife and your boyfriend…

This might sound like a humorous line. But in Lesotho, one of the world leaders in prevalence of HIV, this is the name of a play that has been developed to address the issue of multiple and concurrent partnerships (MCP).

And this play was one of the innovative interventions shared at the Africa-wide practicum on HIV prevention among married and cohabiting couples in Africa, held from 11 to 13 August in Johannesburg, South Africa. The three day-long meeting which brought together over 100 HIV and AIDS communications experts from almost 20 African countries was organised by the African Network for Strategic Communication in Health and Development (AfriComNet).

In his opening address the guest of honour – South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) Communications Advocacy and Campaigns Manager, Junaid Seedat – underscored the importance of looking at HIV transmission among married people and those involved in stable relationships by citing regional statistics on a growing epidemic that is hardly ever discussed or addressed.

Kenya, around 40% of new HIV infections are happening among married women while in Uganda, about 65% of new HIV infections are found in cohabiting couples,” said Seedat, quoting national data from both East African countries. He also cited a 2008 Cape Town study that demonstrated that people involved in MCP were using condoms only 64% of the time within their stable relationships.

The practicum focused on various communication challenges and interventions such as couples’ HIV status discordance, behaviour change communication, couples HIV counselling and testing and condom use.

“Some people don’t think that communication matters and some people want to resort to an entirely medical approach to HIV,” observed international HIV and AIDS expert, Helen Epstein who delivered the practicum keynote address. “But I think it would be a mistake to give up on communication completely.”

During the practicum factors such as sexual dissatisfaction (lack of variety in sex positions, infrequent sex or no sex at all), lack of communication between partners and male entitlement to multiple partners were discussed as some of the drivers of MCP in some regions of Africa.  Such concurrency, coupled with low condom use, is currently a high-risk factor for HIV transmission.

Bisexual concurrency among men who have sex with men (MSM) was also noted as a driver of HIV by Gift Trapence of the Centre for the Development of People in Malawi. In a three-country study conducted in Botswana, Malawi and Namibia, overall rates of HIV infection were found to be about double national prevalence estimates for all men of reproductive age.

As noted by Churchill Alumasa of the Discordant Couples of Kenya, one of the challenges to people involved in stable relationships in knowing their status is what he described as ‘proxy testing’ whereby one partner bases their HIV status on that of their partner’s.

Evidence shared at the practicum shows that a couple that has been sexually active can maintain different HIV statuses. But early detection, through regular HIV testing is key to ensuring that the HIV negative partner remains negative and that the couple takes up consistent and correct condom use throughout the rest of their sexual relationship.

One of the challenges to this as shared by many of the speakers at the practicum is that models of couples testing across the continent tend to focus on bringing couples together to testing centres and yet thereafter, each member of the couple is tested separately thus providing leeway for an HIV positive partner to disclose a false status to their partner. For instance, Professor Susan Allen of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Global Health, shared that routine testing for partners of pregnant Rwandan women increased from 40% in 2006 to 80% in 2008, but that women and men were tested separately.

Allen added that regular couples testing had a significant cost advantage over the recently mooted ‘test and treat’ policy that seeks to treat all people found to be HIV positive (thereby making them less infectious to people who are HIV negative) and would actually prevent far more new infections thus putting less financial strain on the treatment end of the spectrum.

Allen’s data showed that in Zambia, it would cost USD 675 000 per year to prevent 70 new infections among 1 000 serodiscordant couples. But yet that same amount of money could provide couples HIV counseling and testing to 10 227 more couples preventing 285 infections in one year, and a cumulative 1282 infections in five years.

Religion and cultural norms were also identified as barriers to effective uptake of services. A study conducted by Zimbabwe’s Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT) presented by Pemberai Zambezi showed that among members of the Johane Marange Apostolic Church, many refused to acknowledge the existence of HIV in the belief that one could pray for healing from the virus.  Such denialism was suggested to be particularly dangerous for this group as evidence shows that their previously clustered and closed  sexual networks, developed through practices such as polygamy, child pledging and wife inheritance, are now also becoming multi-linked as partners seek sexual relations outside of their closed unions.

But while the experts shared their promising practices, they also shared some of the obvious challenges inherent in their programmes; for instance, the strong emphasis on love in many of the communications interventions shared. These included couples testing campaigns such as ‘Prove Your Love’ in Mozambique and ‘Keep Your Love Under One Roof’ in Zimbabwe. This, many participants felt, left a grey area for those involved in sexual relationships who did not identify themselves as being in love with their partner.

However, it was agreed that often government influence, from whom buy-in must be guaranteed if a campaign is to be successful, led to organisations having to moralise sex and therefore censor their content to gain government’s favour. For instance, due to government pressure and displeasure, Uganda’s ‘Get Off the Sexual Network’ Campaign had to withdraw the use of children highlighting how their parent’s concurrent sexual partnerships had destroyed their family life.

Another obvious challenge shared was funding to ensure sustainability of programmes. One stark example of this was Zambia’s OneLove Kwasila! campaign which achieved overwhelming success particularly through its television drama, ‘Club Risky Business’ depicting the lives of three men all involved in MCP. The campaign’s theme song was a Zambian Top 10 hit showing that the campaign had not only served its communication functions to inform and educate, but also to entertain. The campaign has however been unable to replenish funds to enter into the second phase of the intervention.

Also consistency and uniformity in messaging was identified as a barrier to audiences understanding communications efforts. For example, participants could not reach consensus among themselves on the meaning and parameters of serial monogamy – a sexual practice which was suggested as being far less conducive to accelerated HIV transmission than MCP. It was also suggested that reference to HIV counselling and testing as either HCT or HTC, depending on the region of Africa, made it confusing for people to always understand what was being discussed.

Recommendations offered at the end of the practicum were for such AfriComNet to include private sector players who might be able to engage in public-private partnerships with civil society and government, in future editions of the event.  It was also suggested that AfriComNet facilitate capacity building exchange visits between countries and programmes, while also creating a clearing house for HIV and AIDS materials on its website. The need for AfriComNet, whose secretariat is currently located in Uganda, to establish regional secretariats was also emphasised.

Source: AF-AIDS List