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African Custom made for the spread of Aids
Telegraph ^ | 10.04.05 | David Blair in Mbingwa

Posted on 10/07/2005 6:31:07 PM PDT by Coleus

Shaded by a grove of mopane trees, the village cemetery was strewn with fresh graves, most filled by victims of Africa's Aids epidemic who never reached the age of 30.

Fanny Mbewe knelt in silent prayer beside her husband's unmarked resting place.

 
Fanny Mbewe
Fanny Mbewe [right] was forced to submit to ritual ‘cleansing’

Anyone who wonders why Aids has spread faster in Africa than anywhere else in the world needs only to consider her experience.

With millions of other women, Mrs Mbewe fell victim to a tradition known as "kulowakufa" which dictates that any woman whose husband dies must submit to sex with one of his male relatives.

This, supposedly, "cleanses" her of her spouse's spirit. But, given the risk this tradition carries, it might as well have been designed to spread Aids.

After her husband, James, died in a car accident three years ago, Mrs Mbewe was forced to have sex with his cousin. The man who "cleansed" her was a well-known drunkard, married with several children.

 
Africa's curse graphic

Mrs Mbewe's fear of catching Aids caused her to flee Mbingwa in rural Malawi and seek refuge with her sister-in-law, Rose. But her relatives tracked her down and insisted that she submit.

"My sister-in-law said, 'Why are you running away? This is our culture, you must do this. If you do not, people will say you have your husband's spirit. You will be blamed every time someone dies in the village'," Mrs Mbewe said. "I was afraid, but my relatives forced me to accept. I was especially afraid of the [Aids] virus. I was so afraid that I would get the virus and my children would be without their mother."

Despite her fear, Mrs Mbewe, who does not know her age, submitted to sex with her husband's relative. This took place in her old home while her son, Joseph, seven, and daughter, Margaret, five, were asleep in the room next door.

"The man was very dirty," said Mrs Mbewe. "He was a drunkard and a very dirty man. I washed myself when it was over."

Mrs Mbewe, like most people in the countryside, has never been tested for HIV and does not know whether she was infected by her encounter.

But at least 16 per cent of adult Malawians do have HIV or Aids. The epidemic has orphaned 600,000 of the country's children.

Campaigners have no doubt that this crisis can only be contained if traditions such as "kulowakufa" are ended. Yet rural Malawi, like much of Africa, is rife with other practices that are at least as risky.

If a man's wife dies, her parents may offer him another of their daughters for marriage, under a tradition known as "hlazi". Helen Makukula, of Women's Voice, a pressure group, pointed out the possible consequence of this.

If the wife died after contracting Aids from her husband, the girl handed over to become his new spouse will probably suffer the same fate. "It is almost impossible for a girl to refuse," she said. "Some girls have refused and ended up running away from the village."

Another tradition - "chimwanamwayo" - allows men to swap their wives for sex. Yet another allows a man who cannot conceive a child to invite a friend to impregnate his wife. Moreover, polygamy is common.

"We are spreading Aids with some of our cultural practices," said Mrs Makukula. "If they are stopped, Aids wouldn't be as serious as it is now. We have started preaching to the chiefs so that such practices are stopped. But it is a gradual process. I might be alive when it all stops, perhaps in 20 years."

Mrs Makukula's campaign must seek to end a way of life personified by Amos Machika Chisoni.

Since 1953 he has been responsible for "cleansing" all the widows in Ndanga village, a position which has earned him the title of "fisi", or "hyena", because he works in secret and by night.

Mr Chisoni, who is in his seventies, also has two wives. Asked why the local chief made him the "fisi", he replied: "Because I was going about with so many women. I had so many girlfriends."

By tradition, he has sex with each of his two wives before and after he "cleanses" a widow, a service for which he is paid one chicken. Mr Chisoni has never used a condom. But he has made one concession to the Aids epidemic.

"If I don't know what the husband died of, these days I am able to refuse to cleanse his widow," he said.

Asked whether a woman could refuse to be cleansed, Mr Chisoni replied: "No woman can refuse a 'fisi'." He added: "This tradition cannot stop because it has come to us from our parents and ancestors before them. I do not see it just ending."


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: abstinence; africa; aids; hiv; hivaids; kulowakufa; malawi; monogamy; paganism; riskybehavior; superstition
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Africa AIDS

Uganda AIDS

1 posted on 10/07/2005 6:31:28 PM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus
The big surprise here is that the practices will end with the deaths of the practitioners.

Such is the nature of AIDS.

Even now America is "running short" of real homosexuals ~ (as if you could "run short" of those guys).

2 posted on 10/07/2005 6:35:05 PM PDT by muawiyah (/ hey coach do I gotta' put in that "/sarcasm " thing again? How'bout a double sarcasm for this one)
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To: Coleus

reading this article , one thing is very clear ; they are
f-ing themselves to death over there .


3 posted on 10/07/2005 6:37:57 PM PDT by injin
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To: muawiyah

There's more to spreading African AIDS than this story relates. Google 'dry sex' sometimes.


4 posted on 10/07/2005 6:44:40 PM PDT by gcruse (http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
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To: Coleus

And that is not even the real horror ritual...

The real horror is that men infected with the AIDS virus
believe that by having sex with a young virgin they can
rid themselves of the virus by giving it to a child...

Small children are the target of this evil and vile practice..

Of such is the nature of Africa, where life is short, nasty, and brutish..


5 posted on 10/07/2005 6:44:58 PM PDT by joesnuffy
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To: Coleus

No culture is inferior, just different.


6 posted on 10/07/2005 6:45:30 PM PDT by Buck W. (Yesterday's Intelligentsia are today's Irrelevantsia.)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: Buck W.
No culture is inferior, just different.

This is politically correct drivel and BS.

There are inferior cultures who have no redeeming values. They are based on ignorance & stupidity and do nothing to expand the wellness of the human experience.

Culture is the defining difference that make great cultures great.

I would much rather be part of a superior culture that makes living worth while than live in an inferior culture that destroys the human experience.

8 posted on 10/07/2005 6:51:18 PM PDT by Radioactive (I'm on the radio..so I'm radioactive)
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To: muawiyah
Even now America is "running short" of real homosexuals ~ (as if you could "run short" of those guys).

I am curious what is your basis for this statement
9 posted on 10/07/2005 6:54:07 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: Radioactive

I think he was being facetious


10 posted on 10/07/2005 6:55:03 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: uncbob

And I wonder what the basis is for your questioning of my statement?


11 posted on 10/07/2005 6:55:57 PM PDT by muawiyah (/ hey coach do I gotta' put in that "/sarcasm " thing again? How'bout a double sarcasm for this one)
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To: joesnuffy

what percantage of the population is involved in these practices? what if someone made a conclusion on american culture based on americans who have sex with animals, people who are involved in childhood porn, brothels in las vegas, television programs etc etc. I think that you should place everything into context, Do not be involved in sensationalism. Find out in Africa what percentage are involved in sex with minors, or how many people are involved in cleansing. Also find out what percentage are strict Christians and do not follow these practices.Then make an educated judgement


12 posted on 10/07/2005 7:00:18 PM PDT by musatambe
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To: Radioactive

I didn't think the sarcasm tag was necessary. I was wrong.


13 posted on 10/07/2005 7:10:46 PM PDT by Buck W. (Yesterday's Intelligentsia are today's Irrelevantsia.)
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To: Buck W.

"No culture is inferior, just different."

Please don't confuse race or people with their culture. There are plenty of good people being kept in inferior circumstances by their culture.



14 posted on 10/07/2005 7:19:48 PM PDT by CrazyIvan (If you read only one book this year, read "Stolen Valor".)
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To: Buck W.

OOPS. Guess my sarcasm detector is as tired as I am tonight.


15 posted on 10/07/2005 7:21:34 PM PDT by CrazyIvan (If you read only one book this year, read "Stolen Valor".)
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To: Coleus

They need to be educated over there for sure. How sad that their beliefs are causing them death. They need help.


16 posted on 10/07/2005 7:24:02 PM PDT by ladyinred (It is all my fault okay?)
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To: CrazyIvan

No problem!


17 posted on 10/07/2005 7:24:26 PM PDT by Buck W. (Yesterday's Intelligentsia are today's Irrelevantsia.)
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To: muawiyah
And I wonder what the basis is for your questioning of my statement?

So that means you have no statistics just a gut feeling
18 posted on 10/07/2005 7:27:06 PM PDT by uncbob
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To: Coleus
"Mrs Mbewe fell victim to a tradition known as "kulowakufa" which dictates that any woman whose husband dies must submit to sex with one of his male relatives."

"All cultures are equal"...
Yeah, sure they are.

Semper Fi

19 posted on 10/07/2005 7:28:13 PM PDT by river rat (You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: gcruse
'dry sex'

Yeah, I read about that in a Time (cover story I believe) article a while back. They are F-ed up over there.

The article also wanted us to send them more money. Screw that. If they want to screw themselves to death, fine, just don't do it on my dollar.

20 posted on 10/07/2005 7:30:14 PM PDT by benjaminjjones
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